It's an Exciting World

This week Steph was in town all week.

On Monday we went to Yonder together, as they were going to do some electrical work on the building for our flat and the power might go out for a few hours. We had a good climb, although she was still tired from her caving trip. Then we had a nice lunch from the place I like by the station.

That evening was the final rehearsal for the Comicon performance with the choir. I always like the final rehearsals the most, as we just run through all the songs.

Steph and I finished Planet Crafter the game. We also finished the Jet Lagged the Game Taiwan edition and everyone in the betting pool was severely negative based on their guesses. It worked out though and was amusing how far off we all were. We were especially cross with how Sam and Mike were playing, as they were on defence so strongly while losing. We started into The Boys latest season and watched the new 90 minute Good Omens season.

On Thursday we had Roxanne and Alex over to do the last escape room in the ClueQuest building. It was really good, one of the best rooms I’ve done. I really enjoyed the puzzles they had and the tech they used to pull it off. We were able to escape with ten minutes to spare, and only got a few clues.

Friday I did another round of volunteering at Castlehaven as a digital champion. Then that evening was karaoke. It was a group on the smaller side, but we still had a great time. Several people who would normally come didn’t as we had a choir performance at Comicon the next morning.

At the Comicon performance we showed up early and had to coordinate entering with Liz. She got us all in and then we got to hang out in the green room. We went to the stage and did a sound check, so the audio for the audience would be better this time. The event halls are terrible for audio, somewhat on purpose. They are made so that the audio is absorbed instead of all the people inside talking make the volume unbearable. This makes singing a lot harder. It makes it especially hard for people in the back of the choir, as we couldn’t hear almost anyone else singing. We did our best and it seemd to turn out well for the audience.

Sunday Steph setup an amazing outing to a Turkish lamp making event. We took a few hours to plan out and make our own Turkish lamp designs. They are a style that I really like, and we picked out blue and green as the colours to fit into our flat aesthetic. I also chose green to fit with the Ready Singer One colors, and I think it turned out well.

London Weekly 178

Steph was away this week, so not much went on.

I went to the normal Monday rehearsal.

On Tuesday I went to Zaheer and Zahira’s place to play some games with Zaheer. Zahira was amazing and cooked some delicious food for us. She made a veggie soup, a nice salad, and some rolls. The food was delicious and filling. We played Helldivers for a bit, and I worked through the Steamdeck setup to get it to use a mouse and keyboard. Normally it wouldn’t matter as much, but with shooters it matters so much more for the aim.

On Friday I did the first volunteer session at Castlehaven. It was nice to help people, and I got to interact with the kinds of people I normally wouldn’t be able to. That evening I went to an improve performance that Nathan was participating in. There were four groups, and Nathan’s group was doing an improv musical. They had two songs that I thought came together well, which is amazingly impressive.

Saturday morning I went to a group of Ukrainian refugees and presented on how to use AI. It went well and I might go back for more specific presentations.

Saturday afternoon I went to Liz and Jamie’s to play some games. We played a round of The Mind, then a round of a racing game. The main event of the day was a new game called Feed the Kraken, which was a fantastic social deduction game. It felt like there was always something for people to do, and the percentage of interesting roles was much higher. There were three teams, two of which are ‘evil.’ The evil teams made up 50% of the players, so it was really challenging. Even so the good team won 2 of the three games we played.

Sunday was a Mercato performance with the choir. I enjoyed this one more than most, as while we did some teaching it didn’t overly focus on the new material. I didn’t hang around afterwards and went right back home as Steph was going to be coming back.

Once Steph got home we watched the end of the Taiwan Jet Lagged game. Then we played some Planet Crafter for the rest of the evening.

London Weekly 177

This week was a ton of fun with meeting people for dinners and shows. Monday was the Ready Singer One performance are Mercato Mayfair. I went to watch, but first had dinner and drinks with Stacie on the roof. We talked some business and then she left as I went to watch the show. It was fun to hear the performance there, as I usually am in the choir performing. The Duel of Fates was especially amazing to hear.

Tuesday we went to Lander 23 with Ballage and Zaheer. Steph and I met Zaheer beforehand at a Nepali restaurant. They had a great set of momo’s and I split a large momo platter with Zaheer.

We went in with the goal of finding the tapes, and we did, but they were hard to hear and get to play. We ended up just doing radiance again and despite the slow start we got 2nd place. I memorised the layout since I was in the lander to start and we really went quick on the second half.

Wednesday I went to choir rehearsal, as the Monday one was cancelled for the performance at Mercato.

Friday I volunteered in the morning talking about the Camden Digital Inclusion, and then in the evening I joined for the start of the Big Screen Hack. I made a short film, but as I used the opportunity to try a lot of different things It didn’t come out as well as it could have otherwise. I used Grok instead of Seedance, and tried realistic style. Here is the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xj1CqTm2YXA

The other two nights of the weekend were taken up with singing. I went to an Operation Mincemeat event that Nathan hosted. Each person had parts to learn, and I had a lot of the minor parts, which was a ton of fun. Some of the people there had since Operation Mincemeat many times and were experts on it. I just listened to it on repeat for a week with Spotify. It turned out pretty well, despite the musical being on the harder side. Sunday I hosted karaoke. Lots of people were able to join, and I had a great time. Diana and Jose were there from dive club. Giulio and Lynne made it. And from Choir we had Henry, Emma, and Tia. Stacie showed up after everyone and we chatted for a bit.

London Weekly 176

The weather this week was amazing, so I decided to try the folding chair work style a bit more. It turned out to not just be relaxing but it helped with concentration and getting work done. There is something about having people walking by, as well as not having the kitties trying to sit in front of the screen or on the keyboard that allows for better concentration.

Monday was a nice day, and I wanted to finally walk the Regents Canal out to Hackney Wick (where I started the Lea Valley hike from). I left from the flat and walked along the canal to Victoria Park and got to see all the interesting gardens and structures they had put up there including a part of the old London Bridge (cicra 1760).

At choir that evening we sang the Jump Up Superstar song, and it was hard to follow along with the music, so I redid the pdf to not have repeats and codas and multiple lines of text. Having the tablet to read the music from makes adding more pages not as big a deal.

Tuesday I had Zaheer over for the Untitled Goose Game. It was a ton of fun and had been long enough since I’d played it that I’d forgotten most of it. I’m really looking forward to more coop games on Tuesdays with him.

Wednesday was a bunch of volunteering. I did my first session as a Camden Digital Champion, but wasn’t able to fully help the one person I met with that day. It was still a good introduction to the work and what it would be like going forward. I signed up for seven weekly sessions after that, so I’ll be getting some good experience as a Digital Champion.

Wednesday evening I went to help with some try divers at the pool session for BSAC. I got the gear setup for them and then took it down afterwards. There were 11 divers in the pool, so it was a busy evening. I chatted with Gokhan while all the divers were going, and it was a chill evening overall.

Thursday I went to hang out with Gokhan at his work around 6pm, and we grabbed dinner together and talked about AI. We grabbed some burgers before heading to Southbank Center to see Romana perform. The music was great for the performance, but the singer wasn’t the best, and the dancers were interesting but strange. After the performance Steph got back from her work trip, and I hurried home to spend an hour with her.

Steph work up early on Friday and left for another cave diving trip. A few friends took the day off on Friday and we met in Regents Park to go to the new Queen Elizabeth II garden. It was made with a lot of reclaimed cement, so was dry and desert feeling. It was neat to see, and then we found a nice shady spot to picnic. Nathan and I threw the frisbee a bit, and then the others left. I chose to pop out the computer and do more working from the folding chair. It was productive and I made a silly game using the new vibe coding game engine I’m working on. It turned out pretty well I think: https://www.theplaymachine.com/play/autobattle

On Saturday I went to Little Venice for Maggie’s birthday party, then on Sunday we had the book club meeting. It was a great discussion on aging, and I got a lot out of the book Successful Aging.

London Weekly 175

Steph organised a night out with her parents and we went to Fallow, one of her favourite restaurants, then to The Phantom of the Opera. I enjoyed seeing it, and it had some amazing costumes. The set was also really well done with the candles coming up and the fog for the underground lake scenes. Her parents seemed to like it and generally seemed to like their trip to the UK. They are thinking of coming again soon.

Thursday I went to a folk band performance in St. Pancras Old Church. The music was a lot of fun and there were parts that we sang along to. It was during a tube strike so not everyone was able to show up. The venue was also neat, as I hadn’t been inside that church before.

Friday was so lovely I had to just get out on a hike nearby. The tube strikes meant it was difficult to plan, but I just checked in the morning and found a good starting point in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. I started there and went north along the River Lea and the canal by the same name. I ran parts of it when I was feeling it and the scenery wasn’t as nice. There were still many flowers in bloom including a few amazing wisteria vines. I also saw a lot of cootlings, gauslings, and ducklings. I saw some swans, grebes, and cormorants, but no babies for them.

Here is the path I took (link), which was about 24km.

Sunday was back to Choir with Mercato Mayfair performance/rehearsal. I had a great time, and we did a lot of songs all the way through. We will need to put some time into learning Jump Up Superstar, but that is for Monday.

London Weekly 174

Monday I had choir people and Giulio over for karaoke. It went much better this time, but at some point towards the end of the night a playlist managed to get added to the queue. I’ll refine it more for next time, but it went pretty well. The food also went over better than last time as I had more prepared and dipping sauces. Tia, Raiad, and Paul tried the reaper hot sauce from Paultong and it took them by surprise at how spicy it was. Kyoko brought some amazing fresh mochi, which was delicious.

The next day I decided to work outside in Regent’s Park. I just took my folding chair and found a lovely spot under some trees. It was a little chilly, but I’ll do this on any nice day. I just need to make sure my devices are fully charged before heading out.

Wednesday I took as a long fast day, so I did a 36 hour fast. I like to do these every now and then to help reset.

Steph and her parents got into town on Friday, separately. Steph got back from her 2 week cave diving trip in France. Her parents arrived from their trans Atlantic cruise. Her dad got sick on the cruise, but he had mostly recovered by the time we saw him. We then went to dinner at Indian Lounge. The samosas were bad, but the rest of the food was decent.

Saturday was relaxing. Steph had dinner with her parents while I went to a choir birthday party. It was Hitchhiker’s Guide themed. I went as Agrajag, an obscure character from the later books. Some people got it. They had a fun set of activities, including a bad poetry competition (based on the Vogons) and a task to find people that were assigned to the same set of aliens as you were. The night was fun and I enjoyed chatting with everyone. I stayed for the blowing out of the candles, but left when it become dance time, as that isn’t my cup of tea.

Sunday we met the Lees at their hotel, and then walked to the Canal Museum together. We took the canal boat through the tunnel, which is something I’ve wanted to do since we got to London. I’ve just been saving it for doing with a group that came to town and would want to do it. This worked out perfectly as we could point out our flat from the tour and the weather was amazing with the trees blooming. The tunnel was interesting, and the canal boat ride was nice.

We then had them back to our flat, and I grabbed some soup, sandwiches, and scones from Waitrose. It was a nice spread, and makes me think the subdivided sandwich route could be a good idea for hosting. We had a lovely lunch, then Steph’s parents went back to their hotel for a nap.

London Weekly 173

This week was the first major performance for the Ready Singer One nerdy choir that I was able to participate in.  It was great fun and I think went really well with a full seating for the Crypt on the Green.  Each section of the choir had their own performance, making it about 50 people per group.  I loved it and also really enjoyed showing up to the Tuesday performance to listen.  It makes me happy to be a part of such a fun and friendly group of people.

My group performed on Monday, and I appreciate that Lynne and her friend, as well as Steph and Roxanne and her husband came to see the performance.  It started pretty late, so we didn’t stay at the pub too long afterwards.

Friday I was getting ready for a last minute trip to Belgrade, because why not, and Stacie invited me along.

London Weekly 171

I did my multiple choir rehearsal again, and had a great time. A number of the other Monday basses joined me, so we ended up a little bass heavy on some parts, which was amusing because that almost never happens.

Thursday evening we went to Lynne’s choir performance in a gorgeous old church. We stayed for the first half, but then had to sneak out to go to the Science Museum Late where my choir was performing. We made it just in time for the final show, and Steph got to see all the Star Trek memorabilia while I enjoyed the museum.

Friday afternoon I went to Maggie’s dance recital, which was a lot of fun. I met up with Nathan there, and he was still wearing his sparkle makeup from the Thursday late, which was amazing. After the recital went long, I joined Steph at Chotto Mate, a nice Japanese restaurant that has been on the list for a long time. Then we went to the British Museum Late, where we mostly went to the Samurai exhibit. I tried to go to the Geek Orchestra performance, but the room was overfull so I was unable to listen or watch.

Zaheer and Zahira invited us to join them and Flick to watch Hail Mary. I really enjoyed the movie, although they did the movie magic for a nicer ending in multiple ways that somewhat undercut the more interesting messages of the book. We went out for Italian afterwards, although Steph and Flick went home instead.

That evening, Steph and I went to an immersive cocktail experience called Avora, which had a story similar to Avatar.  It was fun, and I appreciated the time I spent with Steph there.  It can be good to get away from the devices and just be present for a bit.

London Weekly 170

I continued the RS1 singing trend from Saturday Karaoke and Sunday Mercato to go to Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday rehearsals for choir. It was great, and the last few weeks of the session are my favorite, because we mostly sing through the whole repertoire. I love doing the full songs with all the parts, but recognise we do need to do the note bashing at the start.

I also spent as much time outdoors as was reasonable. I ended up taking the camping folding chair and finding nice places in different parks or by the canal to sit and work, tethering off my phone for internet. It worked amazingly well, and I plan to continue the trend on nice days.

Tuesday before choir I went by some museums. The garden museum was ok, not great. But the Imperial War Museum was interesting and had sections on WWI WWII and wars of the Empire. It was surprisingly open about all the wars the UK fought for the Empire, although it focussed on many of the smaller less known ones.

On Thursday I played a game with RS1 people at Jamie and Liz’s place. It was about politics and having a kingdom decide who will next rule it. We played two rounds. The people made it fun, but the game itself was somewhat limited in scope and interest. Not many decisions, and the ones we made weren’t clear or didn’t have much consequence.

Saturday I went to a RS1 birthday party that was 101 Dalmations themed, and it was fun. They had karaoke going in the basement of a pub that was pretty close to our place. I didn’t stay long, but had fun while I was there.

Sunday was Zaheer’s birthday, and I joined at his place for the party. He was ambitious with wanting his computer to run XBox and Switch games, with different controllers connecting. It somewhat worked and we played a few rounds of Halo. Then we did some karaoke and had a few shots.

London Weekly 169