It's an Exciting World

This week my sister Kim and niece Grace were in town. London Weekly 85.

Monday morning I met them at the train station and brought them back to the flat before heading to work. We took it easy Monday, with a short stop by the British Library and dinner at Nando’s.

Tuesday they went to the British Museum in the morning and then I took the afternoon off to go to The Eye and Buckingham Palace with them. I had to run back after that for volunteering at StartX.

Wednesday they went to the Natural History Museum, V&A, and the British Museum again. We met them in Hyde park for a picnic dinner.

Thursday I took off work to go to Hampton Court Palace with them. We had a great time at the palace, and Grace especially loved the kid’s playground.

Friday was a chill day and we had dinner at Dishoom right before the rush. They went to Camden Market and played in the fountains during the day on Friday, which was the perfect day for it.

Saturday they came over to hang out a bit, and do some laundry, then we went to the V&A again and had some tea in Kensington. The Piccadilly and Central lines were down for engineering work, so it was a little hard getting around.

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Monday I didn’t do much besides work, and Tuesday was much the same. I did go to the different offices to give presentations, which was a nice change of pace. Wednesday I made it to the last night of choir for the term. I signed up for next term and am looking forward to it. Craig and Sergio were there so I got to say hi to both of them.

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I got back from California to some happy kitties. Steph was still diving in Budapest so I had the house to myself for a few days. I got so many good kitty cuddles. I took a lot of time for self care and got a few new terrariums.

Steph and I did a round at Castle Climb of the V1-2 loop. I still ended up with one route I couldn’t get through. After that we met up with Nancy and Punit with Atlas at one of the markets in the area. We got some amazing Proper Tacos, and then walked around for a bit.

I wanted another chill week after the craziness in California, so I didn’t end up doing much the second week either.  Steph and I got some amazing seats for SIX on Tuesday.  I went to choir rehearsal, but most of the people I know weren’t there this week.

The weather was amazing, and I had dinner by the canal a few times.  There is a bench that is across the canal from Reagents Wharf that I’ve taken to.  It is perfect for watching the baby coots and ducklings.

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i got back from California Friday afternoon. I slept amazingly well on the flight. Steph and I made it to the dive club social, which was a great time. They hung fish from the ceiling on streamers, and had a great spread.

Saturday evening I went to meet some people from choir and had a great time watching Eurovision with them. I really enjoyed the show and the people. The acts were all interesting and different.

Work was crazy this week, with projects changing in priority and timelines shifting. I got what I needed to done, but not nearly as much as I wanted to.

I also hurt my back on Monday at Power Pump. I had weighted the bar for squats and tried to picked it up too quickly and badly; entirely my fault.

I cuddled the kitties a lot and that helped. Monday and Tuesday were all about relaxing with some Frosthaven, then I made it to choir and dive club on Wednesday.

I took Thursday off. Steph and I rode the Metropolitan Line to the end at Uxbridge. Then we made it to Pinewood Studios to see Taskmaster. They were filming series 18 and it was hilarious to watch in person.

Friday we headed to Portland for a dive trip. I backed out of the diving because of my back injury, but went to Portland anyway. It was a long trip to not do anything. The weather was not nice enough to go around the island and the dive crew was out diving then came back exhausted. The dinner together was nice.

The trip back also took quite a long time. We left around 2pm and got home around 9:45pm. I had a nice call with Kim that evening as well.

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I got back from NYC really late on Friday. Saturday was really chill, with Steph and I going to Yonder to do some climbing, then playing Frosthaven most of the rest of the day.

Sunday was a lovely day, where we went to the Albion for lunch, then had a fancy dinner reservation at the Gingerline. The Albion is an old pub in Islington that has an amazing wisteria vine on the front and another on a trellis in the back. The day we went it was raining and got really cold at the end of lunch. I still really enjoyed it, and they had a lovely set of classic Sunday roasts.

Gingerline was a cute venue that looks really unassuming from the outside. It is an interesting dinner and a show location. Their current performance is called the Grand Expedition. The show was ok, with it being a series of small dances mixed with some surround videos on the walls. They got the feeling of taking off in a hot air balloon done pretty well with the surround video display. They also did a really good job on the decorations. The food was good, and tasty, but nothing exceptional. I also wanted more of a specific set of singularly impressive acts, but it was more low level and somewhat interactive the whole time. I think my expectations were just off from what the show was.

I was glad I didn’t have to go to Menlo Park this week, but there was a lot of work to do still. Monday, I went to meet with Osman, a friend of Irene’s. He works with startups as part of the London Business School, and we had a great discussion on how big corporate and startup life differ. I look forward to talking to him again. I made it to choir on Monday evening, and I feel bad that I’m not going to be able to go to many this month, due to all the US trips for work.

Wednesday after work we went for drinks. David and I walked down the canal to The Constitution, which had just opened up. It was directly on the canal, but had 3 levels, and we took a table on the top. Nathalie joined us later, as did Grace and Carla. It was great to relax with people at the bar, as it has been a rough few weeks.

Thursday and Friday we relaxed at home and hung out in the nice weather. We spotted a fox while on the astroturf stairs in King’s Cross, which is right in the middle of everything. It amazes me the amount of wildlife in the city with the canals and parks all over.

Saturday, while Steph was diving, I went to Castle Climb and did the V1-2 circuit in the top section. There was one that I just couldn’t grip the holds towards the end. Then I walked home and got pictures of so many great flowers, especially lots of wisteria. I ran across another fox, which was healthy and cute.

That night I joined Craig, David, DC, and Segio for dinner and Overtures. They did a few good Disney, but then did a lot of famous musicals, but not the famous numbers from those musicals.

Sunday we spent mostly with Punit and Nancy. Steph made an amazing pie. She got the recipe from one of the Star Trek actors. I helped Punit put together their new canopy on their roof patio. Then we watched the final two episodes of Siren Island, one of the Korean physical challenge shows. I really enjoyed this one as it had some real strategy. The people who had strategies also were the ones who ended up winning most of the time.

When we tried to head home the Victoria line wasn’t running, so we had to head back and take the book club call from Nancy and Punit’s place. It was a great discussion, but the book was really hard to get through.

Monday was chill, Steph and I went to power pump, then had lunch at Canopy Market. We chilled until the evening when we went to Cabaret. We got there only a little before showtime, and saw Carla and Grace right before the show. I really enjoyed it and it was some of the best acting I’ve seen.

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Monday we got dinner with a friend of Irene, George. He’s a professional pianist and has had some interesting life stories. He was great to talk to and I really enjoyed hearing about his travels and challenges. He had to get to a meeting but we got a traditional English dinner. Then went to The Three Tuns, an adorable traditional pub, and had a drink.

Tuesday morning I went on a lovely run through Reagents Park. I did most of the park for a total of about 3 miles. There were so many tulips and trees in bloom, it was gorgeous.

Wednesday I made it to dive club, and it was absolutely packed. We even ran out of chairs.

Krista and Bonnie were in town on Thursday and Friday. They are Steph’s family from Hawaii. We went with them to dinner on Thursday at Marketo for Ethiopian. Then we had breakfast at Dishoom on Friday. Saturday was a stop by a few of the more major museums: Natural History Museum, and the V&A. They left early Sunday morning.

Sunday I spent time with Steph, and we walked around a bit in the neighborhood near us. We spotted a few gorgeous Wisteria vines, and I’m looking forward to going to the Albion in a week when they are fully blooming.

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We spent a lot of time with Grace this week as she had us over to Google for lunch. I really enjoyed just hanging out with her, Carla, and Steph. We talked about the last minute tickets for musicals and resolved to get some the next day.

We chose Back to the Future the Musical as the target. I got on at 10:02 and all the tickets were already in baskets, but with the 10:05 re-up I was able to get tickets for myself and Steph. I enjoyed the musical, despite it not being great. The car scenes were one of the best parts, and the special effects were amazing.

We played some V-Rising with Michael and Michelle, and really struggled with the bosses in the new area. Since they heal and summon it can be really rough if we can’t beat them quickly enough.

Saturday, Steph and I went to Camden market for brunch, then tried to go to the Camden Garden Center. Lots of the roads were closed so we wandered a bit before getting there. I got some plants to replace some that hadn’t done so well in the outdoor planters. I’ve been really surprised how well my indoor planters have done. I then went to grab a new library card for Islington, but was somewhat disappointed by the selection in the free apps. They had a number of books on CD, but not many in the Libby app.

Sunday we went over to Nancy and Punit’s to watch the end of Physical 100. It was a great show, and they had some amazing cooking. We even spent some time on their roof when the sun came out.

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Overall this week the weather was starting to get actually good. The wind really picked up, so it wasn’t quite warm enough to not wear a jacket. I let the kitties out onto the balcony, which they enjoyed: so many smells.

Monday was a holiday, and Steph went to dive to check out her gear with a cave diving buddy. I stayed in for the day. Monday evening we went to TINA, the musical, with Grace and Carla. It was surprisingly good.

Tuesday evening I performed in St. Pancras Station, which went ok. There weren’t many people as it was a rescheduled event with a changed location. The first round was rough, but the following three went pretty well. It wasn’t nearly as cold as the December performance.

Wednesday evening was with dive club. Thursday was StartX, and then drinks with people from work who were in town.

Steph was off cave diving for the weekend. I had the performance on the steps of St. Paul’s Cathedral. In the video I’m just to the left of the musical director. After the performance I went inside, into the crypts, and then up to the roof. It was amazing. The choir was practicing while we were there and it was a gorgeous sound.

That evening I got rush tickets to see Frozen, the musical. It was very well done, especially with how they displayed the magic. The child actors were phenomenal, and the extra songs they put in for the musical were fun. As expected it was full of kids, but they weren’t that disruptive. There was one kid near us that kept saying “Oh no!” at the bad guy reveals. It was cute and everyone laughed.

Sunday was chill, and I played some Monaco with Grace, then Steph got home and we had book club.

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Monday evening I went to Guys and Dolls with Craig. We got the immersive seats and it was really fun. They were moving in and around us the whole time, and a few people got pulled up to the stage during a few of the numbers. The whole thing was fantastic, but Steph’s criticism was very valid. The guys were terrible to the women and we seen as redeemed and great by just agreeing to marry them. They had no time to show they had changed their ways.

Tuesday I was supposed to go to Liverpool St. Station for a choir performance, but it got cancelled. I ended up going out to Beer + Burgers with Sagar, David and other people from work. I really enjoyed chatting with all of them.

Wednesday evening I went to the King’s Cross choir for the final performance. We got a recording, but the audio isn’t the best.

Friday and Saturday we played Frosthaven. We got into a set of linked scenarios. We had our first characters retire at the same time. Steph went for the Crashing Tide crab character, and I decided to do a new Boneshaper, but with a different set of cards.

Friday we went to LEGO: the Art of the Brick exhibit. It was pretty fun, but it was one note on many of the monochromatic people. We grabbed drinks with Grace and Carla before then, and it was nice.

Saturday evening I joined some people from Choir at Overtures, the musical sing-a-long piano bar. The evening was great. I was especially amused by the choir singing all together on arrangements that weren’t the official arrangement, and the people playing the music got very confused. We were so confidently wrong.

Sunday, Steph and I headed to Richmond Park, the largest park in London which has a big herd of deer.