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.
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.
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.
This week I had a few days at Yonder to do climbing and coworking. It is a really nice setup with the first two floors being a climbing gym, then the third floor as a coworking space. I met Punit there and we climbed together.
I went to both choirs this week and really enjoyed the songs we were singing. I’m looking forward to performing with them. I joined for drinks after with the games choir and talked more with Zaheer.
Over the weekend I went to the open parks in London. I met Zaheer at and we stopped by 5 amazingly nice gardens: Belgrave Square Garden, Wilton Crescent Garden, Eaton Square Garden, Chester Square Garden, and Queen’s Gate Garden. It was raining some that day, but we found good spots to stay dry for the most part. I also really enjoyed talking to Zaheer abou the future and how AI could impact things going forward. I really enjoy talking with him, and appreciate that he doesn’t get bored by it.
Sunday I went to the Teddington Rubber Ducky Race with Diana, Jose, Zsofia, Anel, and Pavel. Anel and Pavel showed up towards the end, then we had an amazing Sunday roast and Pimms at the Teddington Arms where Jose is the manager. We hung out in his flat afterwards, just above the bar. I had a great time with that group, but needed to get back home early to meet Steph as she came back from her cave dive rescue training course.
I had an amazing amount happen in one week. Selling a house in CA, Buying a flat in the UK, leaving Meta, and starting on my own company.
On top of that there was a lot of choir and people visiting from out of town.
After getting back from Turkey, We took a much needed day to rest at the flat. Then I got to my last few days in the office. I also met up with Punit, and we walked around the Camley Street Nature Park. Steph and I also dropped by IKEA to get some furniture shopping in and establish a baseline for what we are looking for in our furniture for the new place. We closed on Tuesday and got the keys. There was still some furniture left in the flat so we got that moved out on Thursday.
I had a lovely going away drinks on Wednesday, with a lot of my Meta colleagues coming by. Many had already gone home since a plumbing issue caused the P Building to be shut down. I also left my keyboard in the office since I rushed out, but not a huge thing to have left.
Thursday I was free and the weather was nice and left my phone at the flat. I walked from King’s Cross to Russel Square, then down to Westminster. I walked through St. James Park, Green Park, and Hyde Park before having lunch in Little Venice. I decided to head back and jumped on the tube to get back in 15 minutes.
Thursday evening most of the dive group for Turkey came over and we had a lovely evening of games. They were so nice, and I really appreciate the books from Diana, Jose, Anel, and Pavel. I’ll read through the one from Anel so I can discuss it with her.
Friday I had a motley assortment of friends over, and it was great to see them all getting along so well and connecting. Nicole, Radha, Marissa, Bijoy, Lynne, and Pauline came. I really enjoyed the evening, and I want to host more social events like that. The new place will be better setup to handle it, from the layout of the space and having our own furniture to move around as we like.
For Friday I did a twist on the blueberry scones that I’m calling blueberry dumplings, as I wrap a few blueberries in the scone dough. It turns out much better than the scones, due to the blueberries staying whole and inside the dough instead of leaking everywhere.
Saturday Morning we had a call with Yutong and Paul. It has been too long and I was really happy we were able to get so much time talking to them. It was really late their time, and I appreciate them staying up so late to talk.
Michael and Michelle arrived Saturday around noon. They took a jet lag nap before we met up with them for dinner at Dishoom in the Battersea Power Station. We then headed to The Treehouse where we met with Nicole and some other of her friends. It was a really nice evening, with drinks late into the night. A little too late into the night for me, but it was still great discussions. It was interesting to hear the others complain about their moms, and when they asked me I could only answer “My mom is perfect.”
Sunday was lots of choir. In the morning we went to Merkato Mayfair, a church converted to a food court. The acoustics are great in there. Then we headed to Comic Con, and performed again. The guys from dive club were amazingly supportive and showed up to listen and record. We walked around afterwards until the Con closed. Then I headed into Covent Garden to meet Evelyn, who happened to also be in London this weekend. We had dinner at Seven Dials market, then watched a street act. We then met her husband and went to Mr. Fogg’s Society of Exploration. It wasn’t their normal kind of place, but I think they still had a good time. There was a live singer who did amazing jazzy cocktail covers of pop songs.
I’ve also been setting up tons of meetings about leaving Meta and a whole different set of meeting with builders to walk them through our plans and get bids. I feel bad that I haven’t done much actual work yet, even though it has been only two working days, during which I was mainly handling the flat purchase.
This week I did a lot of singing, and skipped out on just as much.
I went to choir rehearsal for Ready Singer One on Monday and then West End Musical Choir on Wednesday. I’m still enjoying both choirs, and they don’t take up that much time overall. I skipped the Tuesday rehearsal, because it was for a performance I wasn’t going to be able to make.
I was also supposed to go to Overtures on Friday, but forgot my ID and was turned away at the door. I still enjoyed sitting and watching Outernet for a little while.
Book club on Sunday was a great discussion, with one of the larger attendances in a while. We were talking about Work Pray Code, and we each had personal identification with the message of work in Silicon Valley trying to be all of a person’s life, filling in for religion and other social structures.
Otherwise it was a calm week, and I got a lot of work done on my side projects.
This week was mainly spent with Steph’s parents. We went to several dinners around London, and all of them were delicious.
We also went to SIX the Musical, and I think they liked it. It is shorter and more energetic than many musicals. They said afterwards they would have liked to learn more about the history beforehand.
We also finally made it to the Cotswolds. We went around to most of the major villages, and even stopped by Jeremy Clarkson’s restaurant.
This week we did a really interesting activity that simulates Star Trek. It was really well done, but I took a position that was just ok, radar. I learned from that and I know now more about the experience, so I’ll be able to do more next time. Steph had an amazing time, running around and repairing the ship. Steph was also on Navigation, but got backup from the comms station.
I also looked after Henry again this week, and while I was in the neighbourhood I took some walks through Hampstead Heath. It was a gorgeous time to be in the heath, as many of the flowers were in bloom.
Steph’s parents got into town, so we went to dinner with them at Coal Office. They took the repositioning cruise across the Atlantic, so they didn’t have any jet lag.
After the choir dress rehearsal on Sunday I got very sick. Monday and Tuesday I didn’t really leave the bed. Wednesday and Thursday I was in bed mostly, but trying to work. Friday I made it to the office as my fever had broken. I still had a lingering cough for a few weeks. This was pretty much all of London week 119.
London week 120 was much better. I still had a cough, but I was able to get out and about, and the cough wasn’t so bad that I had to back out of the choir performances. I had a great time performing again on the steps of St. Pauls, where Lynne and a friend came to watch. It was also during a half marathon going through London, and right by the Cathedral, so it was chaos in that area. I had a good time of it with the singing. I was also strangely happy to have a light sunburn from standing on the steps for so long. It feels good after so many months of cold and overcast to have a sunny enough day to get a sunburn. The other choir performance was in front of the Albert Memorial in Hyde Park. We got there early and had a nice picnic under some amazing cherry trees. Then we walked around and looked at some of the other nice flower beds around the memorial. The performance went well, but the choir was on a flat area high up, so it was hard to see the audience. I only did the first cast, and I stuck around to hear part of the second cast, which was a nice change of pace.
During the week not much happened. I finally made it back to dive club, in the new pub, The Crown. I also finally put in my notice at work, so my last day will be May 21. I’m looking forward to doing something of my own again. We also went to the play Stiletto with Nancy and Punit this week. I wasn’t a huge fan of the play as the musical numbers didn’t fit into the play, they were points where the action paused and then people sang about their emotions. We then got drinks at an amazing bar, Mr. Fogg’s Society of Exploration. It was a lovely atmosphere, with great drinks.
Nature has been amazing these past few weeks, despite me being sick. The weather has been lovely, and we’ve started to see the first baby birds. I also saw a fox walking along the outside of Regent’s Wharf, and we took a morning to just have a picnic in the park before I headed into work. It has been slow and lovely overall.
It's an Exciting World 