It's an Exciting World

I got to spend Thanksgiving with my family in Atlanta. We were able to have some great fun while there.

Tuesday Dad, Jeff, and myself made a friction fire. It was harder than we expected, but after about a dozen attempts we got it working right. Dad had all the right wood and we didn’t have a bow so it was just holding the string taught and running it back and forth. Jeff took us to a nice Mexican restaurant for taco Tuesday, and I got to see the whole family for a lovely dinner. Grace, Kim, Jeff, and I also did an amazing experience that wasn’t quite an escape room, but it was lots of puzzles. We did a laser maze and some cooperative Simon.

Thanksgiving dinner was delightful and chaotic, and I greatly enjoyed getting to play with Elise and Audrey. They are so much fun, and they tired me out.

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

Karaoke on Monday with Craig and people from choir was a blast. I left early as I was getting tired quickly, but I still really enjoyed myself.

On Tuesday we went to Walthamstow to have lunch with Punit.

Giulio and I had dinner together then went to choir for the first half of When I Grow Up from Matilda.

On Friday, Steph joined me for breakfast at the congee bar at work. I really enjoyed the discussion with the StartX AI group in the evening, and signed up to do a presentation on video models.

Saturday, Steph and I went to the Taskmaster Live Experience in Canada Water. It was fun, and I felt really good for figuring out the only real puzzle. I ended up winning a golden rubber ducky for being ‘the best of the worst.’ I was happy with it, but don’t need to go back and do the other one. We stopped off afterwards for lunch at the Borough Markets and ate at Mei Mei. I got the duck dish, which is similar to the meal deal I get at Waitrose, just way nicer.

Sunday was chill, and I was sick, so not much beyond book club.

Overall not too much going on this week, but I did make a new music video.

London Weekly 112

I had an amazing week for London Weekly 105.

Monday I got to perform with the choir at Trafalgar Square. We did a number of Christmas songs, along with the Hercules medley. I really enjoyed seeing everyone else from the choir, as well as getting to perform with them all. This was my only performance for this term, and I technically shouldn’t have done it as I didn’t make the dress rehearsal and I missed three weeks of normal rehearsal. I did a lot of extra studying so I felt good about the content. I was also able to get a nice hot chocolate at the Christmas market beforehand and I got Steph some chocolate covered marshmallows afterwards.

Tuesday I went to the show “Hold on to your Butts,” a Jurassic Park parody. It was fantastic and did a beat by beat parody with great callouts for where the film made no sense. I went with a few people from work including Giulio and Cristina. Steph wasn’t feeling great so she skipped.

Wednesday we helped out at the Lifesavers course acting as casualties. Steph and I got dragged around the pool, and had a good time. We showed off some of our Red Sea dive trip.

Thursday Steph and I walked around King’s Cross area looking at the lights and stopping by Canopy Market and Lower Stable Market. I got some great pictures of Steph, and we ran across a company handing out free drinks called Mixton. We also had a nice stop by St. Pancras Station to see the Wicked ‘Christmas Tree.’

Friday night Steph was making some clotted cream to go with the blueberry scones I was going to make Saturday morning. Here is the amazing recipe from Steph.

The scones turned out great and Saturday I took them to Atlas’s birthday party. There were a number of young kids there, and I had good conversations with everyone. Steph wasn’t able to join as she was too sick and didn’t want to spread things. I did take some food back to her, as Nancy and Punit were leaving for Canada on Monday.

Sunday was a chill day with a visit to the National Gallery’s special exhibit on Van Gogh. They had over 50 pieces by Van Gogh there, including several different mediums. We hung out by the Trafalgar Square Christmas market afterwards and had some hot chocolate.

This week was a great taste of why I love London. It had a show, a museum, choir, dive club, markets, interesting and pretty things in public spaces, and getting to spend time with friends. I also loved that on my walks to work I see coots, Canadian geese, Egyptian geese, mallards, morehens, cormorants, seagulls, crows, and magpies. I am amazed every day at the vibrancy of the place despite the constant grey weather.

I had a really chill week for week number 97 in London. This week was spent close to home taking care of things. On Wednesday we took the kitties to the vet to get them checked up. They are doing well, and I just need to brush their teeth more often.

Giulio joined me for choir on Wednesday, which as great. We went to the pub after with the choir as well and it was great talking to everyone there. I really enjoy talking to people in the choir because they aren’t in tech. It is a breath of fresh air and I get to hear what non techies lives are like.

I ran into the canal cats a good bit this week. There is a new Tortie and the Orange Tabby near Kaki was out and about again. It is also truly turning to fall this week. The trees in the courtyard have gone golden. They are gorgeous, but in a few days they will be bare. Other trees are turning as well, some golden, some red. It is a pretty if dreary time of year.

Saturday I ran errands in the morning then we went to dinner with Ricardo. We then went to Camden and tried to find some live music, but the only major show was sold out. We got a Guinness at a pub and then walked along the canal back to King’s Cross.

Sunday Steph organized a trip to Dover Castle. We had a few detours along the way, but made it there and then toured the castle. It was a pretty quiet day, but the weather was perfect for it. The castle is big, and has a ton of history. They also did lots of period pieces to show what it would have been like in the 1200’s. We walked down to the beach and had dinner by the water.

London Weekly 95

I did a good bit of singing this week, between Karaoke on Tuesday and Choir on Wednesday. I really enjoyed both. The karaoke was only four of us, Xiaomeng, Giulio, Baha and myself. I found a new team at Meta, and resolved some of the big unknowns I had hovering over me.

On Sunday I took Steph to an afternoon tea at Whiskers & Cream, a cat cafe. It had some really cute cats that were really chill. There were a lot of children that weren’t terribly nice to the cats, so mid visit most of the cats were taking sanctuary in the high places around the cafe.

London Weekly 94

The team at work wound down and we had drinks after work a few times. I also headed up to Highgate to take care of a cat for a coworker. Overall very little happened this week worth noting. Most of the team transferred to a new group, and others transferred to the US. I did get to go to choir as the new term started. I really enjoyed the group singing and had missed it.

London Weekly 91

This week I was cat-sitting a cute grey longhair, Henry. It wasn’t too bad going up to Highgate.

Monday we had off, I spent the day selling our bikes. We hadn’t used them even once since we moved to the UK. They sold really quickly on the company for sale board. Then we met some people for dinner in the Dalston Curve Garden. It was a really nice space, and I’d be up for going back there and hanging out more. We hung out with some of the people from Radha’s book launch, Rachel, Mike, Erin, and Irene. It was a great discussion, and we got some good pointers for the Global Talent Visa.

Wednesday we went to lunch with Irene at a fancy place in Bank. It was good, but strange to be there. that evening we went to Hadestown, but 4 people dropped out from being sick. The main actor wasn’t great, as he really struggled with the high notes. The rest of it was great, and I really liked that they had a baritone as a main role.

Thursday we saw Deadpool and Wolverine again with Irene, and I enjoyed it just as much. We went to the Baker Street location of Everyman, which was something new.

Saturday, Steph and I went to the Queens Wood for lunch. Eating next to the Royal Frog Pond. Afterwards, I got lots of plants in Camden. I’m putting a row of plants between the terrariums and the window as they’ve been getting too much light and spending most of the day fogged. One plant died from the overheating. This is despite the window not getting any directly light.

Sunday was absolutely gorgeous. Steph and I spent the evening sitting out by the lock in Camden, picnicking and watching the boats go up and down. We met up with the group from the book launch again, and it was a great evening. I really enjoyed chatting with them, and look forward to seeing them again.

London Weekly 78

I took it really easy this week, both for making sure my back got better, and for having a slow week before heading to California for three weeks.

I had breakfast with Royi this week, and it was good to see him after many years. It sounded like neither of us had been great in keeping in touch with fraternity brothers. He’d moved back to Atlanta, but I guess not really reconnected.

We also watched a ton of taskmaster. We went through the seasons that had Mel, Sue, and Noel, since we are familiar with them from The Great British Baking Show.

Steph and I had a dinner at Rosa’s Thai restaurant on Wednesday, and I left work a little early so we could. Otherwise Wednesday was the typical choir and dive club. In choir we did The Colors of the Wind, which was really nice. The baritones had lots of melody, and the harmony parts weren’t hard for us. I regret that my work trips will make it so I can’t perform this term.

Thursday was a day I’d been looking forward to for a long time, we got to see Spirited Away the live action show. It was really well done, but the puppets weren’t quite as impressive as the massive Totoro and Cat Bus. It followed along with the movie pretty much exactly shot by shot. Friday we watched the movie to compare.

Saturday we went on a hike from Uxbridge to Rickmansworth. The hike was along the Grand Canal, and was so nice. The baby waterfowl were adorable, and I always love seeing the variety of house boats along the canals. We stopped for lunch at an adorable pub inn, Coy Carp Harefield, and it was delicious. We played through a round of Frosthaven that evening.

Sunday was about relaxing and chores before leaving for California.