It's an Exciting World

London, Week 54

Monday Steph and I had a date night to Austentatious – An Improvised Jane Austen Novel. The theme for the evening was “I don’t think so, sir!” They did an excellent job for the most part, and they had some interesting characters. There were a lot of crossed wires on who was supposed to love who, but in the end they pulled it together. I was impressed by the way several of the actors could really pull off the different roles without much more than adding a hat.

Tuesday evening was my company Christmas party. It was expectedly over the top. Unexpectedly, I went in the wrong entrance and got to the venue through a service elevator 15 minutes before it was supposed to start. I found my way to the entrance doors and hung out there. I have the guise of someone who knows what they are doing so nobody questioned me. I had a good time, and avoided all the drama that can come from those kinds of evenings. I heard later that the drama was quite contained, despite the other David’s best efforts.

We had some great calls Wednesday morning with friends abroad. Paul and Yutong were calling late at night, and we chatted with them about where we could go diving. We chatted with Irene after that about her trying to buy a house in Japan. I had to run to work, for a meeting, but we had good calls with both of them. Paul and Yutong seemed pretty stressed out, so I hope they get a relaxing holidays. The pub meet for the dive club was pretty tame that evening. I missed going to choir, since the term had ended.

Thursday and Friday didn’t have much going on, so I got a good number of chores and 2024 planning tasks out of the way. We also finished up the latest season of Bake Off. I also tuned in for an AI talk with the normal StartX AI Friday group.

Saturday I had a marathon performance at the 02 Mall in Greenwich. We did four full sets and I enjoyed it, but not as much as the other locations. I was in the very back, and the room was large and open. That meant that I didn’t really hear the other singers throughout the performance. I still enjoyed seeing the other performers, and since the baritone section is pretty small it has been the same baritones that have been singing together for pretty much all the performances.

After singing I met Steph at the National Maritime Museum. We saw the exhibits we cared about, and then went to a nice dinner at a nearby Columbian restaurant, Balboa. We then finished the night with an ice skate at the Queen’s House.

Sunday was my last performance with the choir for the term, this time at Covent Garden. We were under the overhang at the back of the church there, near the large tree. It was a huge crowd from the choir. Despite it being decently cold and wet, we had a great time. We did Love is an Open Door twice, which I love. That is my favorite song out of the set. After that I headed home and relaxed the rest of the day.

December 16, 2023 2

London, Week 53

We got back from the US on Saturday morning, or at least I did. Steph got delayed by about 3 hours, which was awkward as I didn’t have a key. My key was with the cat sitters. I tried to just go relax at the office and drop off some stuff at my desk, but it happened to be the weekend they were doing tests of the power system. I went to the other building and was able to take a long hot shower and work in the lobby for a while. Steph eventually showed up and I had enough time to unpack and eat a little something.

Shortly after that I had dress rehearsal for the West End Musical Choir. This was the rehearsal for all the off book performances, and it was a lot of people, around 400 I would guess. I got a really good seat; right at the intersection of the four sections. It was unusual to hear all the sections at the same time, although it also made it a bit hard on songs that had the sections going at different times. I really enjoyed the rehearsal, but was pretty dead by the end of it, as I didn’t sleep much on the flight. I slept amazingly well Saturday night.

Sunday, We had a mostly chill day, doing chores and getting settled back in with the kitties. We got everything prepped for sending our passports in for renewal. We also started planning 2024 in more detail.

Monday I was back to work, but I had a double performance with the choir at St. Pancras station. It was so much fun performing. Steph came to watch the first one, and by the second round it was getting pretty cold. I went to the pub for a drink with some of the other choir members afterwards and they were talking about it being bake off week.

That made me decide to do a triple batch of blueberry scones, Steph’s recipe, on Tuesday evening. I didn’t do it quite right, but they still turned out really tasty. They just weren’t very pretty, since the blueberries had slightly melted and the color hard gotten mixed into the dough a bit more.

People really enjoyed them at rehearsal on Wednesday, where we ran through all the songs and made a nice video.

Everyone loved the scones at choir, but they didn’t get finished off. I took them to Dive Club, which wasn’t actually a club meeting. We each had a few at dive club, and I was left with four that I took to share with people at work on Thursday.

Thursday morning I tried out a cycle class at Better for the first time and it went really well. It wasn’t as hard as I was expecting, but my heart rate still got pretty high. Thursday and Friday were chill days at home, with more chores. We did get some snow on Friday, Dec 1.

Saturday we went to have grilled cheese with Nancy and Punit at their new place. We met their two week old baby, Atlas, who was tiny. They had made some amazing pickled onion, and got a nice bread and some basic bread from the store. It was fun trying the different grilled cheeses. I made a lentil soup to go with it that turned out better than I was expecting.

Saturday evening I got on BGA to play with Adam and Timtimtimtimtimtim. We played Gaia Project and then Feast for Odin. I didn’t do well in either, as I haven’t been playing as many board games for a good while. It was nice playing with them, but the remote board game playing isn’t nearly as fun as playing in person. It was hard to have meaningful conversations while playing.

Sunday Steph and I decided to go to Harrods. We got there before they openned so we went to the nearby nut shop. We had ramen in the dining hall, then went around the food halls and picked up some traditional holiday fare. We got a Christmas cake and some mince pies. We also had to stop by the Cheese station and chocolate room. We took a look through their stationary, but none of the cards really struck our fancy.

We headed back home before I headed to the V&A for another choir performance. The room we performed in was the Rafael Cartoons Gallery, and it was a huge vaulted ceiling surrounded by massive gorgeous paintings. It was a perfect space to perform in. We hung out in the green room for two hours and tried out the new songs there. Silent Night and Joy to the World went well, and I dropped both a full octave from the other men. The one that was difficult was All I Want for Christmas is You. That song was hard to get the tune right and the words are harder than I would have expected. I never fully got it right. The first performance didn’t have many people there yet, but there was a nice couple in the back swing dancing. The second performance was packed, and they filled up half of that massive room. At the end some of the choir members went out into the audience and got everyone dancing. It was a great time. The third was fewer people and slightly more tired and subdued than the second, but still a great time.

December 6, 2023 1

Atlanta for Thanksgiving

I got into Atlanta and took Marta up to Midtown without any issue. My mom picked me up and made a lovely dinner, despite the burnt rice on the first pass. This is what would have been London, week 52.

I was able to see Brian and Brittany Martin, with their new son Arlo. Ethan was with the grandparents and cousins. They were talking about what’s next for them, and they are trying to figure out where they want to live and what they want to do. It is something a lot of people I know struggle with. I hope they can come meet us in London or we can meet up in Europe somewhere.

I spent the rest of the time with family. I went to Jeff’s on Wednesday to have a discussion with just him, and everyone got together on Thursday for lunch. The food was delicious. The green bean casserole was ok, but I still didn’t like it. My three nieces were cute, and I got to play with them a good bit. They had one of those rockets you launch by stomping on a paddle, and they would run to grab it and bring it back for me to launch again.

I had lunch with my parents before heading to the airport for an overnight flight.

November 24, 2023 1

Back in the Bay

This would have been week 51 of being in London, but we spent it back in the SF Bay Area.

We got in late on Wednesday, and headed to Steph’s family home. We were staying there with them, but most of the time Russel and Elaine were in Mexico on a fun trip. We had a nice dinner with them, but I was already full from the food on the flight and really tired from the long day. They were really nice with preparing a veggie stew, and tons of the delicious mango pudding. The next day we went with them to Crouching Tiger for dinner to get some Magic Chili Tofu, which did not disappoint. They still recognized me there after one year away. Steph and I also got Covid boosters on Thursday, and did some grocery shopping since we would be staying at the Lee’s place all week. Those boosters were rough for us, Steph especially.

Friday I went into the office, and it was interesting being back in Burlingame offices. They were just as nice as I remember outside. The insides were pretty much the same as the offices in the UK; standard tech office. I was working with a small team, some of who were from the offices in the UK.

Friday evening we went to see Riley and Rong who have two adorable new identical twins, Tom and Sam. We may have convinced them to give one a goatee to be the mirror universe twin of the other. If they do that they should swap back and forth for the lolz.

Saturday Steph did some martial arts training while I caught up on my real work. We went to a nice big dinner with the board game group friends, and then went back to George’s afterwards. It was great to see them all and catch up.

Sunday we started out at Michael and Michelle’s for book club. We had a wonderful discussion and a ton of people showed up. It was by far the most we’ve had in a discussion for several years, not just since we’ve been in London. Steph had to head out, but I stayed and played Betrayal at House on the Hill. We got a co-op scenario and had great space management, so we had an easy time of it.

Monday we went climbing with Tina and Amit. It was great fun, and we were able to do well on most of the walls. I called it pretty early for me, as I was still dealing with some foot pain, but it didn’t hurt nearly as much as I was expecting.

Tuesday I grabbed dinner with Adam and we then walked around Palo Alto. It hadn’t changed much, as expected. I had a huge wave of jet lag hit, and headed back a little early.

Wednesday was at George’s as it had been for a long time. I enjoyed the time together, and we didn’t do much beyond chat, which was nice. Games would have gotten in the way of having good conversations.

Thursday and Friday I wasn’t feeling great and stayed in mostly. Saturday we headed into SF and went to Juniper and Anna’s wedding. It was a good time, but we headed out a little early as Steph wasn’t feeling great. There was a little blockage on the way there, because their wedding was in a hotel at the center of the conference between Xi and Biden.

Sunday we had lunch with Jeff and Patty. They seem to be doing really well, and are enjoying their early retirement. They do seem like they are searching for something more, but I don’t think it needs to be work for them.

Sunday evening we went to George’s again and had a great time doing some karaoke. I sang a few songs that Steph joined me for. Steph sang one of the songs from the Start Trek musical episode, I’m Ready. I really enjoyed spending time with people, especially Paul and Yutong. They seem stressed out by work, which is more clear now that we’ve been away from the bay area for a little while. I hope we can find a good time to spend with them next year.

Monday morning I headed to the airport before anyone was up, and had a mediocre flight to Atlanta.

November 21, 2023 0

London, Week 50

We did very little on this short week before heading to San Carlos. Monday I went to the choir rehearsal at Liverpool Street, which got me to the required 6 sessions to be allowed to perform. I’ll catch a seventh when I’m back, but the performances have already started at that point.

Tuesday was a lot of prep for the flight on Wednesday. The flight itself was fine, as I used my voucher from the Seattle work trip for premium economy. Steph and I took different flights, but got in at about the same time. I waited for her in SFO for about 15 minutes.

November 21, 2023 0

London, Week 49

this week was pretty calm, and I didn’t do much. I had an injured foot so I skipped most after work activities. I made it to choir on Monday and went for drinks on Thursday with colleagues.

The main event for the weekend was heading to the Westminster Speleological Groups cabin for Bonfire Night. We stayed in Penderyn, a small town up the road from the cabin. We stopped by Friday night and got some time to hang out at the cabin. There was lots of talk about the routes to do the next day, but nothing solidified.

Saturday we went back and I was planning to hang around the cabin all day. The groups planned their routes in the cave and Steph went in the group with Marcus, Rob, Ben, and Steve. At the cabin a talked to several groups that wanted to do hikes, and one that went to a nearby castle museum. In the afternoon Martin came back and I helped him cook Chili for everyone that evening. Forty or so people came by that evening and Dave set up an amazing fireworks display.

We hung out around the campfire and I got to talk to Rob and David for a while. David especially had great stories, and it was interesting to hear how he would just go volunteer all over. Graham kept throwing random things in the fire, like old cabinet fronts.

On Sunday we stopped by the cabin before heading to Cyfarthfa Castle and Museum. It was an interesting history of Wales and Merthyr Tydfil, the town it was in. They also had the collections of several of the rich men that lived there. They also has some artists that were in the family, so some of that art was on display.

November 6, 2023 0

London, Week 48

It was a busy week at work, and lots of other activities came up as well. The one thing missing from this week was choir, as it is the mid-term break.

Monday Steph and I played some more Endless Dungeon.

Tuesday I messed up and double booked the evening. I had promised to do some volunteer work for a group online, so I missed out. Steph and Lynne went to a live orchestral performance of Amadeus. Steph said it was amazing.

Wednesday I did a lot of chores before heading to the BSAC club meeting. I won the bottle of wine, and we got a nice California rose.

Thursday we went to the Old Friends show, which was a Sondheim themed production with some of his original cast from many performances past. The songs were great, but since it was all the highlights there were no stories.

Friday was a lot of work, but I did get to play some endless dungeon.

Saturday I ran a 10K with a coworker, Baha. We got almost exactly 1 hour time on the 10K. I was doing pretty well throughout, but started hurting towards the end of the race. I surprisingly never had issues breathing, and could talk the whole time. As expected, my legs started to give out towards the end.

On Sunday, Steph and I went to the Museum of the Home in Shoreditch. It was pretty neat, with lots of different period based living room setups. They had maybe 20 different living rooms laid out based on the era. We also went on a tour of the gardens, but it happened to be in the pouring rain.

We then checked another food off our list of things to try in the UK. This time it was a Sunday roast at the Own and Pussycat. Nancy and Punit joined us, and it was pretty relaxed. We then went through some of the markets and ran across a stall selling lots of old stamps, and we got a few.

That evening we also experimented with some red lentil tofu. I had soaked red lentils for a few hours, and them blended and cooked them. It set into a nicely firm block that felt like tofu and tasted great with a ginger, garlic, and green onion mix flavored with soy sauce, rice wine, and sesame oil. So tasty, and we have a ton of the red lentil tofu left over for different dishes this week.

October 30, 2023 1

London, Week 47

We had a pretty chill week. Tuesday we got back to the kitties and cuddle them a lot.

Wednesday was a bit busy with Andrew, Debby, and Alexander in town to visit some of Andrew’s family. They were nice enough to stop by and have a nice afternoon tea with us at the Thames Foyer, Savoy. I then went to the choir rehearsal, and finally to dive club. We talked about our trip to Turkey and I was exhausted by the end of it. Steph was talking cave diving, so I waited until 11 before calling it.

Steph and I watched our shows and played games together. We’ve started getting into Endless Dungeon, which is a great game that is a more real time upgrade on Dungeon of the Endless. The multiplayer also doesn’t break constantly.

On Saturday we went to the British Museum to see some of the originals of the statues we saw replicas of in the underwater museum in Turkey. It was interesting to see them, and we went to a few of the rooms that had been closed previously as well. We were lucky to get tables at an Okonomiyaki place right by the museum that was delicious. Steph made a 3D scan of one of the statues.

Steph and I went to Nancy and Punit’s new place this past weekend. It is a great location and a nice place. It has some quirky parts, but overall is very nice. Before visiting we did some climbing with Punit. Then we did a lunch at the Jamaican place across the street from there. We walked around the neighborhood a bit, and it was very nice.

October 27, 2023 0

Turkey Dive Trip

Steph and I left the flat at 3:10am to take the Thameslink train, but it was canceled. We tried to call a Lyft, but the driver didn’t want to go to Gatwick. We ended up in a cab that had an aggressive driver and I almost got sick in the backseat from the driving and the windows being fogged so I couldn’t look out.

We made it to the airport on time and got through security. We went to the lounge and had a decent breakfast. We met the others at the gate; Gokhan, Jose, Diana, and Costa. The plane delayed a bit, then sat on the runway for an hour. They eventually took the plane back to the gate and we had a second breakfast in the terminal while they swapped out crew. After another mild delay we were on the way to Turkey. We got near the airport and we’re circling for a while, and the captain got on the speaker to say they had closed the runway, luckily it was just another 20 minute delay and not a diversion. The bus was ready for us and we had the 2 hour drive to Kaş.

We met Pavel at the dive mannequin we called Jonny Depth and Keaunu Reefs. Everyone was really tired but we still made it out for a very late dinner at a nice restaurant. We loved the cats that were everywhere and many were friendly.

The next morning we made it to the boat with no issues and started our diving. I was having ear issues and wasn’t able to go deeper than 23m. Luckily the water was clear enough that I could see everyone down at 30m perfectly well and I could see the wreck too. After the dive the guide said he liked my style, just sitting still in the water column with perfect trim.

The second dive was at an underwater museum where they had replicas of famous Turkish statues. The real ones can be seen at the British Museum, so we plan to stop by and see thos next week. Despite everything being a replica, I really enjoyed the dive and seeing the statues and amphora underwater.

After diving we went to another boat for an amazing dinner cruise. This had to be the best food of the trip, and we were able to see sunken ruins from the boat, and then swin in a cove with some ruins. I did some free diving and made it down about 10 meters with no fins or line. We then went to a castle on a hill with a small town that was like a maze. Steph spotted a decently large octopus just chilling in the water next to one of the docks.

We saw a gorgeous sunset and made it back to Kaş for a dinner at a local place Gokhan knew.

The next day we did a dive over ancient anchors and amphora. There were also a ton of nudibranchs and lionfish. I had ear issues again, this time at 10m, and I went with Costa and Gokhan on a slightly shallower dive.

I stayed with the same group on the second dive where we went inside a sunken plane. It was purposefully sunk, and set up for divers to easily access. On the way back to the dock we saw some flying fish and at the dock a sea turtle came by the boat.

After the dives we had a great lunch of Turkish dumplings and a Turkish coffee. We gathered our stuff from the boat and took a short breather before heading to the Roman amphitheater for sunset. The sunset was gorgeous, then we had the fancy dinner to close out the major part of the trip in Kaş. Gokhan got a anise seed flavored Turkish drink that was very similar to absinthe, even turning cloudy when adding water. We watered it down and finished the bottle between the 7 of us. The view from the restaurant was also great as it was partway up the hill, and was effectively a massive balcony.

The next morning we got a bus to a nice beach where turtles come up to lay their eggs, and we relaxed for a few hours, then finished the drive back with another stop for what became lunch.

Thankfully there weren’t the same kind of issues on the flight back as there were on the way out.

I enjoyed talking to all the people on the trip. Pavel and his wife are really into visiting castles in the UK so we will have to set up a trip together. Then Costa wors at the same company as me and has been getting into sailing. Jose is really into anime, especially One Piece. Diana is getting back into writing, and doing more of her writing in English instead of Spanish. Gokhan wants to retire to the Kaş area, but needs to find a wife and fortune first.

(Link to the full google album so I can find it later)