luckykaa

cath_er_ine's last day at work.  I was invited along.

Plan was to go to Chicago's, eat, dance. 

Arrived at Chicago's.  It was shut.  Not open for another half hour.  Went to the bar in another part of the complex.  Went back to Chicago's.  They weren't serving food.  Went to Nando's. 

As a happymeatarian, I rather like Nando's.  While they don't offer free range chicken there is at least a more than adequate veggie selection.  So chatted to cath_er_ine's work colleagues.  Ate food.  Experimented with combinations of bottomless soft drinks.  All was good.  Then we went to Chicago's.  Nobody else was there.  Drinks were very cheap.  Was nice chatting to people.

Don't have the stamina for this.  Also don't get dancing.  However, the main thing is cath_er_ine went to the DJ to ask when he'd be playing decent music.  He said he might play some 90's but prefers modern stuff.  Surely 90's is "modern stuff"

I am officially old.

A friend of mine (ex-flatmate) works for a cinema.  As a result he gets various freebies.  One of them was for a special showing of Tron Legacy.  The showing was in leicester Square at 10:00.  Normally this would be easy.  Train to Victoria followed by tube is an hour and a half. 

In the snow, time taken is 1h30m + n where n is a wild guess. The 7:55 was cancelled.  The next available train was to London Bridge which isn't as convenient for Leicester Square or as fast or as cheap.  On the other had it was on time so I paid the extra.  I coulod have changed at East Croydon but had no idea whether that would be better. 

But I arrived.  And in reasonable time.  And ex-flatmate was there along with his son.  As was forbiddendanish  and various people he knows.  Had I realised people of that class were coming I wouldn't have come...  scotiva .  Enjoyed the film but probably not going in the all-time greats collection.  Fun in the same way Transformers was.  The Wee-one was well enough trained not to make too much noise or disrupt anything but I knew he'd be okay because his mother believes in things like rules and discipline.

So spent the rest of the afternoon with Scotiva.  Went to the pie shop in Covent garden.  They had reindeer pie!  Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen, with gravy and mash for lunchtime nutrition.  Finished ALL my Christmas shopping (almost - a couple of odds and ends for friends but don't expect to see them before Chrimbo).  This means I get Sunday off!  Woohoo!

Weekends always seem to fill up so quickly in summer. 

Was hoping I'd be able to visit scotiva in Aberdeen and assorted people in Manchester but I have one weekend free and realy need to use that to deal with everyday life. 

Sorry guys. 

Ah well.  I'm sure there will be a chance this autumn. 

If only weekdays were so easy to fill. 

I did go to Ceroc last night.  That was fun.  The intermediate class was a little easier than I'm used to.  Basket/block/mambo thing.  Hope I can remember that next time.  It's a nice move for slow music. 

For those who are wondering - I did ask "Who are you" of myself.  turned out it's a deeply personal question.  who'd a thought?

Finally saw Up.  It's Pixar.  Therefore must be seen on big screen.  There are rules. 

Decent enough.  Sub par for Pixar.  Still fun. It's nice to see that Pixar actually rely on comedy for humour rather than cultural references unlike pretty much any other animated movie.  Rather annoying crying Baby.  Really - who takes a baby and a three year old to see a movie.  Wait for the DVD. 

Can't decide whether to go to crew Serenity or not.  I've been feeling really tired recently.  I'm not sure if I'm feeling tired because I'm feeling down or feeling down because I'm feeling tired.  I might feel too tired to enjoy it.  On the other hand I migt end up feeling miserable and lonely if I don't go.

Went to the Wednesday Jive class.  Met a very nice Australian Gal.  Asked her if she wanted to meet for a drink.  Got shot down. 

Today's happy thought....

Am actually picking up some Jive moves.  Must be able to do better than that. 

Blue Cheese and mushroom pizza!!!!!

Ceroc: Stepacross with lots of extra turning, open pretzel, sway change hands and a complicated thing which requires far more than it's possible to to in a single beat.  Requires locking partners hands under arms

Miserablist poetry spot.  Highly amused, so I think the performers must have been doing it wrong.

I think I should get a hat.  I like hats.  I think the Fedora is a bit too showy though. 

Brother called to tell me that he thought he might have forgotten to lock parents door when her left.  Drove down to parents feeling very irritated because of course he locked it and I was just wasting my time.  Marched up to door, pushed handle down, fell though.  Wasn't expecting that.

I actually managed to pick up this week's intermediate class. 

Kinda easy. 

Started with a yoyo-barrier comb, which is like a yoyo except after the elbow to elbow block the hand moves down to block.   The archi-spin just requires working out which way to twist the hand at the start, then spin and swap places and the other move just involved pulling the lady past your left shoulder, turn her, turn selfm turn partner. 

This is mainly to remind myself.  Could do with a mid-week reminder class.  I tend to forget after 7 days. 

Been so busy since June that this is something I've not experienced for a while. 

Will have to go out dancing this evening. 

I seem to be made of fail when it comes to LARPing recently. Lack of organisation prevented me from Maelstrom last time. Waiting for until I was in the same room as potential crew meant I missed out on Serenity. Tiredness after dancing meant I just couldn't find the energy for Brighton Below.

Will make it to next Maelstrom. Does require heading there from Wales as soon as holiday ends but that's not a problem.

So other stuff:

( Mionor Wall-E spoilers )
Went dancing with ghostpaw and flannelcat and some others. Was fun.

Went to HONHOI to take advantage of a robe pattern, and found that they were extremely wasteful with material recommendations. Recommended amount was 5.2m. I had 4m. I had a bit left over. Okay they expected a nap but usually they have a suggested amount for n nap if there's that much difference.

Yeah. That's been my week. kbye.

I seem to be getting actually quite good at this whole dance thing.  People are even occasionally complementing me.  I'm not used to this.  I'm clumsy and I don't know left from right. 

Tonight's moves -
First Move Roll block.
Left hand comb and duck
Something involving a double handed return, going back to back and then spinning.

I'm sure there's a way to do blocks gracefully, but it always feels like I'm just manhandling my partner. 

Because I went dancing yesterday.  So hard to get there on Sundays. 

We did turn something or other pull through, sway with a hold, and a wultitzer lean or something like that.

It's not as much fun as it sed to be though.  I'm feeling a little jaded.  Nothing seems to have been as much fun as it should recently though, so I think the problem is me.

Will have to embark on a course of being happy.