New Year's Eve

The only time of the
year that one can wear
a dress that appears to
have been patterned
on an ostrich and get
away with it.

Hooray! Against incredible odds, we all survived the Mayans. And that means we get to ring in the new year!

This year, I was spending it with my English friends. Slightly dubious about the idea of a pub crawl when the divines fortold rain, I flexed my Google-fu and found a whole bunch of modestly-priced, well-dressed events. These ranged from the bizarre (supperclub - a fairly arty experience seeming to involve pole dancing, fire breathing and latex gear) to certain disaster (Casino at the Empire - because who needs money anyway?). We settled on Zebrano's on Carnaby Street.

My outfit was easily the most excessive I have ever worn - the dress's skirt was a frothy mass of gradiented netting, paired with white tights. I spent a good while debating whether it was a good idea to step out of the door looking like a fairy reject, but I failed to realise that the dress would actually be the least of my worries.

When I left for pre-drinks, I was experiencing a little discomfort in my toes. I waved it away - beauty is pain, right? Unfortunately things only got worse. The little discomfort turned into a sharp sting every other step, and then the feeling of blood seeping into my tights by the time I was on the Tube to Holborn.

And so I became that typical woman you see hobbling away from a club at night, wincing and gritting her teeth with each tiny, mincing step... except it was about 7PM and I hadn't even made it to the party yet.

I chose not to admit defeat, but to advance in the opposite direction. Upon my arrival at Holborn I informed my comrades of my crushing defeat in the battle of womanhood, and took the Tube straight back home. Upon removing my tights, I was greeted with the discovery that the skin on each of my fourth toe knuckles had regretfully parted ways with the rest of my feet. Ah, and we used to be so close...

It was a short battle, but I still bear the scars.

After performing toe surgery, disinfecting the wounds and slapping a plaster on each, I slipped on a pair of flats. They were not quite so elegant, more on the functional side, but man, I only have ten toes to give.

Back on track, I joined up with the others at Zebrano's. It was a pretty cool place - non-sticky floor and nice decor. Everything was relatively quiet at the time - it was about 8PM, so not a lot of activity yet.

In order to avoid drinking on an empty stomach (which went really well last time) I'd managed to grab a McChicken Sandwich on the way there, but it turned out I didn't actually have much to fear on the food side. The ticket included a glass of champagne and canapes, which were actually delicious! Duck pancake rolls, breaded chicken on sticks, mini spring rolls and some little pieces of steak.

I stuck mostly to Asahi over the night, but did try a few new things. Paid a little more to try cocktails - Strawberry Kiss was sweet, fruity and creamy, tasting very similar to Baileys, if it came in a fruit flavour. I also tasted a little of an Espresso Martini, which tasted like coffee, to no-one's great surprise. Tim didn't manage to finish his spiced rum and Red Bull, so was passing it around - it didn't really taste of alcohol at all and more like the blood of Jelly Babies. I must have more of this delicious, cruel mixture!

As far as music went, they started off with more sort of... background music, which was nice to listen to without being intrusive, and then evolved into more danceable stuff as the night went on, causing the creation of dancefloors. It was a mix of newer things like Gangnam Style, and the sort of thing I had dim memories of hearing on the radio when I was about twelve. (Ten years later, I am finally In Da Club, who could have guessed?) 

We also discovered a DDRX2 machine at roughly 4:30 a.m. on the way to Leicester Square while passing Las Vegas (the amusements, not the city), so Matt and I had a go. The panels were pretty terrible and unresponsive, requiring very rough handling to register a hit, but we still passed everything. I am not entirely sure what the mainly tracksuited locals thought of a group of guys in suits hanging around watching a fellow in a tux and a girl in a fluffy dress violently slamming panels on a dance machine, but it must have looked hilarious.

I had fun! I hope everyone else did. And a happy new year to all! :3

Some kind of... multi-person selfshot, because we're just that cool.

'What, there are dancefloors without coloured arrows?!'

I think I fell into some kind of... disco time portal.

  Whew, it has been a tiring, yet fun weekend!

Friday evening was the Christmas party with my work colleagues, held at Sway, a restaurant/club in Holborn. To be honest, the place's organisation could have been a lot better - everything seemed rather unprepared, and the food took a while as well. The upshot of this all was that I ended up having to leave fairly early, when I had been expecting to be done with dinner ages before then, but I did have a really good time seeing my colleagues outside of work!

While I didn't go down there after dinner due to leaving, I managed to get a quick glance at the club section as well. It was 70s and 80's disco themed, and cheesy enough that I would not have been surprised if the entire ceiling of disco balls split open and oozed molten cheddar onto that ridiculous dancefloor.

Due to my double-booking, I then headed off to a gaming party/sleepover/cat safari at Matt's house. Unfortunately, I was struck by stomach pain which rendered me tired and immobile, so I spent a painful first half of the night upstairs lying down and waiting for painkillers to kick in. My mood was improved by the tuxedo kitty Mork, who seemed in a caring mood (which is odd - he is usually a bit of a treat-whore and so demands food for cuddles). But it was nice, he purred and nuzzled and curled up next to me, which was welcome company. Luckily I recovered in time to return to the living room and see the success of Tim, Anders and Matt's collaborative efforts at Megaman 3. 

It is a little known fact that Kenny is the archmage amongst kitties.

Mork on the piano!

The next morning, Anders was sadly not feeling very well and so went home. The rest of us met up with Jake and had a session of karaoke in Earl's Court, followed by the hearty meal of... a KFC family bucket. We were a fairly multicultural and similar-aged 'family' to say the least, but damn, it was cheap.

After that, a trip up to Embankment to snatch some DDR time. I've been trying to branch out a little, so we tried out the non-vocal of SEDUCTION, which was nice, and then used up two songs on Xmix1, which is three minutes long and includes sections of Dance Celebration, Votum Stellarum, Poseidon and Uranus. In total I played three games in a row - at my comfort level, instead of above, but I wasn't even exhausted afterwards, so perhaps I am getting less fragile! Hooray!

By contrast, a photo of me taken two years ago after a single DDR session.

Aaaand after that, a pub visit or two. I only felt like drinking right at the end, but I tried rum and coke for the first time and that was okay! I was pretty tired after all this, so I am glad today is a chill day, but that was all good fun. :3

Japan Underground: Girl Rock Night!

miette-one

33Insanity'sVertebraの真野 希

 Yesterday, there was another Japan Underground event (so soon, so soon!) billed as 'Girl Rock Night'.

I was a little late and missed all of the first artist and most of the second. The third, miette-one, had dreamy vocals drifting over bleeps and bloops from the music maker on an iPad. A little bit of melodica and keyboard at points, along with a game of じゃんけん with the crowd. It was all rather cute! She threw four CDs into the crowd at the end of her set. Well, I say threw, but they really didn't make it far - Marvin, Matt and Anders each got one, so the furthest only made it two rows back! Heehee... flunked sports, maybe...? (Like I can talk.)

So that was all well and good, but I was sort of wondering where the 'rock' part of the Girl Rock Night was - but then the last act, 33Insanity'sVertebra took the stage, and the night kicked up a notch. Everything was suddenly very, VERY loud! Their show was great fun, the music got the crowd going and cheering for an encore. Unfortunately we missed out on her CD giveaway, those things vanished before I even knew they were being given out.

Managed to snag a photo with the vocalist, Nozomi. She's pretty! And I like her fashion sense and hair. :D ♥

(Pictures in this post shamelessly stolen from Marvin, some BW'ed for consistency!)

Going Underground

Last night, I went to my second Japan Underground event, a launch party for an album by the GazettE, held in a bowling alley. Japanese music, bowling and karaoke!

Fairly unrelated since I didn't bring my camera - something I drew while waiting for things to kick off properly. Shinji's jizz-splattered hand was not my doing, but an unholy collaboration between Anders and Matt. :c

 Unfortunately, upon creation of a new character with race Asian, there is apparently 50% chance that they will be afflicted with a terrible curse known as Asian Flush. This means that instead of the fun buzz of drinking alcohol, you get an immediate hangover and, to add insult to injury, end up with your skin glowing bright red.

I have a fix for this (it involves taking a pill beforehand) but I discovered when I got there that I didn't have any, so I had to trek all the way back to a midnight pharmacy before I could drink anything. My bad!

Karaoke machine was in action from 11:30 on, so naturally people were belting out Queen and various Japanese songs for the later hours. I chose Candy Pop by Heartsdales ft. SOUL'D OUT, with Matt for the male part, because Japanese hip-hop from 2003 is hilarious. My voice was giving out under the strain of drinking and shouting over loud music, on top of having a sore throat due to terrible diseases. My lines also occasionally gave out under the strain of... lack of practice. But it was pretty good fun! I hope never, ever to see any footage.

In hair experimentation, I gave twin-tails a spin for the second time ever. This was fun, but proved to be somewhat of a social mistake - over the course of the night, my dear, dear friends variously attempted to strangle me with them, use them as horse reins, pull them and fling them about above my head in the hope of imitating helicopter blades. ;w; I can't fly with them, guys...

Great fun though, annoying detour excepted - got to talk to some new people, met up with some friends from uni days and it was generally pretty cool! I have unfortunately extended my sickness as a result - I should be sleeping at the moment but the cough, and annoying daylight, is keeping me up. So I'm just tiring myself out by doing other things until I get to the point where I will sleep as soon as my head hits the pillow.

The Secret Garden

Kensington Roof Gardens

There is a hidden place in High St. Kensington. 6 floors up from an unmarked entrance, and you emerge not onto a boring grey roof, but a garden!

Flamingoes!

A bridge. And no flamingoes.

There was a club and a restaurant as well, neither of which we visited. There was also an area with tables under a big parasol, probably meant for entertaining.

The nice thing is, this place is completely free and open to the public some weekdays (others, it gets booked up for wedding receptions/parties/corporate events, so you have to call ahead and check). It's just not very known about, so it was quiet when we went. Worth a visit!

Tei! Ten Ten Tei!

Ariff is leaving! How terrible. No idea why he'd want to go back to Malaysia of all places... And so we accompanied him in omiyage shopping. Another visit to the M&M's store - as expected, tourist central and full of useless junk. (I can safely say I have never in my life experienced a craving for an M&M's branded silicone spatula.)

We also stopped by at Hamleys, revelled in our geekdom at Forbidden Planet, and became painfully aware of our poverty at the Burberry store. 'Anything around the £300 level...?' 'Hah!'

So, afterwards, we headed back to Piccadilly Circus to Ten Ten Tei, our staple Japanese food place. We handed over our poorly-concealed presents, and settled down for a meal. And so the first photo on this blog goes to...

Salmon ikura don! So pretty, like little orange pearls. And I love the feeling of crushing the eggs, releasing rich, fishy oils. >w< (And presumably fish foetus. Heh.) Though it's expensive as fish goes, it is lovely - strangely filling for such tiny things. I also had a couple of squid nigiri along with it, along with some salmon and tuna sashimi which Anders was allergic to. More for me!

I've gotten quite fond of this place. I've had salmon ikura don twice in a row now though, so maybe next time I will see if they have chicken teri don.

Afterwards, a little light drinking at our favourite pub, and drawing of farewell messages on his new, massive sketchbook. A good day, though it's sad we'll have to say bye to him soon!

Inevitable 'well, that failed' post

And so by throwing 100 Tissues into the lake, I revive this blog!

So yeah, a lot of stuff has happened. Turns out I got a 2.1 - not entirely unexpected, but I have now brought grave dishonour to ancient Chinese famiry name. Luckily no-one cares about me when there's a possible-medic sibling to support, so my lack of a First will hopefully slip by unnoticed, like Snake in a cardboard box.

And then there's been a bunch of outings with friends and friends-of-friends, hooray! Drinking, nice food, pleasant conversation and balancing things on people. We went to see a few museums as well! In which there was SCIENCE. And rocks, and dinosaurs. Turns out Utahraptor looks crazy, and that carrot cake can be pretty expensive. Nobody opened doors, got on floors or walked the dinosaur though, regrettably.

Now I am working on some projects! I'm gonna try my hand at clothes-making and maaaybe make myself a wallet of some sort (this may be beyond me. If it is, I'll make myself a medieval money pouch instead, like I used to carry.) Should be fun! And hopefully I'll find time to ramble a bit more here.