Now we've made it almost all the way to February, and the month isn't even quite half way over yet! As January moved into February my social life picked up in a pretty big way. I don't have class this semester on Mondays, so Monday I went to see a couple of ponies that I'm contemplating leasing. I think I've mentioned them before but there is a girl with a young Irish Sporthorse mare and a Shetland pony in Greenwich that wants someone to work them. I didn't have a helmet yet but I went out to spend a few hours grooming and lunging and bonding with them. Since I had been out there last the girl (Samantha - same name as the woman I leased a horse from for two years in LA) had added a couple of young long-haired goats and a ton of different kinds of rabbits. It was really pleasant to be around horses again and I'm so out of shape that even lunging at a walk for 20 minutes left my biceps sore. But I was also just slightly sick and I went home that afternoon and took a four hour nap until I felt better.
Tuesday I discovered the Roxy. Apparently, unbeknownst to me, the whole time I have been living here I've been living a ten minute walk from a bar that has a big projection screen and uses it to show recently released movies (and other movie nights as well). Thanks Londonist for finally cluing me in! It's a three pound cover to see a movie and I went with Valerie and Syed to see Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, which I had on my list of movies to see. I guess this is a really popular place because we got there about forty minutes before the movie was supposed to start and the place was packed. Valerie worked some sort of magic and we scored a previously reserved couch for three right in the front. The movie was really good and although the sound quality was a bit lacking I'm pretty much in love with this place. It's so cheap! And they have really good taste in movies! And it literally could not possibly be closer to where I live.
Wednesday was the first of the month, so I sucked it up and went back to the gym. For the first time in two months. I had not done any hardcore physical activity in two months. I did a bit of yoga here and there, lot's of walking and the occasional hike. But BJJ training is on a whole 'nother level man. I almost threw up. It was that bad. Also we did the exercise where you leapfrog over your partner and then crawl back between their legs (BJJ makes you do all sorts of weird stuff) and my partner was really tall and on the third time over I just didn't make it. Just wiped out in front of the class. It. Was. Awesome. To recover I went to Valerie's for a dinner she hosted for me, Marissa, Rob and her flatmate Fred in an attempt to get rid of her extra groceries and topped it off with fondue using Marissa's little fondue set.
Thursday night was the LLM Chinese New Year dinner + Karaoke. I think everyone knows how I feel about karaoke. There was a LOT of singing. There were also a lot more videos and pictures than the ones I have, that I am quietly hoping never see the light of day. The only downside (for me because I will keep singing FOREVER) was that the restaurant we were at closed really abruptly at 11:30 and kicked everyone out.
Friday I was tired was doing stuff every night all week so I just went to the gym to train and spent a quiet night at home recovering from the busy week.
Shabbat I also stayed at home, doing some reading and then, like some old lady was all WHY IS EVERYONE BEING SO LOUD IN THE DARN COURTYARD looked outside and realized that it was SNOWING!! I haven't seen actual falling snow since February of 2009. The stuff already on the ground isn't nearly as magical.
On Syed's suggestion we (him, Daniel and I) went to Costa for celebratory hot chocolate and an impromptu snow ball fall fight.
Later that night Daniel and I manned up and went out to Book Club in Shoreditch and met up with Jardena while everyone else got stuck in the snow-related transportation nightmare that is London in a flurry. Although to be fair, there were some serious inches piling up (2-3 maybe?)
Haha I felt so bad for this guy, both windows were open fully, he clearly didn't believe the forecast! To be fair, they were calling for snow for dayyyys without being right, except by accident. I'm obsessed with the weather and I'm used to weather patterns being fairly predictable. Here, possibly because the Atlantic and Siberian fronts collide, they literally can not predict what will happen in one specific place. Forecasts look like this: "There will be up to 8 inches of snow, one of these three days, somewhere in the UK, probably not Scotland, actually we aren't sure, and it might be snow, but, it might also be in the form of rain, freezing rain, sleet, freezing fog, flurries, and in amounts we can't predict."
Anyway the snow that actually fell made getting home from Book Club an adventure. We were waiting for the bus with 40 other desperate and cold people for about ten minutes and when it finally showed up we SPRINTED to the front of the crowd and shoved our way on because it was clear there was no way everyone was getting in and no telling when the next bus was going to make it. It was not the most comforting that the double decker bus then filled itself to way more than capacity before trundling off in the snow on streets that the city had not bothered to salt even though they had been predicting snow for days. The ride home was madness, people shoving themselves on through the back door etc., but we made it home safely.
Sunday I did very little during the day other than watching Breaking Bad. Later in the evening I met up with Sarah, Camila and Valerie for a Sunday Roast at this adorable little Victorian pub the "Garrison" followed by drinks at a really cute bar down the street, Hyde (spelling?), where they serve really well made cocktails.
Camila and Valerie documenting how pretty the drinks were
I just, love, this picture
I couldn't resist.
That night was also the Super Bowl. Camila and I joined Valerie at her friend's flat to watch the game. It started really late here and we spent the first quarter wandering the streets of SoHo before figuring out they don't sell alcohol at off-licenses on Sunday (nights? not sure what the rule is exactly) and we gave in and stocked up on snacks instead. We watched the game on the BBC which was really....different. There are no commercials. There are no cheerleaders. They focus the camera on ONLY the football field. The commentary is provided (frequently because of the no commercials) by two British guys wearing sweaters and a rookie from the Rams, who could not articulate to save his life, but was pretty good at smirking. Thank goodness we had all the chips and candy to keep us occupied instead. Despite its deficiencies we must not have been the only people watching because when it finally ended around 3 am it was impossible to get a cab. We eventually caught the bus home and finally turned in for the night around 4 am.
And that's it! Another week in my life, laid bare for you folk. I'm technically, at this point, only two days "late" on letting you in on what happened last week. Sorry there were so few pictures from this week, I did lots of stuff and then did a fairly poor job documenting it.
Miss you/love you,
Tuesday I discovered the Roxy. Apparently, unbeknownst to me, the whole time I have been living here I've been living a ten minute walk from a bar that has a big projection screen and uses it to show recently released movies (and other movie nights as well). Thanks Londonist for finally cluing me in! It's a three pound cover to see a movie and I went with Valerie and Syed to see Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, which I had on my list of movies to see. I guess this is a really popular place because we got there about forty minutes before the movie was supposed to start and the place was packed. Valerie worked some sort of magic and we scored a previously reserved couch for three right in the front. The movie was really good and although the sound quality was a bit lacking I'm pretty much in love with this place. It's so cheap! And they have really good taste in movies! And it literally could not possibly be closer to where I live.
Wednesday was the first of the month, so I sucked it up and went back to the gym. For the first time in two months. I had not done any hardcore physical activity in two months. I did a bit of yoga here and there, lot's of walking and the occasional hike. But BJJ training is on a whole 'nother level man. I almost threw up. It was that bad. Also we did the exercise where you leapfrog over your partner and then crawl back between their legs (BJJ makes you do all sorts of weird stuff) and my partner was really tall and on the third time over I just didn't make it. Just wiped out in front of the class. It. Was. Awesome. To recover I went to Valerie's for a dinner she hosted for me, Marissa, Rob and her flatmate Fred in an attempt to get rid of her extra groceries and topped it off with fondue using Marissa's little fondue set.
Thursday night was the LLM Chinese New Year dinner + Karaoke. I think everyone knows how I feel about karaoke. There was a LOT of singing. There were also a lot more videos and pictures than the ones I have, that I am quietly hoping never see the light of day. The only downside (for me because I will keep singing FOREVER) was that the restaurant we were at closed really abruptly at 11:30 and kicked everyone out.
Friday I was tired was doing stuff every night all week so I just went to the gym to train and spent a quiet night at home recovering from the busy week.
Shabbat I also stayed at home, doing some reading and then, like some old lady was all WHY IS EVERYONE BEING SO LOUD IN THE DARN COURTYARD looked outside and realized that it was SNOWING!! I haven't seen actual falling snow since February of 2009. The stuff already on the ground isn't nearly as magical.
On Syed's suggestion we (him, Daniel and I) went to Costa for celebratory hot chocolate and an impromptu snow ball fall fight.
Anyway the snow that actually fell made getting home from Book Club an adventure. We were waiting for the bus with 40 other desperate and cold people for about ten minutes and when it finally showed up we SPRINTED to the front of the crowd and shoved our way on because it was clear there was no way everyone was getting in and no telling when the next bus was going to make it. It was not the most comforting that the double decker bus then filled itself to way more than capacity before trundling off in the snow on streets that the city had not bothered to salt even though they had been predicting snow for days. The ride home was madness, people shoving themselves on through the back door etc., but we made it home safely.
Sunday I did very little during the day other than watching Breaking Bad. Later in the evening I met up with Sarah, Camila and Valerie for a Sunday Roast at this adorable little Victorian pub the "Garrison" followed by drinks at a really cute bar down the street, Hyde (spelling?), where they serve really well made cocktails.
That night was also the Super Bowl. Camila and I joined Valerie at her friend's flat to watch the game. It started really late here and we spent the first quarter wandering the streets of SoHo before figuring out they don't sell alcohol at off-licenses on Sunday (nights? not sure what the rule is exactly) and we gave in and stocked up on snacks instead. We watched the game on the BBC which was really....different. There are no commercials. There are no cheerleaders. They focus the camera on ONLY the football field. The commentary is provided (frequently because of the no commercials) by two British guys wearing sweaters and a rookie from the Rams, who could not articulate to save his life, but was pretty good at smirking. Thank goodness we had all the chips and candy to keep us occupied instead. Despite its deficiencies we must not have been the only people watching because when it finally ended around 3 am it was impossible to get a cab. We eventually caught the bus home and finally turned in for the night around 4 am.
And that's it! Another week in my life, laid bare for you folk. I'm technically, at this point, only two days "late" on letting you in on what happened last week. Sorry there were so few pictures from this week, I did lots of stuff and then did a fairly poor job documenting it.
Miss you/love you,
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