What I did in August 2017

[squirmelia]

I rode a giant mechanical ant at Machines de l’île:


I took a ride in the singing lift at the Royal Festival Hall, which is painted the colour of JCBs.

I discussed Ivan Sutherland's Sketchpad at Design History Reading Club.

I went bat watching in Battersea Park with miss_newham and Kevan and we saw lots of bats fly past us, and heard them on the bat listening device!

I watched a theatrical adaptation of Kiki's Delivery Service at the Southwark Playhouse.

I ate a Devon blue ice-cream, poached pear and honeycomb sundae at the Cheese Bar.

I had a wonderful time at Nine Worlds! I went on holiday to Hammersmith, stayed in a hotel there and listened to talks on classical monsters in popular culture (classical monster Barbies exist, such as Medusa Barbie, Athena Barbie, and Hitchcock's The Birds Barbie!), Mars: the journey of a lifetime (a Mars One candidate talked about their experiences), learning about sex in teen magazines (nostalgia for Just 17, learning about what people thought could prevent pregnancy, such as crisp packets, and the Yellow Pages!) , Security for beginners, Questing Time (an RPG that was played on stage), Dr Magnethands (another storytelling game, which featured a Smurf making excellent dolphin sounds!), Technology for Writers (included a discussion on buying brains in bulk from Ocado in different colours, like post-it notes; bible translated into Lolspeak, the Emoji Moby Dick, writing to defeat monsters, and chat about if things came to life in VR immediately as you wrote them, wouldn't everyone just write porn?), It's research! (Or why it's totally okay to play Dragon Age for 100+ hours when you should be writing), The future of Nine Worlds, Game design principles to reduce player toxicity (such as making cross team chat opt-in in League of Legends increased positivity), Shitting on social norms in tech: organizing events no-one else will (such as Non Binary in Tech conference, and Sex Tech Hack), Freaky fabulous – gender, disability and queer representation in Monster High, Panel Panel. I also went to a copper and bronze clay jewellery making workshop and made pendants in the shape of leaves, alien faces, Tetris blocks, etc, out of copper clay; enjoyed dancing at the disco while wearing glowing shoes; liked seeing everyone's great costumes and outfits; saw lots of people dressed as Lemmings.

I had an awesome time on a Friday night at Marioke, at the Loading Bar - karaoke but with the words rewritten to be about games! Danced to and sung along to songs about various games and people, including Sid Meier and Civilization, Peter Molyneux, etc! Stood at the front, before the audience, and sang into the microphone to a version of Nirvana's Lithium that was more about games developers, and generally had an excellent time, dancing and singing along. It was so much fun!

I visited Novelty Automation, took a mini-break, and played a few games of cycle pong.

I stared at issues of Wired magazine, LSD tabs, etc, at the Design Museum for the California: Designing freedom exhibition.

I wandered around Regent's Park and looked at sculptures in the Frieze sculpture park. My favourite was probably a reflected rock. I didn't mistake any humans for sculptures this time.

I went to Pub Standards and caught up with friends.

I saw Alex Chinneck's Six pins and half a dozen needles – a building with a big crack in it.

I ate lunch at Wahaca with messy_hair_girl!

I visited the closed platforms at Highgate Station, on a tour, and found out that bats live there.

I ate Japanese food with doseybat and verazea.

I walked along the beach with my mum and watched the sea for a while.

I didn't get much done for NaArMaMo this year, but things I did included:
Finishing a concrete jewellery necklace with a glowing LED embedded in it.
Copper clay jewellery making at Nine Worlds.
Painted a few skyscrapers.
Cross-stitched Dizzy.

Ingress:

I visited the Newport Street Gallery and saw Ashley Bickerton's Ornamental Hysteria, which was strange and colourful, and then I wandered around Kennington Park, doing a few missions.

I walked around Temple one evening.

I visited Nantes in France for an Ingress Anomaly and Mission Day and had an excellent time!

I rode a giant mechanical elephant, a pirate fish, and a giant mechanical ant, which I got to control some of the legs of, and that was all very awesome. I also saw many other wonderful mechanical animals. I also bounced on the moon, went to a HR Giger exhibition, saw a strange ferris wheel with palm trees and bits of diggers, as well as other art, such as a giant tape measure, odd table tennis tables and football fields, quite a few Invader and Pac-Man mosaics, and a huge bird that also seemed to be a bar at the top of a tall tower block with great views. I ate tarte tatin as a starter, and ice cream with olive oil poured onto it, served with bread and olives. I walked around the castle and saw turtles. I also laughed a lot and had fun with the team I was on for the Anomaly!

I got the Onyx Sojourner and the Onyx Recharger badges in August.

Comments

[miss_newham]

You were a good bat-hunter! I'm glad Nantes was fun.

We are struggling to find a good date for another Tube Walk, so that may not make your next monthly round-up...

[solitarywalker]

You eat the strangest ice creams, but don't say if you liked them. (i had cardamom ice cream a few weeks ago, which was very good.)

[squirmelia]

Devon blue cheese ice cream was fantastic, but ice cream with olive oil poured onto it, I would not recommend. :)

Cardamom, ooh!