What I did in December 2017

[squirmelia]

When December started, I was in Bruges. I remember walking by the canals, taking a boat trip, wandering around the Christmas market and drinking mulled gin.

I stared at a model of the Lady and the Tramp eating spaghetti, but it was made out of chocolate. I also saw a chocolate Madonna and child, and a dragon, and a self-eating family (“They like chocolate so much that they eat themselves,” a sign said). “Chocolate mixed with a raw meat was also prescribed for fatigue,” one sign informed me. I also learnt how people were sacrificed and chocolate was mixed with blood, otherwise the sun wouldn't rise. (Eek!) This was in the chocolate museum (Choco-Story).

I met some cavemen in the Lamp Museum (Lumina Domestica) and the history of fire was introduced, and then I stared at many lamps, from different time periods. Some were very old.

I learnt about potatoes in the fries museum, such as:
Kuntur warmi - “Like a woman with colours of the feathers of the condor's neck”
Yuraq Llumchuy Waqachi - “The potatoes of this variety are difficult to peel because of their shape, and so it is said that they were used to test the dexterity of young maidens. Only those that did well in the test were allowed to marry.”
Puka Nawi Pasna - “Farmers say that the eyes of this potato seem to have been painted like those of some of the city girls.”

I also learnt that the largest crisps were made by the US company Charles Chip Inc, who made 10cm by 17.5cm crisps. The longest real potato fry was apparently 24.5cm.

I ate chocolate from Chocolate Line, with unusual flavours: mushroom, tarte tatin, cannabis, poppy, sake, Bollywood (curry).

I visited the De Halve Maan brewery and caught a glimpse of the pipe that transports beer underneath the ground to the bottling factory. I like the idea of beer running beneath my feet.

I took photos of toilets, as I visited a pub that had a tuba urinal. I didn't try it.

I visited a few art galleries in Bruges. One was in an empty building and had a dark art exhibition, and another had surreal looking infrared pictures.

Back in London, I took part in a carol concert at Christmas Marioke, where we all sung carols with alternative game related lyrics. There were also Christmas cocktails, and a Santa, who turned out to be Charles Cecil! (Famous for games such as Broken Sword and Beneath a Steel Sky.) I wore my Christmas Lemmings cross-stitched necklace, as it seemed appropriate.

I went to a Demo scene meet and it was good to meet people again. I need to start thinking about what demo to create ready for the Nova demo party next year! (Still have yet to even choose a platform.)

Leeky and I went on an ice-cream tour and ate a lot of ice-cream. We tried flavours such as liquorice, Christmas cake, basil and chilli, truffle, roquefort, and many more. Too much ice-cream!

I baked vegan tiramisu cupcakes for my office's “3 days of Christmas”. I also helped organise the desk decorating. My team chose a Nightmare before Christmas theme, so I made a possessed wreath, tried out a cardboard coffin, let Jack Skellington wear my snow boots, held daily desk decorating stand ups and made skeleton reindeer. I also made a VR version where it snows in the office. The team that won turned a corner of the office into a disco from the 1970s! That week there were also After Eight competitions, cocktail competitions, quizzes that descended into dance-offs, and the work Christmas party.

I was named “employee of the week” at work and got a gold star.

I went to doseybat's party!

I ate a padlock made of chocolate.

I saw a candy cane forest, a ginger beer brewery made out of gingerbread, a gummy recycling plant, factories, a university, and other buildings made out of gingerbread, at the Gingerbread City.

I visited the Singing tree at the V&A and saw my surname appear on the tree.

I had dinner with doseybat in Richmond and we ate Thai food. It was good to catch up!

“Not everyone will be taken into the future,” it said on the front of the train. I peeked into the apartment that belonged to the man who flew into space from his apartment. This was at the Ilya and Emilia Kabakov exhibition at the Tate Modern.

I ate a Wetherspoons Christmas veggie burger, pulled crackers, and attempted to sing carols at the Rochester Castle, with some goths, for Bleak Christmas. I sang happy birthday to Baby Jesus, showed people my office VR, and had a good time with friends. As bleak as ever.

I attended jacquic's birthday celebration, but mostly lost my voice. A good night anyway though!

I saw Star Wars: The last Jedi at the cinema, and now understand what Porgs are. Sort of.

I spent Christmas in St Albans with family, and it was lovely, although I was ill quite a lot of the time.

I tried imagining all of the hats in the world.

I dressed as a blue-haired space pirate on the last day of December and the last day of the year, and went to an excellent New Year's Eve / birthday party. I spent the last few minutes of December (and 2017) in a hot tub, laughing, with friends, waving a tentacle, and watching fireworks.

Ingress:

An Anomaly of the EXO5 series took place in Bruges and the Enlightened won! I was on a team with lovely people and we had a lot of fun.

The Sunday I was in Bruges was an Ingress Mission Day, which meant that there were set routes to walk around, so I walked around the Minnewaterpark and wandered around the town, completing those.

One Saturday, I wandered around Kingston-upon-Thames and did the Doughnuts banner.

Comments

[clare42]

Oooh. Which chocolate flavour was the best?

Hooray for gold stars!

Imagining all of the hats in the world? I imagine doing so to be difficult.

[squirmelia]

I am not sure which was best, but I know which was worst - mushroom! Eww!