What I did in January 2018

[squirmelia]

January started with me in a hot tub, laughing, with friends, waving a tentacle, watching fireworks, at an excellent New Year’s Eve / birthday party. Not much of the year had passed when I told people that I had spent most of the year so far in a hot tub.

Back at work, after the season's festivities were over, one lunchtime, I visited the ruined cult of Mithras temple and stared at the found items and the ruins. That evening, I ate Indian vegetarian food and went to the Alma to celebrate braisedbywolves's birthday.

verlaine and I met in Wandsworth to talk about the game we are designing and we created a few screens of a prototype. Actual things we can click on!

One weekend, I had two different eating food in the dark experiences:
Glowing candyfloss at Lumiere London and a vegetarian surprise menu three-course meal and non-alcoholic cocktail in complete darkness at Dans Le Noir. Such a strange experience!

One day, I gained immunity and then that evening, went to the Fitzroy Tavern to celebrate triffidfarm's birthday.

I visited the Hackney Downs Vegan Market with pippaalice and ate the best macaroni cheese I have ever tasted, and a giant green marshmallow heart.

I started Spanish lessons at CityLit, so that I may know a few words when I visit Panama. I am very excited about visiting Panama! Expect to read about it in April.

I joined a wonderful lunch club and had lunch a few times with verlaine, jacquic and _pinkdaisy_! Excellent to have friends working nearby, that I can see regularly!

I marvelled at white balloons light up and move to music in Trafalgar Square and somehow they seemed magical. I saw a portal glowing on a wall and sounds were emanating. I watched puppet flamingos fly down the streets in Chinatown. I saw lit up lantern versions of badgers, foxes, butterflies and frogs in Leicester Square. I saw a glowing ladder on top of a church, leading up to the sky.

I played a giant version of Pong on the side of a building by waving my arm about. I played on a lit up see-saw. I watched people play an illuminated instrument, saw a nightingale in Berkeley Square with accompanying music, and stared up at what looked like fireflies jittering above me.

I stood under blue fields in Granary Square while creating green fields on my phone. I saw giant lamps, adorning the streets. I saw moving images amongst the graffiti in the Leake Street tunnel.

I ate caramel apple and sage nitro ice-cream.

I looked at paintings and portraits and colourful pictures in the Marian Goodman gallery, and visited some of the Mondo 2018 exhibitions at a few galleries. I remember paintings and a case with Sweet Valley High books in it (“The New Elizabeth” and “Two-boy Weekend".)

I ate taiyaki (Japanese fish shaped cakes) filled with red bean paste and Nutella.

I danced at the top of the BT Tower at a website launch party and admired the views and the phonebox sofa.

I attended the EMFCamp volunteers party at Limehouse Town Hall and that made me feel excited about the next EMFCamp.

I visited Croydon for nou's Croydon Fun Weekend and learnt about the lost cinemas and ate Caribbean food - a callaloo and ackee wrap. It's a shame I couldn't make more of it this year, but hope to attend again next year!

I watched people controlling tunnels of light with their minds, read words made of droplets of water falling, watched glowing platforms raising up and down in time to music, made towers of LED lit cubes and was told off by security for making them too high. I was in awe of glowing blobs and cynical about lights that did not really resemble eclipses or northern lights.

I sat briefly on a glowing bench that changed colour, walked amongst trees that had a colourful web between them, watched vines and shapes creeping out of the water (seemingly controlled by a small child), made words appear on clothing, and saw slightly sad looking giant inflatable white rabbits.

I read China Miéville's The Last Days of New Paris, and that has helped me survive rush hour on the Waterloo & City Line a bit better. I now imagine surrealist happenings during that time. One morning: telephones on bald heads, newspapers in bird cages, vines creeping around the hand rails and stanchions, and a woman kissing a lobster.

I got out my paints and painted a few pictures, inspired by exhibitions I had been to.

I enjoyed watching the new The Good Place episodes.

I flicked through Jeff Noon’s Cobralingus and then read out the names of areas of the moon to the person I was speaking to on the phone. "Bay of Rainbows, Marsh of Sleep, Sea of Nectar."

I read out Yoko Ono’s Fish Piece, which says to record fish talking when there's a full moon, so went outside after that to look for fish. I didn’t hear any fish, but I did see people fishing by the Thames and then swans, gliding across the water in the moonlight, underneath the super blue moon, gleaming brightly.

How weird it was to feel like I didn't need to look at my phone as I walked along. Everything looked beautiful that night.

Ingress:

I reached level 16! The highest level! (Read about that here: Level 16.)

I attended the Enlightened Monthly Social one evening and drinks at the Old Fountain another evening.

I walked around Old Street and admired the graffiti while doing the Believe in the Spraycan banner. I walked around Holland Park and South  Kensington while doing the Tree of Life banner. I walked around Soho and Covent Garden while doing the Cake is a Lie banner. I walked around Moorgate while doing the Epic Bro banner. I walked around Chinatown while doing the Mission Project Dog 2018 banner. I actually hadn't remembered that I walked around all these places until I looked at my agent profile and saw the pictures there.

Comments

[squirmelia]

Chinatown Bakery! They have lots of different taiyaki. So good!