To London, geeky adventures await!

Currently listening to: "To Zanarkand" from the Final Fantasy Distant Worlds concert, because it reminds me of "Home". Home doesn't only signify where my friends and family live, but anywhere where I feel welcome and happy and safe.

Sorry about the lack of updates! I've been a bit lazy the last couple of days to myself, but have no fear, I am returning with a full itinerary of what I've been up to.. :)

I've had a few days of just taking it easy because breaking in my boots hasn't been so easy.. I have internal blisters in my heels that are pretty painful to walk on, not to mention the regular blisters.. However, last Thursday I managed to drag myself out and go to the Natural History museum. It was a bit like Science World mixed with a modern museum with lots of interactive displays, dinosaur bones, stuffed animals, gemstones.. it was pretty cool to see everything and walk around on my own. The entrance with the escalator up to the first exhibits (see picture) was absolutely incredible, with statues of Zeus, Medusa, Atlas, a Cyclops, an astronaut.. and then ascending the stairs into a huge globe where inside was a small light show with cool sound effects and props telling you what to expect of what's to come in the exhibits.

So there were many exhibits like facts about planets, rock, volcanoes, earthquakes.. I watched a pretty mortifying video of how the earth is going to die in the future and what ways it can die (and probably will) sun exploding, war, disease, etc.. :| Sure lifted my spirits. Then I checked out the exhibits with the dinosaurs, that had animatronic robotic velociraptors on top of some of the displays.. they were pretty awesome :D The main hall had a brontosaurus bone display.. pretty amazing. And there were halls of stuffed mammals and birds which was a bit sad actually. :{ There were like, just heads of some of the birds in glass cases. :|

Then there were some exhibits about childbirth (woo hoo) and how a baby/child learns, and there was this model of a huge scary baby in a "womb"... it looked like something out of Silent Hill (see picture).

After exploring the exhibits, I went outside and managed to find my way back to Kensington Gardens, which is quickly becoming my favorite place to hang out. I found a bench and read a bit of "Howl's Moving Castle" (which I have since finished), and randomly found the spot where it had the Albert memorial with the Royal Albert Hall just across from it. Really beautiful architecture all around. :)


The next day was a rest day, yet when Chris got off work, I met him at Russell Square station to go check out the building where the outside of "Black Books" is shot. "Black Books" is my favorite british comedy series, and is where I named my last hamster from - 'Bernard', played by Dylan Moran, who is a lewd, wine drinking, smoking jackass who runs the bookshop. So in commemoration of the event, Chris and I went to the convenience store across the way and bought a bottle of White Zinfandel wine and drank it amongst some confused Japanese businessmen as we took pictures outside of the building. Too bad it was closed, I would have gone in and searched for the Little Book of Calm. :) (see picture!)

Afterwards we headed to Central London where we took in some of the sights at night, which involved crossing a bridge, checking out the London Eye all lit up, seeing Big Ben all lit up.. have a great shot of the nightly atmosphere! (See photo.) We also went to a Starbucks where Chris got free coffee! And I got a signature hot chocolate with a cheesecake which they threw into a bag so it fell apart nicely... but it still tasted delicious. :)


Saturday came! And it was quite a great day.

Chris and I headed out to Peckham early, since there was going to be a riot later that day, however we still got caught in a pretty nasty traffic jam (which Roy got the best of, he waited 2 1/2 hours on a bus when he could have just walked for less that XD) because we headed to TOYS R US for I wanted to find a Doctor Who Sonic Screwdriver, which Chris managed to find one left of. :D He is the finding masta! I have a video of me showing my "fancy pens" which you can check out ici:



Afterwards I was extremely starving, so Chris took me to a nice chips place. I got some chips and a Saveloy (a red sausage/hot dog thing, I didn't like it so much :( ) and ate it in a park which was actually right opposite the "Winchester" which is the pub Simon Pegg and crew hang out at during the Zombie Attack in the movie "Shaun of the Dead." However, it doesn't look like it did in the movie anymore because they closed down and renovated the crap out of the outside. :{ Ah well...

We met up with Roy at Chris's friend Barry's house, where I explored his awesome "basement in a closet", got confused at the furry pillows in the living room because I thought they were animals (had to poke it to make sure..) We had 1/6th of a McDonalds cheeseburger pie each, grabbed a quick cuppa and a cold Wispa Gold (which I thankfully saved for later, see why in a bit..) and headed out to the "Hobgoblin" which is a pub that sells "Green Goblin" beer. I think Jackson would have been ecstatic to see it. :) Anyway, I tried my first Gin and Tonic here, which was lovingly described by someone as "drinking an alcoholic pine tree", so in order to get through that, I had to take bites of my Wispa Gold in between sips. :|

That night we ended up watching the movie "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" which awesomely came out in the UK first before North America (ha ha!) It was the film Heath Ledger died in the middle of filming, which Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell, and Jude Law all volunteered to help finish as being the same character, so they worked out his "face changes" into the script, which is awesomely done. I thought it was a brilliant movie, I love the kind of old carnival, artsy type movies (like Moulin Rouge) so of course I enjoyed it. :D I think the boys didn't enjoy it as much as I did though, haha.

Ended up going to the Ledger Building next door for a bunch of unexpected rounds of cocktails, 6 jugs of cocktails to be exact, playing hilarious drinking games and fondling Barry's hairy chest (I think the guys enjoyed that more, haha!!) Good times had by all, except for a stupid tipsy me, who thought it would be a good idea to wait to go to the bathroom.. So I awesomely didn't go before we left (it's more than an hour tube ride home) and after the longest tube ride of my life, dragged Chris and Roy off the tube a couple stops before ours because I couldn't wait any longer.. There wasn't a bathroom at the station so I had to run up the street looking for dark alleys when I finally found a petrol station which was HEAVEN SENT, all lit up and everything... After the best pee of my life, we walked home, got an enormous Lamb Doner Kebab and a large chips (which alone could feed a family of 4) and watched R. Kelly's "Trapped in a Closet" which was apparently an lol!internet sensation years ago but I never caught onto it.. Anyway, it was horribly amazing, and that was the end of that day, which ended at around 3 am.

Sunday consisted of Chris and I getting up and dressing up for "Suit up Sunday", and headed to Earl's Court because they had a REAL TARDIS there. :D After meeting up with Lap, we took some really great, geeky pictures (see photo) and had disgusting, expensive tea in the cafe across from it. :| Went back to Chris's place, changed, met up with Sadie and Annabel, and went to "Nando's 11". Chris and Annabel are on a mission to visit all the Nando's in London, starting from the order that they opened. I got a chicken pitta with a side of "spicy rice", both of which had SURPRISE PEPPERS in it >:| I managed to get some free chips and a coke, and we also managed some free banana frozen yogurt, an extra perinaise, and a few sprites :D

We visited Harrow on the Hill since we were in the area, I got a travel charger and we visited the Disney Store, where I got a Nightmare Before Christmas water bottle! We also visited this clothing store called "New Look", where they had a shoe section in the back, where it showed the laziness of both London shoppers and staff - shoes were EVERYWHERE. Like, someone would pick up a pair of shoes, not like it, and just THROW IT ON THE FLOOR. So in order to be part of the crowd, I picked up a couple of pairs of shoes and just chucked them on the floor. No one seemed to care, it was like I was one of them. Regardless, I got a photo of this event (See photo.)

Returning to Chris's house involved playing Singstar, eating a horrible gravy covered atrocity, and watching lots of hilarious videos, so now I'm all caught up with the in-jokes for the most part.

JUNIOR SPESH!

Yesterday was a lazy day, however we managed to go to a pub quiz later that night after making an epic Chile Con Carne. The Pub Quiz was lots of fun, and there was one question where we got a puzzle we had to solve. After playing 150 professor Layton puzzles in the last month, I was determined to solve it, so after 15 minutes of thinking, I finally figured it out and tick...tick...tick....DING! CORRECT! I struck a pose the Professor would be proud of. :D

After the quiz (we didn't win but we got a damn good score) I demanded emergency ice cream, so emergency ice cream was had. And enjoyed, while watching America's Next Top Model. Haha.

So today I am meeting up with Steve/Joei in Camden Town and we're gonna tear stuff up. :D Or just hang out. Whatever we feel like.

Tempus Fugit!