Hair. Also, weirdness.

I got my hair cut, did I tell you that? I freaking love it and have been wanting bangs/fringe for ages so I dig having it now. In yellow nursery one of the assistants had the tykes tell me that they liked my hair yesterday and OH. I blushed so bad. Thanks, tykes.

On Sarah and Desh's last day in London we were down by St. Pauls and found these furry people. None of us have been able to figure out what on earth they were doing. There were about 30 of them on the steps of St. Pauls and they all refused to tell us when asked point blank on the day. Sarah described this guy as a "skunk who fell in some windex." Which I think is so. great. In any case, I don't have a good explanation for this photo- but look: Bangs! (Fringe!)

The faces pictures is just because.

Bright Colors/Busy and Social

I have been SO busy recently. I don't think I've been at home for an evening in two weeks- though of course, going to Scotland helped with that...So I want to tell you about some of what I've been up to.

That being said, the real reason I decided to start blogging right now is because of the incredibly bright colors I happen to be wearing- red hoodie, pink yoga pants, and my delightfully warm rainbow patterned knit socks from Andy and Nancy. I think I may be a little bit blinding in this outfit.

Last night I went to the Science Museum for one of their late night events-this is the second one I have been to and this time the theme was "music" which was, as you may have guessed, right up my alley. In addition to having their regular exhibits open (and free from small children, so you get to play with all the toys too!) they also have all sorts of special events to do with their theme. My favorites from last night were the silent disco where everyone is given a pair of wireless headphones and you choose from two competing DJs, KaraUke, and kazoo making with clothes pins and rubber bands.

Silent disco is hilarious to walk by because you can't hear anything anyone is listening to because it is all through headphones and half the group is bopping around to a completely different beat than the other half. It's especially great when the two DJs have chosen music that encourages very different styles of movement- like reggae on one channel and a Ramones remix on the other.

KaraUke is karaoke with a ukulele backing band. It was ridiculous and *awesome.* I am going to go to some more of their gigs because...well, do I really need a reason? My life will not be complete until I have sung Eye of the Tiger with them.

On Monday Ella and I went to the South Bank Centre for Hide and Seek: Sandpit which is a "monthly" pervasive gaming testing ground. It's getting to the point where I've now been to enough events like this that I am recognizing a lot of people. Am I turning into a groupie a little? Yes. In addition to playing an intense version of "Mafia" I also ran into my friends Emma and Will whom I haven't seen in six months since they left on a train trip through Russia and the rest of Europe and then moved to Bristol. What were they doing in London? Clearly they showed up for the express purpose of catching up with me...

On Tuesday I went to Gwen and Rob's friend's album launch which Rob was doing the sound for. Gwen and I also spent Tuesday afternoon talking to an accountant friend of hers about how to do taxes in the UK. He was incredibly generous with his time and we both feel both more relaxed about the whole tax situation and far more knowledgeable.

On Friday I took Meredith to a game run by Fire-Hazard called "Survivor Sports" which basically boils down to dodge ball in the dark with glow sticks. It was totally sweaty and fun.

Saturday was another Jezebel meet up followed by scrabble with Rob and Gwen. (I lost, not as badly as possible, but still. Gwen won. AND made cool words. Go Gwen!)

Sunday I went to the lamest Chinese New Year celebration ever with Linda, my tiny tykes co-worker. Man, they really needed a stage manager. The event was in Trafalgar square, and to be fair it had been raining, but really- don't have 5 minutes of down time followed by 15 minutes of random people painting the eyes of the dragon that no one in the audience can see, followed by really lame audience participation (clue- if the giant crowd isn't cheering for you and hasn't yet done so at all- don't heckle us. It doesn't create goodwill between the audience and you. It creates quite a lot of ill-will actually.) Linda and I were out in the rain for over an hour and they finally started doing a dragon dance for 2 minutes but cut that short to do another photo call, so we left. But we had a really nice time chatting! So it wasn't a total wash!

Sunday night we found out that Rob had finally gotten a job! So Gwen and Rob and I celebrated- which was bunches of fun. (Who finds out they've been hired on a Sunday? Isn't that weird?) We ended up at this delicious Belgian restaurant that I don't remember the name of. They had long, sort of communal tables, so we ended up talking to the guy next to us who is a buyer for some sort of knock off fashion house in America. He travels all the time and ended up buying us drinks because he felt so bad for us that eating at this restaurant was a treat rather than just a matter of course. He left his billfold on the table at one point and it was full of $100 bills. We were like "....right. Different world."

Scotland: All Done

Scotland: Eye Candy Continued

Scotland: Eye Candy

I have no clue where most of these pictures were taken beyond "The Highlands" but aren't they nice? Most of these were taken by Desh, so thanks very much for sharing them with me, buddy!

Scotland: Number 4

We were on the tour bus for two days and then spent one more day in Edinburgh before hopping onto the Caledonian Sleeper at midnight that took us back to London. The sleeper train was a decently good idea- it was cheaper than other train times and it meant that we got to maximize our time in Scotland while minimizing the amount that we spent on hotels, but it was not the most comfortable sleep I've ever had. Ah well. Anyhow- on our Edinburgh tourist day we goaded the guide at the gate of the castle into taking a pictures with us, walked around the grounds, looked at a tartan mill, wandered through the writers museum, looked at stained glass windows in St. Giles' Cathedral, and were walking down towards the National Museum of Scotland to look at Pictish artifacts when museum walking caught up to us and we needed a break to rest our backs.

Fortunately Edinburgh is full of the best looking, most inviting, and characterful pubs I've ever seen. So we wandered off the main road and ended up in The Royal Oak. Man, were we lucky enough to wander in there. The pub is about the size of my parents' living room. Snug, inviting, and covered in "Best Folk Music Venue" awards. Being such a small place it was easy to get to chatting with the other folk there. Chief among the chatters were Mike- the 6'4" bartender from England and Alan- the bekilted genealogist who is from another branch of Wylder's clan. They had a wee tiff about being racist towards the English in Scotland which was settled quickly with a handshake and another beer.

Alan told us all about Sarah's clan and the connections between the various branches and then, upon being asked about a plaque we'd seen in St. Giles' called up a friend and reported back that the Bailey's came to Scotland with the Normans and were part of the Lamont clan? Or something like that? (I have to admit, I wasn't totally following his explanation.) We fully intended to come back that evening to listen to whatever music was playing that night, but when we announced our intention Mike jumped in and said that we needed to go two minutes down the road to The Green Mantle where his band was playing that evening. Which is how, that night, I ended up borrowing a bodhran for one song, singing "where have all the flowers gone" along with the rest of the pub, and trying to figure out if I liked the mandolin or the banjo solos better. Thanks, Mike.

Scotland: Number 3

Many of you who read this blog will know that the first time I came to England was when I was nine. (Heck, many of you who read this blog were ON that trip.) Many of you who read this blog will also be familiar with my family's tendency towards remembering trips and events by the food that we ate there. Many of you have probably heard about the potato story. (Which isn't so much a story as it is a tall tale.)

Which brings us to Edinburgh.

The first time I was in Edinburgh was on a one day side trip during the Great England Adventure. We took the train, it rained all day, we saw the castle, we had lunch in a pub and watched a practice parade for the Norwegian (?) King, and we had huge, massive, "shipping container" sized potatoes with shrimp curry on them. It was totally delightful and a highlight of the day. (Possibly even the trip. Well, that along with the family of swans that I fed while we were on the canal boat so that they followed us and picked at the stern for the whole week.)

Now, I don't know if this is the same potato shop- because for one thing I remember there being a counter with stools on the side of the room and for another thing this potato shop is all vegan and vegetarian. But it is red, it is in roughly the right location, and 16 years can change any number of things and so I suppose it is possible that this is, in fact, the same potato shop. Regardless of the authenticity of the shop, I will tell you that you can smell the baking potatoes from half a block away, they are generous with the cheese, and the whole place is a hippie haven. Yum.