real time, raf wyton

where did i leave off? ooh, i'm way behind.
Wednesday night. well, i went to the pub where the session was supposed to be with about 3£ left, so i had to find an atm. but the brits don't call them atms, so i went in and asked and everyone looked at me funny. actually they're called cashpoints, which i'd seen but thought was just a one-bank thing. so a guy who was rather wobbly went outside to point out where the nearest bank was, and he actually knew what he was talking about. got back to the bar and had a pint of cider (i really do like strongbow better... and crap, i left that can in tina's fridge. oops.) and some garlic bread right before the kitchen closed. and some guy next to me started chatting me up. he was a bit of a twit, in a wishy washy sort of way. bought me a drink (and it's really hard to say no without causing a scene, not that i minded saving myself £2.60) and finally the music i was there for started, so i turned around and listened.
there were 2 fiddles, a ukulele thing, a guitar, and a guy playing alternately uillin pipes and bones. the ukulele player picked up a fiddle when one of the fiddlers got tired, too. and later on another fiddle and an irish flute showed up.
some guy from spain had a pair of bones with him, but was about as good with them as i am on the bodhran, so he played a little from his seat. i didn't have my bodhran cause i didn't feel like schlepping it around all day, and they didn't know any songs that i knew all the words to, so i didn't do anything.
the ukulele player had no front teeth and told me a joke at one point, which i'm sure you've all heard before - guy goes into a building and says, "i'd like some fish and chips, please." and the lady at the counter looks up at him and says, "but sir, this is a library," and he says, "oh, sorry," and whispers, "i'd like some fish and chips, please."
anyway, at some point the guy who showed me the cashpoint (who had continued to drink, but didn't seem to have gotten any drunker, and was rather nice) came over and complimented me on my hair. we babbled for a while and the guy who'd bought me a drink took exception to the fact that he'd bought me a drink and i turned my back on him, and here i was talking to some other guy! i wanted to say something snide to the effect of, "oh, i'm sorry, i didn't realize that you were buying conversation time with that drink," but i refrained. anyway, the twit gets more obnoxious, and the other guy is like, 'sorry, didn't mean to upset you' and goes back to his seat. at which point the bouncer comes over and asks the twit what's going on. bouncer moves on to the other guy, and i decide i need to go pee, and pat the good guy on the shoulder as i go past to let him (and the bouncer) know that *i* don't have a problem. when i get back out, i find that the twit has been kicked out of the bar. :) and the good guy offers to buy me a drink. i was about ready to go, though, so i asked for water. after i sat down, the barmaid came over and was like, "do you want ice in your water? it's been bought *for* you," with a tone of voice that implied a conspiratorial wink.
later on the guy came up to me and was like, "i'm drunk, so i apologize if i'm being rude, but if you're in the area again, feel free to stop in here and i'll buy you another drink." he wasn't really my type, but he was nice. :)

i'll finish updating in a bit. must go pee.

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Thursday. went to the rsc's complete works of shakespeare abridged. it didn't live up to my expectations, but they were pretty high (the expectations, not the cast, script, or audience), so i wasn't disappointed. tina, on the other hand, had a sore throat before the show, and laughed so much during the show that by the end she didn't have a voice left. :) adam long, one of the original scriptwriters/ rsc members, directed. and two of the 3 cast members were canadian. or maybe all 3 were, i'm not sure. one was apparently a new addition to the cast, and his bio wasn't in the program. i got two of them to sign my script afterwards - they'd never seen the published version, so they hadn't seen any of the footnotes! the horror!
er, right. went to lunch with tina afterwards - and i'd like to point out that she paid for *everything*. i feel really guilty when people keep buying things for me, but they point out themselves that they have more money than i do, which is quite true, and i have a hard time protesting when people give me money or buy me things.
after lunch we went to tower music and i bought 'not a pretty girl', and then we went to borders and i bought a 10000 maniacs cd and read vol 1 and half of vol 2 of the sandman comics, and then it was closing time and they kicked us out. (yes, yes, the cds were both discounted enough that i could sort of afford them.) when we got home i broke out the heather cream and tina and i had a nice little nightcap. caffeinated coffee, but it was canceled out by the soporific effects of the alcohol. (sorry about the big words, don't know what got into me. :) )
tina's dog, bow (as in bow church, whose bells you have to be able to hear from where you were born to be cockney), really likes me. the first time i went out during the day, tina's mom went with me, and the dog was heartbroken when she came back alone, apparently. the last person she got this attached to, she followed to the train station, and tried to get on with them. so i hope the dog's not crying all night or something.
tina's mom made it sound like tina was looking forward to having me visit, and she invited me back, so i assume i wasn't too much of a pest. and when it gets closer to December she's going to buy us tickets to 'carpe jugulum', the play made of the terry pratchett book. i heard about it online, and she heard about it off the terry pratchett mailing list, so it was like, twist my rubber arm...
right. time for a new entry all about today. :)

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okay, today. la la train ride boring, got a shower at liana's cause tina only had a bathtub with her mother's lift in it. (oh, come on, i didn't smell bad yet..) she bought me lunch, including a halfpint of raspberry/vanilla/chocolate chip ice cream. mmmmmmmmmmm....
after some angst about who had the loaner garb and where the hell they were, we sorted it out and went to practice. the loaner garb has definitely got the size advantage on me.
practice was pretty good, not many people though. liana the seneschal who is pretty good, i'm not sure what rank she is. she's the one who'll be in atlantia by January. dave who is going to try for provost which is the drachenwaldian equivalent to free scholar, who's pretty good but started out as a collegiate fencer and it shows. and a guy nic who's an absolute beginner. and me. but it was fun, i held my own. got a chance to practice single dagger against liana's single epee, and except for the bit where i kept running up on her blade (approach from the *side*, dammit! ::sigh::) i did pretty good. and nic isn't too bad - gave me a chance to practice all the stuff i'd been taught before i got killed. although i didn't get killed that much. i need to work on disengages, cause he always circle parried *hugely* wide (woulda killed him a bunch if i'd had an off hand weapon) but because i couldn't disengage i couldn't get any advantage. but i worked on feints - got him quite a bit, too. didn't always get a killing blow, but i got through his guard. and i actually got him once or twice with that surprise headshot trick connor taught me. and dave complimented me on my aggression. :) that's the one bit i generally don't have any trouble with....
so now i'm at dawn's house. with a puter! happy me. :)