Mar 25 & 26: Brighton and the Sandpit

Mar 25
So yesterday I went to visit Brighton, which was pretty cool. It's about an hour or so south of London, with a beach made out of what looked like shells and river stones. It was weird to walk along. I thought about collecting some for people, but the idea of taking stones from somewhere still weirds me out, since it's a really bad idea in Hawaii.

So I wandered along the famous Brighton pier, and went into the arcade and won an excellent souvenir keychain from a coin pusher machine (who knew I could actually figure out how to win at one of those?) and I played DDR for the first time in a long while, which was a TON of fun and really funny since the people around would watch, but as soon as I saw them watching they'd startle and run off. Surprisingly even though it's been a few years since I've played I can still play at my old skill level, which is really neat (it's a game you play with your feet! I forgot to mention that for my grandparents- you basically step on the panel when it lights up in time with music, it's fun!) I think it's because all the walking we do around here means my legs are in shape. I can actually moderately run now, which is also very cool, and a tangent.

Hm...I ended up going to dinner in Brighton and having lamb chops with fries and a little salad and a really ornate banoffee pie. Really tasty (its the same desert I had at The Mill in Salisbury) with whipped cream and little pocky type sticks. Oh! and I saw the Royal Pavilion. It's like a medium-sized garden/park with pathways and stuff leading to what looks like a replica of the Taj Mahal or something (my eyes are getting blurry, sorry if there's spelling errors) but with chinese-esque interior design. Kind of strange, yet cool.

I also went to a bar, which was interesting. It was a ladies night deal, so they had vouchers to get in free to the bar's sister club around the corner, and drinks were 1.50, which is basically an unheard-of deal anywhere. The people were really friendly and I got to try some new drinks! I would walk over and ask the bartenders (there were three) what their best drinks were, and they'd make something. It was interesting. I ended up tryinig a brandy and coke, a whiskey and coke, and an amaretto and cranberry. The amaretto and cranberry was surprisingly good, as was the...brandy and coke, I think. It tasted creamy, sort of. The one and coke. Ah well. I'm sure someone can correct me on which one it was.

I went to check out the club briefly, but it opened at 10:30 and the last train to London was at 11:30. There wasn't anyone really there when I got in, but there was I guess the bar manager, this older woman who saw me and asked if I was there alone and if I was alright or needed anything. So friendly! Downstairs was playing some really funny club mixes, including a club version of the Glee version of Journey's Don't Stop Believin'. Suuuuuuper funny, and weird.

Upstairs they were playing more electronic music, but it was really repetitive and kind of not that great, so I didn't feel bad leaving early.

Mar 26
Today was less adventuresome. I got up and went to my internship, only to discover that there was very little to do. I helped set up a job for Evan, and changed the addresses (programming numbers, basically, so the light board knows what light to flick on when) on several lights, and helped safety check some cables. Oh! and a guy came in to demo new speakers that won't be on the market until the end of the year or next year or something, and he said he was the first rep (but he's higher than a sales rep, I just don't remember what his title was) to be given the speakers to show to other dealers (10outof10, the company I'm working with, also sells lights and sound equipment to schools and stuff). Sort of cool, but after 15 minutes it was rather boring, and after 2 hours I was ready to go.

I ended up leaving early at 5 which was good 'cause Hide and Seek was having another Sandpit event at the V&A museum near our flat. Sandpit is basically this night of gaming where there's games and social activities all over the place and it was supposed to be crazy and awesome. I ended up signing up for this event where you had to run around doing stuff like a scavenger hunt met bingo. You had to complete challenges like getting everyone to wave at a certain time or compose a limerick with your team. When you completed a challenge you got your card stamped and were given a length of ribbon. One team member stayed outside holding four baloons tied together, and you tied the string you won to the balloons, and first person to complete a set number of challnges or highest balloon when time ran out (if nobody finished) would be the winner. I was teamed up with two other women, and a mom and a 6 year old daughter. The mom and kid had to leave halfway through the game which made me a little unhappy, but I understood the need for kid sleep. Still, it slowed us down and we didn't manage to place. I think we would have been 4th or 5th.

Then I went and watched this game going on in the south asian wing of the museum where there were four teams, Red Blue Green and Yellow. Each team had a single instrument player, and a dancer. The audience teams would be given little alphabetical cards with bits of music on the back. They would pick a card (alphabatized a-h) and clip it to the hat of the instrumentalist. There was a trombone, violin, trumpet, and clarinet. Sooo example: people who signed up would get into groups, and pick what dancer/instrument they wanted. Then they'd pick a card, like H or A, and clip it to the hat of the player. The player would play the tune, and the dancer would dance a certain way, either twirling, or backing up, or going forward, or turning, or something. The goal of the game was to manipulate the song and thus the dancer to go through all four corners of the area and to stop on a star between these pillars. At the end all the dancers and instrumentalists came together, and performed the full song/dance for everyone. It was really funny to watch, but I had this really strong suspicion I knew the yellow dancer (they won the game I saw) turns out she was the creative director for the Tristan Bates theatre, the one I had met and hung out with last Saturday at the Midnight Matinee. Small world, right? Best part is that there was another woman there who saw me and said hello, and I didn't recognize her at all, but she totally knew me. Then she told me she was the one who was working behind the desk at the Midnight Matinee. I still don't remember, but I think she's the one I gave information to so that other student groups could submit work to them. I just find it amazing that both of them recognized me! Also that they were there. Apparently Lauren (the creative director) looks different without her glasses, and has a pet guerrilla dancing troupe, who got asked by Hide and Seek to make up a game. So that was their game. My favorite part was after the game, when I got to talk to everyone since they were no longer in their "mute robot" acting, as I called it. The dancers and players didn't say anything during the game, and didn't make faces either. After though they were talking about it, and I enjoyed listening to them.


The only bad thing to report is that all day today something's been up with my right knee. not sure whats going on since i didnt hurt or bang it or anything, it just hurst to kneel and sit on the ground and it makes weird popping noises and when i walk one leg feels very different from the other. hopefully it clears up tomorrow, but I dunno.no idea whats going on there.

anyway, i'm tired, eyes are blurry, and no idea what to do right now. guess that means it's bedtime for me!