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'Frisco, UberMadness...
Sep. 21st, 2006 01:06 pm...and being less than 5'7" for the win.
So here I am, back in the UK after carrying out some decidedly poor photography, attending dry lectures and spending all manner of good times with Emma.
The flights proceeded smoothly, we were through customs in minutes rather than the hours I feared, and found our hotel with only a moderate diversion. The room was glorious, huge and, when the window was closed, quiet. Loads of space, big bathroom, huge bed, unlimited free coffee and a paper in the mornings, four storey Borders two doors down the road, Macy's, Gucci, Tiffany, Levi and Saks across the square.
First two days were spent exploring (as it was the only time we would have all day together for). The city itself is beautiful, precisely the way it is seen in films - those long straight roads down into the business district really are all present and correct. The seaside hits you quite unexpectedly, as you remember that San Francisco is indeed on the pacific coast. Loads of places selling food, portions are huge (burrito some nine inches long and four wide containing meat and salsa only), prices are insidiously cheap. I say insidiously cheap because they are a bit cheaper than over here, so encourage you to buy more thereby spending more than you would normally. Alcatraz is a bit of a let down. Expensive to get to, only interesting in the cellhouse area but, as everyone said, had to be done. So we did.
I went off to the conference (boring) while Emma bought books (extensively). Between us, we came away with eleven new ones between us (I think), at the cost of about $7.99 each (dollars). Ate Godiva chocolate cheesecake on top of Macy's (reccommended). Bought Tommy Hilfigger jeans for £25 (comfortable). Ate a sixteen ounce beefburger (delicious). Drank the hotel's free sherry (cream). Flew home again (aeroplane), straight into...
...my cousin's wedding. An absolutely dire civil ceremony where the words contract, respect and law were mentioned something like fifteen times togather, while love got mentioned once. No more than could be expected for two law graduates, but desperately dry and quite discouraging, especially considering how much they had spent on the big day. Emma met my father's side of the family - the sensible ones, anyway - before the two of us were picked up by her father, driven to her house where I stayed the night, before...
...going to the Theatre Royal on Drury Lane to audition for the musical version of The Lord of the Rings (coming out May 7th, officially). They wanted hobbits, for which you needed to be under five foot seven, something I can manage while still wearing shoes. For the girls it was no problem, but several guys got turned away at the door/limbo device being compulsively manned by staff. I got to sing a whole sixteen bars of Fisher's Free At Last as my audition piece, which they had never heard before and said they wanted to hear more of but couldn't. They confirmed I had no formal dance training, thanked me very much for my time and said that would do for today. Considering it was a blow off, I've rarely felt better, probably due to the, "I've just done a London audition" feeling.
So now I return to the daily grind, with very little money remaining, needing to find a day job to tide me over while I write the PhD, and UberMadness IV finally having kicked off yesterday morning. For those of you who don't know what it is, UM was created by various high-ups on Ubersite as a means of holding a heads-up writing competition where people would be judged on the quality of writing only, rather than their reputation, or lack thereof. Each pairing of people are assigned a title anonymously, submit a post based on that title, and once both have submitted, the post appears on the board under the authorship of UberMadness. People vote for their favourite, most votes wins and goes onto the next round. They're trying a swiss-style tournament this time rather than the single elimination we've had the previous three, but the idea is still the same: It's heads-up competition between two anonymous posts, identities only coming out after voting has closed. I managed to get myself seeded with this, that some of you might recognise the loose subject matter of, and now I have until Monday to submit a post based on a title I currently have no inspiration whatsoever for. Caroline, known there as Hirilnara, got in with this, and I understand is similarly unimpressed with her title, whatever it may be, so they're obviously saving the good ones until later in the tournament.
When I'm going to write, between birthday parties, visits by various people and Sunday's larp, I'm not entirely certain.
So here I am, back in the UK after carrying out some decidedly poor photography, attending dry lectures and spending all manner of good times with Emma.
The flights proceeded smoothly, we were through customs in minutes rather than the hours I feared, and found our hotel with only a moderate diversion. The room was glorious, huge and, when the window was closed, quiet. Loads of space, big bathroom, huge bed, unlimited free coffee and a paper in the mornings, four storey Borders two doors down the road, Macy's, Gucci, Tiffany, Levi and Saks across the square.
First two days were spent exploring (as it was the only time we would have all day together for). The city itself is beautiful, precisely the way it is seen in films - those long straight roads down into the business district really are all present and correct. The seaside hits you quite unexpectedly, as you remember that San Francisco is indeed on the pacific coast. Loads of places selling food, portions are huge (burrito some nine inches long and four wide containing meat and salsa only), prices are insidiously cheap. I say insidiously cheap because they are a bit cheaper than over here, so encourage you to buy more thereby spending more than you would normally. Alcatraz is a bit of a let down. Expensive to get to, only interesting in the cellhouse area but, as everyone said, had to be done. So we did.
I went off to the conference (boring) while Emma bought books (extensively). Between us, we came away with eleven new ones between us (I think), at the cost of about $7.99 each (dollars). Ate Godiva chocolate cheesecake on top of Macy's (reccommended). Bought Tommy Hilfigger jeans for £25 (comfortable). Ate a sixteen ounce beefburger (delicious). Drank the hotel's free sherry (cream). Flew home again (aeroplane), straight into...
...my cousin's wedding. An absolutely dire civil ceremony where the words contract, respect and law were mentioned something like fifteen times togather, while love got mentioned once. No more than could be expected for two law graduates, but desperately dry and quite discouraging, especially considering how much they had spent on the big day. Emma met my father's side of the family - the sensible ones, anyway - before the two of us were picked up by her father, driven to her house where I stayed the night, before...
...going to the Theatre Royal on Drury Lane to audition for the musical version of The Lord of the Rings (coming out May 7th, officially). They wanted hobbits, for which you needed to be under five foot seven, something I can manage while still wearing shoes. For the girls it was no problem, but several guys got turned away at the door/limbo device being compulsively manned by staff. I got to sing a whole sixteen bars of Fisher's Free At Last as my audition piece, which they had never heard before and said they wanted to hear more of but couldn't. They confirmed I had no formal dance training, thanked me very much for my time and said that would do for today. Considering it was a blow off, I've rarely felt better, probably due to the, "I've just done a London audition" feeling.
So now I return to the daily grind, with very little money remaining, needing to find a day job to tide me over while I write the PhD, and UberMadness IV finally having kicked off yesterday morning. For those of you who don't know what it is, UM was created by various high-ups on Ubersite as a means of holding a heads-up writing competition where people would be judged on the quality of writing only, rather than their reputation, or lack thereof. Each pairing of people are assigned a title anonymously, submit a post based on that title, and once both have submitted, the post appears on the board under the authorship of UberMadness. People vote for their favourite, most votes wins and goes onto the next round. They're trying a swiss-style tournament this time rather than the single elimination we've had the previous three, but the idea is still the same: It's heads-up competition between two anonymous posts, identities only coming out after voting has closed. I managed to get myself seeded with this, that some of you might recognise the loose subject matter of, and now I have until Monday to submit a post based on a title I currently have no inspiration whatsoever for. Caroline, known there as Hirilnara, got in with this, and I understand is similarly unimpressed with her title, whatever it may be, so they're obviously saving the good ones until later in the tournament.
When I'm going to write, between birthday parties, visits by various people and Sunday's larp, I'm not entirely certain.
