Friday and Saturday

I hope to describe both in a detailed and amusing way, but I should record what I've done.

On friday I joined the CTS contingent going to Robinson Ball. This was very fun, lovely people, lovely venue, lovely ball; though by about 4 in the morning you had done everything, and they had run out of alchohol, soft drinks, food, and didn't have enough breakfast. But I'm glad we went, and hope another outing will be organised (by someone else) next year, probably to another different ball. Or possibly Jesus again.

Today two wonderful ladies (beckyc and sonicdrift) took me to the playford ball, which was great. I danced just about every dance, ate very good food, and met lots of great people. Numberland and atreic (in addition to two people who afaik don't have ljs :)) were calling, and were nervous, but went very well all in all -- thank you. Though this did mean I barely got to dance with either of them, which was a shame.

Now I feel pleasingly exhausted, crusted with exertion, and very very glad to shower and fall into bed where I will not have any trouble getting to sleep. I will get nearly a full rest before cycling down to coordinate the CTS puntmoot first thing tomorrow.

See you all soon!

Doctor Who: Love and Monsters

Well, I want to write about this week's episode, so it must have been effective in some ways, whether or not you love it.

( spoilers )

Lost

Will someone tell me what's going on in Lost? I see little snippets that make me want to know what's going on, and be sure the story would be interesting, but can't be bothered to watch any of the episodes, and feel an online review would be a bit dry.

Perfect May Ball

I can't be bothered to describe Robinson, so I'll describe the perfect may ball instead. That is from my perspective, so there's little mention of some popular things.

* More room for dancing. We're always far too crowded, whenever we do anything like ceilidh or waltz rather than more normal shaking
* Food that can be simple, but very good.
* Gratuitously much of some cool gimicky food, eg. chocolate fountain
* But don't go overboard blowing your budget on caviar that no-one really likes and throws away
* Dodgems
* Fairgroundy rides, something different, fun and retro
* Different sorts of alchohol, preferably interesting, giving you the opportunity to sample lots of things
* A cinema for when you want to rest your feet for a few hours in the middle of the night
* Classical music outside in the early hours
* Little queuing
* No nonsense about requiring double tickets and draconian security precautions.
* Less faff with a survivors photo. I like the idea, and like having a defined end, but standing up for thirty minutes when you *feel* that it should be possible in one, and when your feet have finally started hurting and you finally want to sleep, and being given directions by a microphone that mumbles at high volume, with no indication of where is in the picture except the same microphone, for a picture on which you can barely see yourself, was something I enjoyed doing once and am now happy to skip.
* Taxis conveniently waiting outside to take you home and trade banter if you're awake enough for it.

Were any of the balls perfect? Trinity (£110 per person, less as a student) probably was the best ball in many ways, but I never really went with a group of friends, and had too great expectations so didn't enjoy it so much. Jesus (£90, less if you book early) was very nice, not perfect, but I think recommended. Robinson (£84) was nice, but felt a little half-hearted when they started running out of food and drink and breakfast. So it sounds like Jesus is a sweet spot, Trinity worth it if you can get tickets. But I've never been to any others (memo to self: be employed to massage[1] at one ball, crash another.)

Robinson May Ball in images

I didn't actually take my camera in the end, not liking carrying anything extra, and everyone else having one, but retrospectively decided to capture the experience in images.

* Thea obligingly flashing some thigh to my camera
* Owen leaping from a taxi in a snazzy new DJ
* The four girls squeeing in totally different black dresses
* Robinson garden lit up, winding path
* Richard wearing a bright hawiian shirt shaking hands with the other guests.
* Leaning back on the swingboats, watching the fireworks exploding through the trees
* Emma giggling over a double handful of poker chips
* A king kong costume carrying off a dairymaid type girl and then coming back to be petted and fed vodka
* A three or four tier chocolate fountain, the fall thick enough it looks solid.
* A burly bluff young man carrying three empty beer bottles, staring confusedly round at his friends (or possibly just the people standing next to him) saying "There's no more alchohol anywhere."
* A row of our heads in the cinema gently dozing, or draped on each other looking unbearably cute
* Jack waltzing with himself on the grass to Quai Sera Sera
* Emerging blinking in the dawn to people *still* playing dodgems

I enjoyed it very much. I was sorry not everyone it would have been to have been able to could go, but there was a lovely crowd, and I spent much time with everyone, and some just wandering away by myself to admire the sights. It was all fun -- though better if they hadn't run out of things of course. I had a low moment in the early morning, and then later when people were snapping, but sprawled on the grass with everyone in the lead up to the end, we chatted outselves into happiness, and the taxi driver home was a great wag, as we all traded increasingly bad puns with each other. Thank you all!