Catching up.
So from Thursday to Tuesday I was in the UK:
Thurs-Sat: Cambridge
The first couple of days I spent visiting causticangel and lieutenanth in Cambridge. I spent three weeks there a few years ago for a medieval studies summer class and enjoyed myself hugely, so it was nice to revisit old haunts and browse the shops. Bought xannoside a shotglass for his new poncy universities shotglass collection, picked up some fudge at the way awesome fudge store, made causticangel buy the first Temeraire book, and got a really neat Welsh dragon pendant, scarf, and book (The Elephant Keeper) at a charity shop. I went to the local Forbidden Planet branch, but didn't buy anything.
Sat-Tues: London
Then I hopped on the coach back to London (SO much cheaper and more convenient than rail, zomg) and spent the next few days with hammster. We hadn't seen each other in almost a year, so it was good times. I got to meet ormery, who is way awesome, then the next day I went to Charing Cross Road on my own because hammster had a previous engagement. Sadly, none of the used bookstores had anything I was dying to get, since I didn't feel like paying three pounds fifty for A Ship of the Line. Instead, I went comic shopping armed with shop recs from stubbleupdate and ormery. I went to Gosh and Orbital; I liked the ambiance at Gosh better (and was quite bummed to be too early by a week for the Becky Cloonan/Kieron Gillen/Jamie McKelvie signing!), but Orbital happened to have more of what I was in the mood to buy. I'd happily recommend both!
For the curious, I bought:
Spider-Girl vol. 3: Avenging Allies
Marvel Adventures presents Thor and the Avengers (reprints MA: Super-heroes #9-12)
Then I went to Foyles, where I was lucky enough to find Brian Aldiss' Science Fiction Omnibus, which I'd been hoping to find! It's only available in the UK and has elizaeffect's first published story in it. Which I had the privilege of reading in workshop -- I'm looking forward to reading the final version. I also got the first trade of Ultimate Comics Spider-Man, although the "Comics" part is redacted from the trade title -- is anyone else really confused by the retitling? Yeah, me too.
Incidentally, the Foyles café has great carrot cake. And there's a place down the road which does a fairly decent milkshake, but I can't remember the name.
Monday, hammster and I went to the V&A, which had great exhibits but antediluvian (okay, maybe just ... 20th century) placards. I am honestly a bit boggled that whoever wrote those managed to discuss the influence of Asian culture on Western design and art without once bringing up the concept of cultural appropriation or orientalism. Not to mention bringing up the ivory trade without talking about the impact on elephant populations. Ditto the trade in red coral, which is very topical right now.
On Tuesday H. had to go to class and wouldn't get back until after I had to leave for the airport, so I said goodbye to her in the morning and went downtown to visit with J, the son of one of my mother's college friends. After a brunch at a Waterstones café (and the purchase of one more USM trade!), we went to the Deep exhibition at the Natural History Museum (about ... deep water fauna). Since I am slightly geeky about ocean wildlife, I enjoyed myself greatly. I was really tempted to get a plush Great Pacific Octopus but it was a tad too big to take home comfortably, so instead I got a teeny Pteranodon and teeny Stegosaurus and tons of postcards. I know what company the octopus was from, so, you know. Another time!
Then I had black forest cake, and then after a short delay at the airport, I went home. The end?
The way I timed my trip, my appointment at the sleep clinic was the evening after I got home, which wasn't ideal but better than waiting another month or two for another go. There were rather more electrodes than I was expecting -- on my index finger, legs, and chest as well as my head, although that makes sense in retrospect -- not to mention a nasal cannula. For the record, nasal cannulas itch. A lot. The night shift attendant was mildly condescending, which caused me to form this whole theory about attidudes towards patients in the Swiss healthcare system until she told me she was Canadian.
It occurs to me that I officially spent a night in hospital, but other than having a hospital breakfast (redcurrant and black cherry jam on prepackaged toast with orange juice, for the curious) it didn't really feel like a hospital stay.
My tips for anyone who gets a sleep study:
1) Make sure you brush your teeth/perform your nightly ablutions BEFORE they attach the electrodes.
2) If the clinic has a shower, bring shower things so you can shower in the morning. Alternatively, prepare to feel very awkward around the next day's patients when you parade out with electrode gunk in your hair.
With all the hullabaloo of the week previous, I pretty much forgot about my birthday until 2 AM the day of. Thanks everyone for all your bday wishes! I kept things pretty lazy -- we went to our Chinese restaurant of choice and had Peking Duck (my favorite), then my mother made mango mousse for dessert. I think I may buy myself something from etsy this weekend.
Meanwhile, I've finally worked out what my brother's superpower is -- coming up with fannish ideas so good it almost hurts that they aren't canon. Today, he suggested an animated series which would be a high school AU of Marvel's street level heroes -- Daredevil, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Spidey and all the others. Wouldn't you watch that? I would totally watch that. Especially if it had Misty, Colleen, Black Cat and White Tiger (Hector or Angela) in it as well.
Thurs-Sat: Cambridge
The first couple of days I spent visiting causticangel and lieutenanth in Cambridge. I spent three weeks there a few years ago for a medieval studies summer class and enjoyed myself hugely, so it was nice to revisit old haunts and browse the shops. Bought xannoside a shotglass for his new poncy universities shotglass collection, picked up some fudge at the way awesome fudge store, made causticangel buy the first Temeraire book, and got a really neat Welsh dragon pendant, scarf, and book (The Elephant Keeper) at a charity shop. I went to the local Forbidden Planet branch, but didn't buy anything.
Sat-Tues: London
Then I hopped on the coach back to London (SO much cheaper and more convenient than rail, zomg) and spent the next few days with hammster. We hadn't seen each other in almost a year, so it was good times. I got to meet ormery, who is way awesome, then the next day I went to Charing Cross Road on my own because hammster had a previous engagement. Sadly, none of the used bookstores had anything I was dying to get, since I didn't feel like paying three pounds fifty for A Ship of the Line. Instead, I went comic shopping armed with shop recs from stubbleupdate and ormery. I went to Gosh and Orbital; I liked the ambiance at Gosh better (and was quite bummed to be too early by a week for the Becky Cloonan/Kieron Gillen/Jamie McKelvie signing!), but Orbital happened to have more of what I was in the mood to buy. I'd happily recommend both!
For the curious, I bought:
Spider-Girl vol. 3: Avenging Allies
Marvel Adventures presents Thor and the Avengers (reprints MA: Super-heroes #9-12)
Then I went to Foyles, where I was lucky enough to find Brian Aldiss' Science Fiction Omnibus, which I'd been hoping to find! It's only available in the UK and has elizaeffect's first published story in it. Which I had the privilege of reading in workshop -- I'm looking forward to reading the final version. I also got the first trade of Ultimate Comics Spider-Man, although the "Comics" part is redacted from the trade title -- is anyone else really confused by the retitling? Yeah, me too.
Incidentally, the Foyles café has great carrot cake. And there's a place down the road which does a fairly decent milkshake, but I can't remember the name.
Monday, hammster and I went to the V&A, which had great exhibits but antediluvian (okay, maybe just ... 20th century) placards. I am honestly a bit boggled that whoever wrote those managed to discuss the influence of Asian culture on Western design and art without once bringing up the concept of cultural appropriation or orientalism. Not to mention bringing up the ivory trade without talking about the impact on elephant populations. Ditto the trade in red coral, which is very topical right now.
On Tuesday H. had to go to class and wouldn't get back until after I had to leave for the airport, so I said goodbye to her in the morning and went downtown to visit with J, the son of one of my mother's college friends. After a brunch at a Waterstones café (and the purchase of one more USM trade!), we went to the Deep exhibition at the Natural History Museum (about ... deep water fauna). Since I am slightly geeky about ocean wildlife, I enjoyed myself greatly. I was really tempted to get a plush Great Pacific Octopus but it was a tad too big to take home comfortably, so instead I got a teeny Pteranodon and teeny Stegosaurus and tons of postcards. I know what company the octopus was from, so, you know. Another time!
Then I had black forest cake, and then after a short delay at the airport, I went home. The end?
The way I timed my trip, my appointment at the sleep clinic was the evening after I got home, which wasn't ideal but better than waiting another month or two for another go. There were rather more electrodes than I was expecting -- on my index finger, legs, and chest as well as my head, although that makes sense in retrospect -- not to mention a nasal cannula. For the record, nasal cannulas itch. A lot. The night shift attendant was mildly condescending, which caused me to form this whole theory about attidudes towards patients in the Swiss healthcare system until she told me she was Canadian.
It occurs to me that I officially spent a night in hospital, but other than having a hospital breakfast (redcurrant and black cherry jam on prepackaged toast with orange juice, for the curious) it didn't really feel like a hospital stay.
My tips for anyone who gets a sleep study:
1) Make sure you brush your teeth/perform your nightly ablutions BEFORE they attach the electrodes.
2) If the clinic has a shower, bring shower things so you can shower in the morning. Alternatively, prepare to feel very awkward around the next day's patients when you parade out with electrode gunk in your hair.
With all the hullabaloo of the week previous, I pretty much forgot about my birthday until 2 AM the day of. Thanks everyone for all your bday wishes! I kept things pretty lazy -- we went to our Chinese restaurant of choice and had Peking Duck (my favorite), then my mother made mango mousse for dessert. I think I may buy myself something from etsy this weekend.
Meanwhile, I've finally worked out what my brother's superpower is -- coming up with fannish ideas so good it almost hurts that they aren't canon. Today, he suggested an animated series which would be a high school AU of Marvel's street level heroes -- Daredevil, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Spidey and all the others. Wouldn't you watch that? I would totally watch that. Especially if it had Misty, Colleen, Black Cat and White Tiger (Hector or Angela) in it as well.