Excesive Entertainment Expenses

This weekend (5th-7th May) started out with me goin East, rather than West from where I work on Friday night. I went to an area of town called Leyton with my friends from work to join them in celebrating a former coworkers birthday and to just get well pissed in general. Leyton gets a bit of a bad rap (wrap?) for being a "dodgy" area of town, but it really isn't. There are just loads of different ethnic groups, the biggest being the Saffas'. That is who I went to party with. By the time everyone was at the party -this included me, three Columbians and about 19 people from South Africa- and had been drinking for a while, Afrikaans was becoming widely spoken and I was losing interest in the conversations. What people were saying looked interesting as they drunkenly flailed their arms about explaining some story, but I just couldn't fucking understand them. It was like work! At this point I was taught how to yell at people in Afrikaans and say extemely deragotory things to them in order to get them to speak in English. I now know how to start a fight in ZA. It worked and good conversation soon followed (I remember ranting on and on to some girl about the difference between America the continent and the United States and she kept saying "No no, it's OK. I know what you mean." She obviously didn't.). Once completely inebriated, I began hitting on the hot Columbian birds. Dancing and shots of Tequila ensued and I still had no idea where I was, and the last train home had departed a good 2 and a half hours ago! The next thing I remembered (of any interest) was Heinie waking up and leaving. I decided that was a brilliant idea and did the same. Alas, the door outsmarted me and kept me inside while I listened to Michael sing in the toilet. He eventually came and let me out, explaining the whole key-on-the-string-to-let-yourself-out bit that had gone completely over my head at this stage of the game. Next thought: "Where the fuck is the tube? Thank god for my A-Z!" I finally got home about 10h00 Saturday morning and walked into the kitchen where Scott and Ang were making breakfast: "I Win" I thought and did some random things that didn't need doing, such as knocking a plastic bag that contained plastic bags off the wall and unsuccessfully trying to pick them up off the floor. I also hung my newly cleaned clothes on the line outside because I thought they would be OK there and went to bed.

I woke up at 3 that afternoon and groaned. Not because I was hungover (and I wasn't) but because of the bloody rain. I took down my clothes which were mostly dry, though still damp and thought about what to do. Food! The last things I remember eating were Braai and some sort of BBQ grilled cheese and tomato sandwich on toast that some one so kindly made for me at whatever time the previous night/morning. As to what Braai is, pretty much Saffas BBQ. Huge pieces of seasoned meat in a spirally-sausage form grilled with onions and put on bread. Quinten was adamant about there being no sauce. It was delicious nonetheless.

Anyways, Saturday night got expensive for only having a pint of Magners compared to the 7 quid I spent getting pissed the previous night, discovering that Sol is an OK cervejas. I went out with the Aussies to a comedy club down in Soho called the Amused Moose. I don't think there are moose in London, orEngland, or even Europe. The first two acts made me chuckle but were no more than mediocre, especially for one of the comics being a fairly big celebrity. The headliner changed all that and was fantastic, giving brilliant renditions of drunken sperm and a bottle of merlot talking to a drunk person. And good impressions of drunk people too. Maybe you just had to be there? After that, we were starving and the thai place next door was closing, so he moved to China town for a mediocre and over priced dinner. This reconfirmed my wariness of Chinese cuisine in general. But more than that, the entire night cost well over £25, and I deffinitely did not have $45 worth of food or entertainment experiences from that night, which once again reconfirmed my wariness for London's West End. Live and learn.

I woke up early Sunday and went out to Oxford for a day trip to see the city. I caught my train with about negative one second to spare - I had to push the train doors back open and force myself inside- that way I didn't have to wait around for an hour. By 11 o clock I was walking around Oxford, but thought I was in Amsterdam as I wandered into the canals and boathouse section of the city. After a good 6 or so hours of wandering about I returned to London. Overall, I enjoyed Oxford, though I think Cambridge is the better of the two cities. I thought the latter was more impressive architecturally, whether it be city layout, landscape design or buildings in general. Cambridge has a better balance between narrow streets and passageways and open greenspace than does Oxford. It is nicer to wander through the "backs" of Cambridge than the Meadows of Christ College. Cambridge had a better social vibe to it, Oxford had too many cars. Besides, whenever I went to a museum or exhibit, I had to pay a fee or it was mostly closed off due to remodeling. However I think one of Oxfords bright spots is the Ashmolean museum, which is essentially the first museum in Britain and belongs to the University. It was free, had some neat displays, but again, a lot of exhibits were blocked off. Bugger. There is also the Radcliffe Camera and the Bsksjfsomething library which is just about the most important library in England. It receives the first draft of any publication ever made inside England. And the stacks are all located underground in a huge complex. Cool huh? OK, probably not. But I am a nerd and I thought so.

That night Mario made delicious Mexican food. It had been ages since last having a proper Mexican meal! Two nights later, Rhitik cooked some amazing curry. I thought about what "ethnic" foods I could cook. I decided lutefisk, lefsa and wild rice were best left back home. I suppose it is my turn to cook next weekend, so someone help me think of a good "Minnesota" dish aside from bland fish and bread.

That about does it I guess. Make sure you all call your mothers on Sunday.