October 31st

[altogetherisi]

 Happy Hallowe'en, and Happy Samhain to those that are celebrating! 

 

These days for me, Hallowe'en is the day I have an excuse to make sure there is chocolate in the house just in case trick or treaters come, and then, when they never do (like never – we’re just not that kind of neighbourhood I guess, I remember someone coming round once my whole life and it was over 10 years ago) I get to eat it myself. Which is a fine holiday IMO. Plus, I’m going to pick up my poppy today.

 

And Hallowe'en also means tomorrow is the beginning of Nano! Argh oh god. I’m ifonlyella if anyone wants to be writing buddies. I really want to win this year!

***
 

So we came back from Devon last Friday, because on the 22nd I was going to London to see two New Yorkers: Maureen Johnson in the morning, and Jay Brannan in the evening.

 

I got up at a time early for me, probably pretty normal for more functional and productive members of our species, but particularly because now I'm lightboxing again I have to allow an extra hour. Haha, that's what I tell myself, as if I wouldn't use that hour to internet anyway, whatever convenient excuse. Little bit of angst about outfit ("Is it cold? It will be cold by midnight. It might rain. I should wear waterproof shoes. I should wear flat shoes. What if it gets sunny at lunch time. What if I meet someone attractive. What if I want to try on clothes in a shop.") and writing down easy to remember Google Maps instructions ("Walk in a straight line. Keep walking. Keep walking. Until you get there.") and onto the coach. 

 

I felt all confident, walking down the King's Road in the sun, not horrifically late, but all confidence fled when I actually arrived and remembered that there were very many people here and I didn't know any of them and why was I here again and suddenly all the shyness I'll just stand here silently and enjoy this complementary glittery cupcake thank you very much. I weirdest thing was that there were, I don't know, about 100 people there? And they all looked like, y'know, my favourite type of people, that being, pleasant YA fangirls (and a few fanboys!) of about my age. And I realised I would happily talk to these people online, but I was pretty scared of just talking to one of them randomly now. Which was odd, I can be so brazen. 

 

Anyway, kohlrimmedeye I sorta knew a little, and was there, so I stared around for a little while trying to figure out who she was. But I hadn't been there very long when Maureen Johnson started talking. Maureen is just fabulous and lovely and everything I want to be when I grow up shut up I'm not a grown up yet. She spoke about what she liked about the UK, the research she did for The Name of The Star and how ridiculous ghost hunting TV shows are and her crazy neighbor and  generally writerly things and hilarious stories about her life. She gave me free magnets for RSPVing! And there was a YA quiz, but I wasn’t quick enough to win a free t-shirt.

 

When she started signing, I found kohlrimmedeye, who is very lovely and also a totally professional and dedicated bookseller. I babbled at her for a little while before joining the end of the signing queue, which hadn’t been organized and had become a bit confused about which way it ought to be going. Some people also started giving some fan attention to Cassie Clare, who I realized I had walked past earlier and not recognized, and Charlie, of internet fame/didn’t want one of Lal’s cupcakes that one time, and blue haired Tom, also of internet fame apparently, but who I hadn’t heard of but seemed funny and y’know, had cool hair.

 

The queue took longer than I would have expected, about an hour, but there were some nice people to chat with. I ended up getting two books signed, one for me and one for hanelissar, who couldn’t come for three separate reasons but would have wanted to be there, and also a signed postcard for Lal. Maureen was very lovely and chatty and friendly and after we had met I sat down kinda behind to to rest and also keep watching a little bit. Kohlrimmedeye and I chatted a bit more, and I noticed that my blood sugar was properly low and this was making me feel a little loopy.

 

I left after Maureen did, and considering but ultimately rejecting whether to try to take a balloon with me, and walked up the Kings Road, which seemed longer the second time, for delicious soul restoring coffee at Starbucks. Like a fool, I did not eat, which I really ought to have I don’t know what I was thinking, because all I had for breakfast was a slice of pizza and since then just that glitter cupcake and that would have been an excellent moment for a Panini. But I didn’t, I just drank coffee and read and then I went to Oxford Street because I haven’t been there for a little while now and probably won’t again until the January sales, and my gig venue was right near there. But, I went on my customary pilgrimage to H&M and to flagship Topshop yet didn’t by anything. Which is a good thing for my very limited funds but also kinda weird. I can’t remember the last time I went to flagship Topshop, insanely exhausting place that it is, and didn’t buy something.

 

Anyway, then I went to the venue, feeling a little bit tired and rundown by this point – hello low blood sugar – and no one was there yet, but it was right next to Foyles, so I sat and read in Foyles for a little while until about 6.30pm. Then I wandered back and now there were four or five other people floating around so I joined the queue and got chatting, which was nice. When the doors opened we were the first few people inside and we managed to get these seats, equidistant between the bar and the stage with a perfect view, which was life saving because the thought of standing up for another four hours was not a pleasant one. Drinks were insanely expensive inside, but I wasn’t meant to be having many anyway since the whole not eating all day thing.

 

The support came on at 8.30pm – it was a guy called Nick Howard and he was unexpectedly absolutely awesome. Really good. Also, his friend (bandmate?) Spencer was playing some percussion and I was delighted that he had among his instruments a cajon ala lc2l  So they woke me up considerably and put me in a great mood for Jay, who came on at 9.30 and played for about an hour. 

Jay Brannan’s music means so much to me – aside from being just generally really good, it really helped when I was seriously depressed coming up to two years ago, and the long process of becoming less depressed (which can be a weird thing to talk about with other people that get depressed, but not seasonally.). His music was one of the first things that made me feel again, or that I was capable of feeling again, of connecting to emotionally and recognizing and feeling inherent beauty within. So. It’s kinda a big deal to me.

 

Anyway, regardless of your emotional state, Jay’s music is good – he’s a singer songwriter with an acoustic guitar and a sweet voice, but most of his songs are slightly off-kilter, with bittersweet and thoughtful lyrics, sad and funny and subversive and rude and lovely.

 

The gig was sold out weeks beforehand, and he played a mixture of fan favourites and new songs from his upcoming album. I feel like I have been waiting for his new album forever and ever. His new Christmas song is hilarious. And then afterwards, I met him and Nick Howard at the merch stall, where I bought Nick Howard’s album and a T-shirt from Jay. The shirt says “I’m having a quarter life crisis” = achingly appropriate.

 

I got home about quarter to 2 I think. It was a lovely day.

 

Then it was my birthday!

My brother took 2 days off work to come and see me here, which I really appreciated. Sunday we relaxed and made cake with my Mum, Monday we went to a restaurant and bought fancy cake and alcohol, and played a board game I love and haven’t played for ages, and relaxed. And then I also went out for a couple of cocktails with a couple of friends, and it was really nice. I received well wishes and cards and cheques and book tokens and actual books and a good luck charm AND certain people sent me lovely birthday fanmixes, which I am really, really enjoying, so thank you guys so so much!

 

Gifts to myself from the cheque money so far include a new pair of boots (flat! Brown lace up ankle boots made of fake leather and fake sheepskin on the inside which are water proof and warm and comfy yay all of these things are good things) and a modest lump sum on my Starbucks card, to help me through the cold months ahead. Om nom nom.

 

A week on, I really need to finish my cake today…

 

Comments

[azurelunatic]

What lovely fun times!

(I tend to keep a granola bar in my handbag for such emergencies, either in me or in others.)

[altogetherisi]

Yeah, when I used to carry around a larger handbag there would always be a chocolate bar lurking in there somewhere! But IDK the weird thing was, I was vaguely hungryish, and I could tell I ought to eat because I was getting a bit off, and I had plenty of opportunities to just like buy a freaking sandwich, but I just... didn't. Silly me.

[hanelissar.livejournal.com]

Wooo lovely lovely day! \o/ I remain very sad to have missed the occasion, but I'm glad it was so awesome and thank you again for being such a fabulously awesome friend and getting me a signed copy <3 We must definitely meet up soon so that I can pay you for it and frolic through it's shiny pages! And also to see your lovely face of course.

I have never really done Hallowe'en, we sometimes hang up doughnuts and attempt to eat them without our hands, but generally we just turn off the lights and pretend not to be in to get away from the teenage boys attempting to trick or treat :P There are lots of parties at uni usually, but last year PR was visiting and this year I have a presentation to do first thing tomorrow morning, so I shall be staying in and drinking tea tonight! Though I did buy some chocolate from Sainsburys so I might make cobweb cupcakes or something.

And yay for your birthday! I am glad it was such a lovely day and I'm sorry I was being a bit useless and preoccupied and didn't have time to get you anything, but I am going to try hard with Christmas this year to make up for being a faily internet friend for most of this year, so maybe it's not so bad? *is self pitying* But YAY for awesome boots of which I am very jealous and yay for your continued Starbucks card and for all the lovely things.

Love you!
xxxx

[altogetherisi.livejournal.com]

It was awesome though your presence would have made it infinitely better! I'm still hoping Sherlock might happen - tickets go on sale next week - so if it does I'll give you your book then. Otherwise, vaguely hoping for a meetup over Christmas when PR is back. So I'm sure I'll see you reasonable soon!

When I was younger we used to carve pumpkins on Hallowe'en, and then we would inevitably eat like pumpkin pie and pumpkin soup for about a week, like when you have turkey at every meal right after Christmas haha. But my parents didn't really approve of trick or treating, and as I say, apparently the rest of the neighbourhood isn't interested either, so fine, I shall eat all of these maltesers myself.

Don't feel bad! You are of course very welcome and absolutely encouraged to give me any kind of present at any stage if you would like to XD but I certainly don't expect people to. It's just especially lovely that some people did, so I wanted to make sure I thanked them :)

Love! xxxx

[arkeiryn.livejournal.com]

Why am I not surprised that you got Starbucks money for your birthday? :P

Also, I read "lightbox" and totally thought you were talking about beatboxing for a second. I think I inhaled something toxic and brain-killing in the lab today :P

I went to see Maureen Johnson once, a few years back. (In fact, I think there are pictures of it on facebook.) She was pretty cool, but I have to admit, what I've read of her books hasn't blown me away or anything... Sounds like you had a fun time, though. Especially with the Glittery Cupcake of Awesome. (Totally its name. Totally. Mmm, cake...)

[altogetherisi.livejournal.com]

I assigned myself Starbucks money for my birthday! Thereby ensuring justification to treat myself to overpriced coffee in the weeks ahead, while simultaneously making it easier to keep track of how much I want to spend in there. Books and coffee is pretty much what I want in the world tbh. And I have lots of books right now. Plus, I often feel like my birthday money gets put straight into other people's Christmas presents, so this means I feel clear that I have given myself something I wanted that makes me happy :)

Haha, I decided "lightboxing" was the best verb I was likely to conjure up and just went with it. I am so cool, oh yes.

I've only read a bit of one of her other books in a bookshop once, but many people seems to like her, and I adore her twitter, so I'd been meaning to try her writing out for a while. So when this signing came along, on a day I was going to London anyway, I thought it was an excellent opportunity :D I will report back when I have an opinion of The Name of The Star. The glittery cupcake was awesome. I don't know whether it was edible glitter, glitter sugar? Maybe I just ate regular glitter. But it was sparkly and delicious.

[elixer-of-life.livejournal.com]

Oh, I used to love Maureen Johnson! I haven't read any of her books for a while, but I had a few of them when I was like 16 or 17. I read about this even from other people on my flist and it sounds like it was awesome fun :)

I've never heard of Jay Brannan's music but it sounds good so I think I'm going to look him up...I am always on the lookout for awesome new artists!

Glad you had a nice birthday :D

[altogetherisi.livejournal.com]

It was fun! She is just a most excellent human being. Looking forward to reading The Name of the Star, but it's in a queue in my books to read pile so it might easily be Christmas time by the time I get around to it!

Jay Brannan is lovely - I've seriously enjoying your playlist btw, so let me rec him back to you! It's soft, melodic music with brilliant lyrics. Lots of songs at his youtube channel, called simply jaybrannan. Let me know if you enjoy!

[branquignole.livejournal.com]

Oh man, how did I miss that you went to Maureen Johnson's signing? I am slightly envious, and I totally would have demanded a signed postcard if I'd known, but I'm so glad you had a good time and someone to chat with! It sounds like you had a great day. (: (APART FROM NOT EATING. BAD ISI.)

Yaaaay, birthday cake! Family time! Board games! I hope you have a fantabulous year ahead of you and that things work out as you want them too. <3

[altogetherisi.livejournal.com]

Haha I was talking about it constantly on twitter, I am amazed you managed to miss it! I'm sorry I don't have a signed postcard for you. The best I could do is I could send you a non signed MJ postcard if you'd like?