T'eyla Minh

I actually forgot in the process of not having any internet, but as of 17th September, this LJ became ten years old!

That's quite a scary thought...

Birmingham Hippodrome has ganged up on me; suddenly there are millions of things on over the rest of the year that I want to see. Of course, I also haven't been on their mailing list for years, which might have something to do with it...

In the hope of finding other interested parties (but don't expect me to organise anything without extreme cooperation from other parties...), here's a list of stuff I want to see...

We Will Rock You UK Tour - 1st July to 5th September. (As Paul doesn't like Queen I doubt he will want to see this with me - any takers?)

Little Shop of Horrors - 15th to 19th September.

Evita UK Tour - 5th to 17th October. (Anyone want to take me for my birthday? :D)

Rocky Horror Show - 2nd to 7th November. (YAY!)

Matthew Bourne's Dorian Gray - 10th to 14th November.

I think that's about it. I'm not even checking the Alex's listings.

Mrrg.

Anyway, yesterday was our four-year anniversary. Quite a pleasant day, awful weather aside. We went briefly into town for a drink at Bacchus and then the Trocadero, one in the Yard of Ale, then back home for a bit before going out for the meal at Byzantium, a local tapas restaurant, at 8.00. We also stopped off at HMV to have a look and came back with £50-worth of CDs: an old PJ Harvey album, The Killers's latest album, Peter Docherty (the new solo album), the new Dido, the new Lily Allen, and the latest Seasick Steve. Some are mine, some are Paul's and some are joint purchases...

As for dinner, the food was lovely and the entire meal came to about £25.00, which was insanely reasonable. We were slightly ambitious in our choices (a little too much food), but it was all delicious. Starter dishes were flatbread, hummus and olives. I tried an olive, but found them intolerably weird. Mains were 'patatas bravas' (roast potatoes with tomatoes), mushrooms stuffed with tomato and red pepper, skewered chicken with vegetables, and calamari with garlic mayonnaise. YUM.

We would definitely go there again, and I would recommend it to anyone else seeking good food, good service and reasonable prices. Unfortunately I didn't have any room for dessert... ;)

We watched Benny and Joon in the evening before bed. Didn't get up today until about 11.30 and I had an insanely long dream, of which I can remember precisely nothing except the bit I will post separately in a moment. Paul is off now until Monday but today is a lazy day of not doing very much. Need to clean up in the kitchen, and I've done a blue load of laundry and a bit more embroidery, with more to come momentarily.

I'll put the majority of this under LJ-cuts to save your friends-lists, and because I'm sure nobody's actually that interested.  But anyway, here's an update of recent happenings.

Thursday
Thursday was mostly an ordinary day at work, and I got a lift home at 4.45 in order to get changed and go out again to see Sweeney Todd at the Alex, starring Jason Donovan and Harriet Thorpe (she of Brittas Empire fame - she played Carole, the mad receptionist).  I had absolutely no idea what to expect of the show, other than it was by Sondheim and therefore inevitably quite good.  ( Sweeney Todd )

This would have been a much better review on Thursday, or at least closer to the event, but I've not had the time...

Friday
So, on Friday, Paul and I headed off into town to the Art Nouveau Poster exhibition at the Gas Hall, which was pleasant enough.  This was to signify the start of a rather cultured weekend.  After that we sat on the steps of Chamberlain Square in the sunshine for a bit, and went to the Yard of Ale to waste more money in their ItBox.  A quick trip to Paul's to get his stuff, and then back into town to get food in the Briar, to discover that they've stopped doing the interesting-sounding nacho platter that they had in their menu for all of a week... and, of course, more money-wasting in the ItBox.  We really need to get over our gambling addiction...

I don't remember what we did in the evening...

Saturday
Saturday, I dragged Paul up to Derby for the day, which was very nice indeed.  It was a lovely day, and even though the city centre was as busy as usual, it was quieter around the edges.  Quite a nostalgic day for me, discovering new shops that had sprung up since December 2004 (my last visit, with Vicky) and others which had disappeared.

We had a wander around the Victorian Market Hall before lunch, where Paul bought me a ( new hat. )  Which was nice.  You can never have too many hats.  This brings my fedora/trilby total up to four: black corduroy with pink/turquoise ribbon band and buckle, turquoise felt, white fluffy knitted with black/gold pattern, new orange/black check.  I've also got another one coming from eBay shortly, as well.  Pictures of that whe it arrives.

We also went into HMV, where I bought him two CDs (anniversary presents, you see) and several DVDs: Terry Gilliam's Brazil, The Jacket, and Shirley Valentine for my mum, as all three were ridiculously cheap in the sale.  I should have bought the Wizard of Oz 3-disc set for £9.99 whilst I was there, as it's not on sale in Birmingham. :(

We wandered around the museum and art gallery, since I'd spent four years in the city and never managed to do so, and continued our cultured weekend.  The contemporary stuff was alternatively quite good and quite crap - the "Blue" paintings based on Mediterranean waves were really cool, as were the photographs of shoes in different locations (they were better than they sound).  The museum's mummy room is frelling brilliant, too - they have a mummy in there where the face, hands and one of the feet are visible and perfectly preserved.  The teeth are also bright white, which was quite scary, but they could well be fake...

After that, we went to Barracuda Bar for food, and for lunch we had an entire farm.  No, really.  ( Vegetarians, turn away now. )  We did quite well, considering, and didn't need to eat for the rest of the day.  Unsurprisingly.

After that, we went for a walk to burn off the calories and meat headaches, so I dragged Paul towards The Factory, where I took a couple of pictures on my phone.  They don't seem to have emailed, though, so I'll have to try that again later.  I imagine they're not that good anyway.

Finally, we ended up at Coyote Wild - another place I failed to get into at Uni, mostly because we got IDed on the way in and didn't bother afterwards, being pissed off that a predominantly student-orientated city wouldn't accept NUS cards as ID - and sat in there until 5.30 trying not to fall asleep.  We definitely need a Coyote Wild in Birmingham - they do flaming shots!  Including absinthe, served with sugar and a spoon!  Unfortunately, by that point the other market had closed, and also the Eagle Centre is being refurbished so I was completely confused to find exits missing.  Anyway, we went back to the station and managed to get straight on a train.

So, yeah.  A very nice day.  It seems the city is now realising the full potential of having students and graduates living there; it now has another Subway, a Benjys, and the 'pub strip' along Friargate continues to extend.  As much as I would love to live back there, Paul won't have any of it.  Well, except perhaps for six months or so, but I think we'd both miss Birmingham too much.  I missed Birmingham when I was at Uni, but all the same, going back to Derby still feels comforting and homely...

Anyway, we bought a bottle of wine upon arriving back at New Street, and headed home afterwards.

Sunday
( Sunday was our anniversary. )

Quite a strange day, really.  It was nice enough, but I couldn't really shake the disappointment of our plans being scuppered by Bacchus' opening hours again (the first time being on my birthday, when we got there too late) or the annoyance of everythng getting ruined by football, as usual.

Monday
Monday was quite subdued, by comparison.  The morning was spent watching crap television, as usual, and I was in a grumpy mood for various reasons that I don't want to go into, and then we spent the afternoon like civilised people and played Scrabble.  I won four games out of six.  I rock.

Watched half of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind at Paul's before bed and had tinned bolognese on toast for supper.  Mm.

There was a random hilarity in the middle of the night (5.15am, to be precise) when Paul shouted "Fuck off!" to imaginary dream-people and woke me up.  Somehow, it seemed to also coincide with whatever I was dreaming out, which I now can't remember.  Apparently, in the dream, he was shouting to people across a road at the top of his lungs, and then woke himself up with the shouting.  I just remember some incoherent mumbling and then the swearing...

I went into town with him (he had to go to work) and went to McDonalds for breakfast, then wandered around trying to find shops that were open.  First, I went into Superdrug and got some disposable razors.  I'd gone in for hair dye, but didn't find that until much later in the morning in the little Superdrug on New Street.  I'll post pictures when it's done, if it works.  Also searched for said hair dye in Boots and failed horribly.  I was technically in town looking for some black cord trousers/jeans/similar and some sandals for the summer, and failed on both accounts. I got my grandmother a birthday card in WHSmiths (eventually, when it opened), and got myself a new purse off one of the stalls.  It's a bit smaller than my current one, but that one is slowly giving up the ghost, which serves me right for buying cheap purses, I suppose...

Then I went to look around Primark, which was nice only in the fact that it was empty and not like a jumble sale.  Didn't buy anything, though.  I was going to go around the Bull Ring, but got distracted by shiny things in HMV.  Unfortunately, I completely failed to get anything in the sales, and came out with four things at full price instead...

The Andrew Lloyd Webber Musical Box - 3 CDs for £8.99!  It has some songs I don't already have, and I'm a sucker for musicals compilations anyway...
The Corpse Bride soundtrack
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory soundtrack (both Elfman)
Alanis Morrisette's Feast on Scraps, which I've been eyeing for the past two years... still not reduced, but what the hell.  This will hopefully be my last splurge before the flat happens, other than upgrading my computer.

And that, I think, is that.

Today, I'm going to have a shower, change my bed, and, um, do nothing much else, because my back aches.  Tomorrow I will hopefully go through those bloody boxes in my room, because they're annoying me.  At some point, I also need to send off more application forms for inevitable rejection.

Maybe a couple of other posts later if I can be bothered.  I should say some stuff about the past year, and some other stuff, too.  And I have some interesting photos to post.  Brace yourselves.

i've been at livejournal for a year! that's actually quite a disturbing thought. and reading over all my early entries makes me cringe...

*sings 'happy birthday' to self*