j4 | Everybody's talking 'bout those kinky boots (Reply)

Leaving ProQuest didn't really feel like leaving at all. This is partly because it looks like I'm going to end up working there again (only part-time or freelance) fairly soon, while I'm looking for something else. There's a bit of a running joke that nobody actually leaves ProQuest, and I always said that when I left, I would really leave, and wouldn't be induced to return for love or money... but it seems that I spoke too soon. Lots of people jokingly said "see you on Monday" as I was leaving.

My cow-orkers adopted a badger for me as my leaving present! So I now have my own badger. I'm not sure what the adoption actually involves -- do they make it write me awkward letters ("Dear Janet -- I don't yet feel I can call you 'mum', though I hope in time I'll come to see you as such...") every few weeks?

I changed into my New Rocks at work, much to the amusement of my cow-orkers, and then headed off to London. Met up with

hoiho en route, and we had dinner at PizzaExpress before meeting up with other sparklykittens and wandering over to B-Movie.

daneel_olivaw had got there before us, and was looking resplendent in his corset; I quickly went to change into mine, with help from

julietk (who also looked gorgeous in very nice gold bodice-type-thing), and then the drinking and dancing could commence.

And there was drinking, and there was dancing, and there were lots of pretty people. The music was mostly excellent, though I think I gave myself away as a sad nineties indie-kid by bouncing rather excessively to the Levellers' "One Way". Amazed to discover that I could dance in my New Rocks (about five-inch platforms). The drinking was good too, though I think I overindulged somewhat; it made a nice change to be able to actually buy PINTS! of BEER! in a nightclub, and while the prices were London pub prices (ouch) they weren't as bad as London club prices. And as for the pretty people... well, the place was full of them. :-)

marnameow looked beautiful in her corset (it was a good night for corsets, all told!),

beingjdc looked as louche as ever in his velvet suit, and

uon looked very shiny in glittery PVC stuff. Oh, and I didn't realise at the time that

daneel_olivaw's pretty friend was

duranorak -- would have said hello properly if I'd realised!

Stayed at B-Movie till the bitter end ("Stand and Deliver" and all) before going back to

marnameow's, and thence back to

julietk and no-livejournal-Pete's new house, where

beingjdc,

hoiho and I were crashing. The house is great -- it's big, it has very comfortable carpets, and lots of pretty (and NOISY) rats. :-) Oh, and a visiting cat, which was duly fussed-over by

beingjdc in the morning.

Went to

marnameow's for a fantastic breakfast, including marna-mushrooms and lovely buttery scrambled eggs. Mmmm. I'm afraid though I did get a bit distracted into playing Rez ... see, I wanted to show people area 5, so I had to do area 4 first, and then realised I had to do area 3 as well in order to unlock area 5; and then area 5 itself takes ages ... but you do get to see the s3xxy n3kk1d cyb3r-chyXX0r. (Rah!)

After breakfast

hoiho and I went for an extended wander around Soho and Camden. Having quite comfortably danced in the New Rocks all last night, I decided that I could wander around London in them too, and indeed managed to do so.

hoiho (who, incidentally, is Not A Goth) found the POINTY BOOTS he'd been looking for, and some tight lace-up leather trousers, and a lovely full-length leather coat; and I found (among other odds and ends) a birthday present for

sion_a. Also accidentally bought some real chocolate, and later discovered in the Devonshire that black peppercorn chocolate goes very nicely with Guinness.

Just before we headed back to the tube station, I decided (against my better judgement) to have Just One More Look at the New Rocks that I'd tried on the other week. "I'll just look at them", I said. After all, with

hoiho there acting as my conscience, I couldn't possibly be tempted to buy them, could I? ... So, I am now the proud owner of stompy boots with FIFTEEN-INCH PLATFORMS. Fifteen inches is nearly a quarter of my natural height.

Was going to try to hide the boots from

sion_a, but in the end he picked us up at the station and there just wasn't any way to hide them. Sorry

sion_a. I promise I will find somewhere more sensible than the front hallway to put them... perhaps on the table as a centerpiece and talking-point? :-)

After a brief rest and change of clothes,

sion_a and I went back out to

lark_ascending,

crazyscot and Mike(-who-has-no-livejournal?)'s housewarming party. I'm afraid I didn't make myself very popular with Mike's teenage friends -- spoilsport that I am, I didn't like them throwing beer all over the place, I didn't want them borrowing

sion_a's coat for a "leather nun" costume, and I also didn't let them tip green tomato ketchup over me. (It's times like that when I remember why I never went in the college bar, or to many undergraduate parties.) Other than that, however, the party was good, even if I was falling asleep with exhaustion by the end of it.

...

And now, after some sleep and a bath and some pain au chocolat ... money-related guilt. I did get the boots for £100 less than the advertised price, but still. Would anybody like to look after my Visa card and prevent me from using it until such time as I have some money and/or some sense? Failing that I really am going to have to cut it up, and forcibly erase the number from my head so that I can't use it online either.