Saturday 21 March 2009
My writing stance has now turned out to be, computer facing the window, looking outside, playing Millionaire through Spotify, occasionally looking at my phone, twitching at every noise thinking it's a mouse (THOOOMMMASS!!) and eating a big handful of Rainbow Nerds at the end of most sentences. It's quite wonderful. So was Thursday night.... High Contrast at LJRs was the low point though I must say. Far too packed, too smoky and that was at 9pm. It was good to see a few people I hadn't seen all week, like Sam, Harry, Emma and James, and it was amazing to see people like Ben who was wearing an Individual Threads hoodie and came to tell me how much he loved it. Him and his flat mate Faith are both from Guildford - went to George Abbott school together so that's some people I now know! And the other day I found a flat mate so all is looking up. Ran away to meet Hardip and Milly at the India Arms at eleven because I could stand the putrid stench of Lucky Strikes and Newcastle Brown Ale no longer, and picked up a bottle of JP Chenet and Kettle Chips on the way as a delight. Andy and Jim were there preparing a mix for next weeks Back to Back Baby Sumo special, of which I am particularly looking forward to. We all set off for scandals, where it was particularly less busy than usual (most people were at High Contrast or at home finishing their dissertations for the first draft deadline which was the next day). I gave my ID to the bouncer, who then proceeded to read my name and asked me if I was Nigerian in Yoruba (Nigerian Language)... drunk was I so I replied in English. He then asked me if I spoke Yoruba, and I said "un peu!" UN PEU IS FRENCH for "a little".... for some reason I had completely forgotten what YES is in Yoruba (which I later remembered to be BENI funnily enough - still need to decide whether i'm going), he laughed, and I spewed some more French at him, of which he could only reply "Bonjour, mademoiselle" - he then let me pass and told me to have a good night.The rest of the night consisted of the best set list I have ever witnessed at Scandals, just because it was mainly us 5 requesting. I had a chat with Pete and he asked me to email him the kind of stuff I had been listening to lately, so expect Danimal Kingdom, Marnie Stern and Favours for Sailors coming to a Thursday Night near you. Jim (who I had only ever met whilst drunk on my birthday and had never really spoken to before) and I suddenly started talking about old school indie, you know the kind you listened to when you were 17, still bought the NME and thought Reading ticket prices were value for money - Dead60s, Datsuns, Vonbondies, Stellastar, Forward Russia, The Blueskins, Four Tet, DFA1979.... that kind of stuff. It made me happy because I remembered how happy I was back then, Jim rightly said "we couldn't drink then, so we had to get into music in a big way, what else was there?" When I'm home next I'm SO getting all 3 of my Forward Russia t-shirts back off my sister. Andy spoke to the bouncer about having a Rubberdub in Scandals which would be perfect. We went mental for the following: Fischerspooner, Metronomy, Friendly Fires, Rolling Stones, Smiths, Joy Division, SMD, La Roux, and probably a few others but because I didn't have to travel to work the next day, I was able to drink to the same level as everyone else, i.e. get ruined. Best ever. Walking home I had a bit of a narcoleptic episode and fell asleep on some stone pillars, 3 guys came over to ask if I was alright - they had been to scandals too- turns out one of them was a Pharmacist I had recognised from lectures last year! They walked me home and everything was alright.
Friday morning, I woke up early to get eggs, I baked some cakes for Dan's 4th Birthday and put them in a box as his dad Karl was driving to mine to pick them up. I also made Pork fried rice and this was all before 8am. Cooking whilst still drunk is absolutely hilarious, and stuff seems to taste like, 12 times better. I was working from home because of my eye appointment at 12. I did a bit of stuff on my H drive and then took my laptop to the Individual Threads office to look at the new delivery of clothes we got from Continental Clothing - like American Apparel, but fair trade. Rad. It was all quite nice, but I didn't like the girls stuff. The colours were astonishing though. I had made plans to go to Kitchin D'or, this french restaurant, that I have never been to, but always been recommended. I walked to my eye appointment at 12, giving Jordan a parcel to mail to Philip, full of sweets. Got there, and the optometrist asked what was wrong.
"Well, there is a black dot which travels along my left field of vision and there is a flash of light which occurs in the upper left hand corner of my left eye."
So they did the surface tests, apparently I have perfect vision so the two sets of glasses I had been given before were by COWBOYS. Then came the intrusive tests. I had to be given these eyedrops which dilated my eyes so they could see clearly inside. They stung quite a bit, then I was sent into the shopping centre because they took up to 20 mins to work. Went round TK Maxx, had a look at some sneaks, came out after 15 - nothing. Went to the Orange store to check out some new phones as my contract ends next month, picked up a Blackberry, then couldnt see the keys. Looked up, couldnt see the shop assistant. Scariest thing ever. I stumbled out of the shop to get back to Vision Express (which I knew was next door). A campaigner for the blind was outside, she asked me for a donation - I said I couldnt see to get into my bag to get her anything. She must have thought I was taking the piss. As soon as I got in the door one of the optical nurses grabbed my hand and took me back into the examination room. The only way I can describe my vision, is that it was like what you see when you squint, but your eyes are wide open.
Apparently, they have to "keep a close eye" on me, but for now i'm alright, the black dot is caused by compressed vitreous humour, and the flashes are the condensed vitreous humour tugging at the edge of my retina. Gnarly. I tried to stumble back home. I met my friend Louisa outside and she guided me into the direction of where I was meant to be going. I now have the upmost respect for those with restricted vision, scariest thing ever. Another irony alert, I saw this white flash and a tap on the ground as I was walking though - it was a blind man with a stick leading 3 other blind people. I saw them late and jumped out the way of the stick just in time to miss them, but smacked my head on the wall next to me in the process (that I did not foresee) so some man helped me up and asked if I was alright. I really wasn't so I set off again, blind, and a grazed face. Met Phil Stratton on Norfolk Street who kindly directed me into Kitchin D'or and said I was walking a bit weird. Lucy texted me but I couldnt read my text. My phone has text read out but I couldnt see the screen to turn it on. was fustrating! Stood on the corner of the street until Lucy could pick me up, texted her from memory. Liam came out of his house (which was opposite the restaurant) and asked if I was alright. I told him what happened and he stayed with me until just before Lucy came. We then went in and Lucy read me the menu. We had salmon and brioche and mushrooms for starter, then lucy had Toulouse sausages, and I had slowcooked beef flank in red wine sauce. Best ever. And it was good to see Lucy as well, I love her. My eyesight was slowly coming back and by the end I was able to stumble back to the studio. Tried to open my keyboard to do some work - couldnt see the keys. Annoyance. Watched skate vids with Spence instead, whilst finishing up some orders ready for delivery the next day. We had been invited to an exhibition on Saturday to showcase our stuff, and the mayoress and PM of Portsmouth is going to be there! Big time. Jordan is going to go as I'm in Southampton with Ash the whole day and the other two are delivering. Came home, eyesight near perfect, got a phone call from Bill saying - i'll ring you in a bit, come for a drink with us at Ash's house. Fell asleep. Woke up to lots of missed calls. Bummer.
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