Hi! No pictures this time, sorry.
On Thursday I went to a London Symphony concert that was offering £6 student tickets. It was a really nice concert and we had good seats -- 2nd row. The LSO never lets down students when it comes to close seats! After the concert, we found out that my friend Christian had signed us up for a discussion group. We trucked upstairs to their offices and were plied with free drinks and sweets. We signed a waiver and then a man started asking us questions and trying to facilitate a conversation. Was this our first classical concert? What types of music do we like listening to? Why did we come tonight, and would we come again? Do we feel intimidated by the concert traditions and aging audience members? It was pretty easy going, and I was enjoying the Twix bars, so I went along with it all. Then at the end, we all got £20 for our pains! That means a net profit of £14! Whoa!
My friend, Kofi, who had subbed in for Pep last minute, was very happy. Pep was a little upset though. "Kofi doesn't owe me £6, he owes me £26!"
Then on Friday, I took a tube way way out to zone 6, a couple miles away from Heathrow. I was supposed to catch a bus from there to a festival / symposium on electronic and analogue music. Alas, when I got out in the town (?) of Uxbridge, I discovered that the bus strike happening in central London was in effect in Uxbridge too! I asked for directions and then struck out on my own without a map or really any clue where I was going. I made it there after about 40 minutes and I was really glad that I had left so early for the symposium. I walked in with about five minutes to spare. The symposium was really fun. I got to play with an interactive, audio producing table. I also got to experience a "sound cannon," can be described very simply as a device that allows sound waves to be projected in a specific area. When the presenter swept the speakers over the audience, it sounded very faint until BOOM, the music was playing right in your ears. It sounded like somebody had started a boombox right behind my head! Super cool. He demonstrated how the waves bounced off walls and objects too. I was very excited about that. I can post links to some of the other really cool projects that people highlighted, if you like. Some very interesting musical instruments, a cellist who plays with two bows at once, etc.
Most importantly, I was able to talk briefly with five live coders that I want to interview for my dissertation! They all said they'd be happy to answer some questions, so my trip out to the boonies was a success!
We went to a pub yesterday to watch the England - Italy game. The match was a really good one (I had predicted 2 - 1 Italy, but I was very wrong). Nobody scored, although there were some freaking close shots, and eventually the game went into a shootout. England lost, and the pub that had previously been full of noise, drunken shouting, singing, and insult tossing became a very unpleasant place to be. Still, it was fun watching in that environment, and I'm guessing that the Olympics will be pretty fun too.
Speaking of the Olympics, I went looking for tickets today. They have been releasing them slowly, and I saw that there were more football tickets on the market. I couldn't get two tickets, but I did manage to get one to a semi-final match in August at a stadium nearby. SOOooooo if the US comes out of their group stage in 2nd place, I will likely get to see them! Otherwise, I'm just happy that I get to see an Olympic event! How cool! The ticket was only £30, too. : )
I'm going to go to a couple of the Paralympic games, because most of them are after my dissertation is handed in. I have tickets to an equestrian event, and I'm going to buy tickets to blind judo and wheelchair tennis, I think. All the tickets, including those to medal / final matches, are around £10, so there is really no excuse not to go!
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