Trabia Garden

On Saturday, I wandered down to a park and discovered there was a Polish cultural festival going on!


I had an ice cream, listened to some singing, watched some dancing, admired some traditional dress, wandered around the stalls. Did a definite double-take when I heard Hatsune Miku's version of the Finnish song 'Ievan Polkka', although I think that might have been someone playing music on their phone, rather than an official song choice of the Polish heritage festival.


I wasn't certain of the cultural relevance of Sonic the Hedgehog, but, hey, always happy to see him.

It felt impolite to photograph Sonic without buying something from the stall, so, in honour of the fact that I've been revisiting the Dragonriders of Pern series, I picked up a flexible little 3D-printed dragon!




Top: my dragon pictured with one of my paintings (my first painting, actually: the one that got me into painting!), the chunk of rose quartz I picked up when I visited the Science Museum with necrophilia, and the beautiful cross-stitch of James Sunderland that Tem gave me for Christmas.

Bottom: my dragon pictured with our cat Zuko, who does not understand why he's not allowed to bite it.

I've named my dragon Zephyrith, after the dragon I rode in an ILLEGAL PERN ROLEPLAYING GUILD on Neopets when I was a kid. (Anne McCaffrey didn't approve of fanfiction or roleplaying at the time, although she later relaxed her stance, so there was an illegal underground Pern roleplaying scene for a while.)

I brought Zephyrith home and showed her to my housemates, and they all wanted dragons of their own! So I quickly hurried back to the festival and bought three more dragons. We're a houseful of dragonriders now. Wait, does that make us a Weyr? We're a Weyr.

Before I get into the traditional talking too much about karaoke, I should mention that the annual Three-Sentence Ficathon is underway! Here's the current post, if you want to prompt or write anything.


Here is a very belated post about our karaoke-focused New Year's celebrations! Part of the reason this post was taking so long was because it's a pain to link to all the songs on YouTube, so I eventually abandoned the effort; I apologise for how spotty the linking is as a consequence.

It will surprise no one to learn that our household celebrated the turn of the year with karaoke on New Year's Eve. Here are the songs I performed!

- The Glee version of 'Hanukkah, Oh Hanukkah', because New Year's Eve coincided with the seventh night of Hanukkah. A carefully calculated song choice; it's a Hanukkah song, so it was a way of saying 'happy Hanukkah!' to Rei, but it's a Glee song, so it was also a way of saying 'I want to affectionately inflict psychological damage upon you.' Rei responded by singing 'How Do You Spell Channukkahh' by the LeeVees.

- 'You and Me (But Mostly Me)', from The Book of Mormon. I modified the lyrics slightly to make this a solo, which frankly I think is in the spirit of the song. There was a lot of laughter at this one, and my housemates broke into applause at the end. 'Yes!' I declared, opening my arms to the sky. 'I deserve this!'

- At Rei's suggestion, the two of us duetted on 'Guy Love' from the Scrubs musical episode. Tem had not seen Scrubs and probably found the experience slightly puzzling.

- I was concerned that 'Dylan' by Emmy the Great might be too fast, but it turned out to be really fun to sing! This is a song I picked up from my time living with th_esaurus; she used to listen to it a lot.

- 'Last Surprise -Scramble-' from Persona 5 Strikers was also fast and fun! Everyone joined in on the too many 'oooooh's at the end.

- Rise Against songs are always both extremely intimidating and an absolute blast to sing, and 'Help Is On the Way' is no exception. I struggled with the 'RIGHT HERE' screams but had an earnest crack at them.

- Singing Gackt's 'Last Song' with Rei was a very nostalgic experience. I was nervous about singing in Japanese, but I think it went okay. It's amazing how the songs you listened to as a teenager stick with you, even if they're in a language you don't speak.

- Tem and I like to wait until everyone's let their guard down and then throw a duet from Death Note: The Musical into proceedings. On this occasion, the duet in question was 'The Way It Ends', so I got to play smug Light, one of my favourite Light Yagami modes (all of Light's modes are my favourite Light modes).

- I ran out of songs I was confident in, so I had to venture into my 'this is probably a bad idea' picks, which is how I ended up singing 'Big Enough' by Kirin J Callinan. There were incredible reactions from the room when the screaming cowboy kicked in. The fun thing about doing this song for karaoke is that, although it's a meme, only a very specific part of it is well known, so the audience may not suspect you're singing a meme song until you throw your head back and go AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH.

- Rei joined me for RichaadEB's metal cover of Touhou's 'Bad Apple', which is fortunate, because I don't think I would have been capable alone! That song really doesn't give you any breathing room.

- I enjoyed singing 'Body' by Marah! I'm always surprised by the vanishingly low viewcount on Marah's songs on YouTube; for a long time I struggled to find their songs on there at all. My brother listened to them a lot when we were teenagers, and I always assumed they were well known, but apparently not; he'd just got into an incredibly niche band, and landed me with a fondness for their songs as a consequence!

And a few others I don't have much commentary on: 'Burning in the Skies' by Linkin Park, 'This Old Sin' by Koethe, a repeat of the sea shanty version of 'Rockstar' by Nickelback.

My favourite performances by Rei included 'Don't Be a Lawyer' from Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, the unfortunately named 'JAP' by the perplexingly named abingdon boys school, 'Fight Club' by Fitzy, and a couple of Tom Lehrer songs: 'Smut' (with relish) and 'The Masochism Tango' (Rei and Tem briefly tangoed together during this one, although fortunately they didn't follow the song's instructions to the letter).

Rei also performed 'Mother Mary' by Tom Auton, and the lyrics made me suspicious. 'Is this on your Billcifer playlist?' I asked, and Rei hastily shushed me. (Billcifer is Rei's Lucifer-inspired Bill/Dipper Gravity Falls AU; it's here, and I can strongly recommend it if that sounds like your thing! It's been great to see Rei's enthusiasm for working on it.)

My favourite of Tem's performances included 'Gettin' Bi' from Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, 'Hurricane' from Death Note: The Musical (always a delight; Tem always puts such passion into 'I AM THE GOD OF A BRAVE NEW WORLD'), 'Godless, Lawless & Non-Monogamous' by New Here, and 'Monochrome' by BABYMETAL (with me and Ginger singing backup vocals).

I'm noting my favourite performances down in part so I can look up the original songs at some point, for those I wasn't familiar with already. One of the fun aspects of karaoke is getting to discover cool new music! However, there's always the risk that I'll seek out the original and go '...actually, I prefer this song when my friends are singing it.'

Rei, Tem and I did a couple of songs as a trio towards the end: 'Wait for It' from Hamilton and 'Six Feet' by Patent Pending. I was afraid that the Hamilton song would be too ambitious, but I think it worked out!

Tem and Rei did a magnificent duet of Sarah and the Safe Word's 'Something Is Afoot on Old Man McGrady's River', and wrapped up with the occasion-appropriate 'This Year' by the Mountain Goats. A great way to see 2024 out!

We had a home karaoke evening on Saturday!

This karaoke session was very loosely Hallowe'en themed. Sometimes we stuck to the theme; Rei opened with a magnificent rendition of 'Margaret Thatcher, Blood Snatcher' by THWACK!, and Tem's 'Hell Is Forever' from Hazbin Hotel and 'Rest in Peace' from Buffy were great fun. Sometimes we came up with loose excuses; 'What's scarier than capitalism?' Rei asked, before launching into 'Six Feet' by Patent Pending.

My songs, which, I'll be honest, made very little effort to stick to the theme:

- 'Want You Bad' by The Offspring. This is a song I find hilarious, and I always try to do something I won't have to take too seriously first; it takes some of the pressure off!

- 'Empire' by Of Monsters and Men. I was listening to this a couple of days earlier when Tem wandered in and went 'wait, what were those lyrics??' The lyrics in question were 'an empire for you, an empire for two' and not, as Tem had heard, 'I wanna fuck you; you wanna fuck too.'

- 'Feeling Kinda Naughty' from Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. In my experience, if you have a karaoke evening, one of the songs will end up stuck in your head for days afterwards. On this occasion, the lingering earworm is 'Feeling Kinda Naughty'. I keep catching myself singing 'I wanna lock you in a basement with soundproof walls and take over your identity,' which, let's be honest, is probably something I should avoid saying too loudly in company. Tem also did a Crazy Ex-Girlfriend song, 'You Stupid Bitch', which was quite an event.

- 'The Numbers' by Rise Against. This is, by some distance, the most intense song I have ever attempted at karaoke; I was shaking by the end of it. I'm famously incapable of breaking rules or hurting anyone, but my housemates very considerately did not laugh in my face for singing a song about violent revolution.

- 'My Shiny Teeth and Me' by Chip Skylark, from The Fairly OddParents; I needed something silly to calm myself down after the violent revolution song!

- 'Wonderful' by Everclear. I was not originally planning on this and did not practise in advance, and I startled myself by getting slightly choked up in the chorus! Very embarrassing. It's not even a song applicable to my own childhood; I just got emotional!

- 'Hurricane' from the Death Note musical. It is a joy and a privilege to inhabit my terrible boy Light Yagami. Great fun to slowly build up the intensity until eventually bellowing 'I AM THE GOD OF A BRAVE NEW WORLD.' Tem handed me a notebook to hold throughout the song for greater authenticity.

- 'Falling After Me' by Koethe, with Rei. I'm so pleased I managed to get Rei into Koethe's music through previous karaoke sessions! This was a lot of fun to sing together. We danced enthusiastically in the breaks.

- 'The Emptiness Machine' by Linkin Park, also with Rei. I'm thrilled that Linkin Park are making music again! I took Shinoda's part and left Armstrong's part to Rei; I am not confident in my metal screaming skills.

- 'Ghosts' by Mike Shinoda. Well, I had to do something appropriate for Hallowe'en. There are videos with lyrics out there, which might have been more useful for karaoke, but I was compelled to play the original music video because it's so cute.

- 'Secrets and Lies' from the Death Note musical. Tem attempted to sit like L at the start of this and fell off the sofa, which, in retrospect, we should probably have foreseen. Why does L sit like that?? It's not stable!

- The Jenn Fiorentino cover of 'Voices Off Camera' by Rise Against. People were really nice about my attempt at this one!

- 'Wolves Without Teeth' by Of Monsters and Men. I wasn't originally planning to do this one - I usually try to avoid doing two songs by the same artist in one karaoke session - but I'm glad I ran out of other ideas and went with this, because I really enjoyed singing it!

A few other notes from the evening:

- Rei's performance of 'Psycho Killer' by Talking Heads was fun; the whole room joined in on the chorus! I'd only heard the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain's cover and was confused by the lack of ukuleles in gaps in the singing.

- J did 'Everywhere I Go' by Hollywood Undead. I enjoyed watching Tem desperately trying not to lose it laughing at the lyric 'I'll beat my meat like I'm a fucking butcher'.

- Tem sang 'Rondo of Nightmare' by BABYMETAL. It's always fun when Tem does BABYMETAL songs and, even if I've never technically listened to them before, I instantly recognise them from hearing them float through the house; Tem and Ginger both listen to them a lot! I also really enjoyed Tem's performance of 'Bubblegum Bitch' by Marina and the Diamonds, even if it might technically not be as appropriate for Hallowe'en.

- J did 'Bring Me to Life' by Evanescence, so the whole room got to belt out 'SAVE ME' in the choruses, which was good fun!

We all did a group performance of 'In the End' by Linkin Park towards the end, and, to be honest, we all sang with such volume and passion that the microphones were completely unnecessary.

It was my birthday yesterday! I went with my parents to the London Wetland Centre, a little nature reserve where you can see a thrilling variety of waterfowl.

I spotted over thirty different species of bird! Some were ones I often see around London; some were rarer sights. Many of them were entirely new to me!

The birds I remember (and could establish the names of; I have no idea what some of the cool birds I saw were called), starting with the familiar and progressing to 'wait, what's that??': pigeon, mallard, coot, moorhen, crow, seagull, tufted duck, rose-ringed parakeet, heron, stork, some sort of huge grey crane with a red patch on its head (probably a common crane), goldeneye, bufflehead, smew, hooded merganser, red-breasted goose, great crested grebe, Cape teal, Cape Barren goose (this was so huge!), white-faced whistling duck, fulvous whistling duck, white-headed duck. The name 'white-headed duck' was a surprise to us; we found its blue bill a lot more distinctive!

My favourite sightings:

- We saw a family of moorhens: two parents, three chicks. The chicks were little balls of black fluff with comically tiny stubs of wings. They must have barely hatched; there were still unhatched eggs in the nest!

- I spotted a large cloud of seagulls from a hide, wheeling around. I usually see gulls moving separately, even when they're flying in large numbers; it was interesting to see them all moving together, like starlings. I was too far from them to determine the type of gull, but they were great to watch!

- The great crested grebe was so large and serene, just floating there in the water. Very handsome bird!

- The white-faced whistling duck was perhaps my favourite new bird discovery. According to the information board, they form very strong bonds and call out to their mate if they're separated. And, indeed, we saw two pairs of white-faced whistling ducks, each travelling around as a duo, rather than lone birds. One of the pairs sat facing each other in the grass, their necks forming a little heart shape as they nuzzled each other. 'Did you see them kissing?' my mum asked, deeply charmed.

- I saw an otter! An Asian small-clawed otter, specifically, swimming in the water and climbing on logs and squiggling around on the earth. It looked like it was having fun!


In the evening, I had a delicious Victoria sponge Rei had made for me, and I watched Weathering with You with my housemates. I've actually owned this film for a year and a half, but this is the first time I've seen it! For a long time I didn't have the nerve to watch Weathering with You, because I loved Shinkai's earlier film Your Name so much that I was worried I'd just resent it for not being Your Name.

I needn't have worried; I had a great time with Weathering with You! I don't love it as much as I love Your Name, of course, but I didn't expect to, and I still really enjoyed it in its own right. Stunning to look at, and it very much succeeded at getting me invested. It was a real rollercoaster of a film; it felt like the plot went zooming off in a new direction every few minutes. I was so startled when a gun came into play; it didn't feel like it was going to be a film with a gun in it!

At one point the protagonist Hodaka fires the gun, almost hitting someone with it, and I would be fascinated to see how events would have played out if he actually had shot that guy. It was so nearly a very different film!


necrophilia, who is incredible, gave me six months of Dreamwidth paid time for my birthday! Suddenly I'm swimming in icon space! I'm very excited about this.

This also, of course, means that I have the ability to make polls. Brace yourselves.

Like many households, we opted not to watch the Eurovision Song Contest this year. On the day of the final, we had an 'alternative' Eurovision evening instead: we fired up the speaker and had a home karaoke session. The theme was 'past Eurovision songs and songs that feel fitting for Eurovision'. It was a lot more fun than actual Eurovision, I suspect!

(For the information of anyone else who's boycotting Eurovision this year: none of the YouTube links in this entry go to official Eurovision channels.)

We ended up deciding against having guests, because it's been a busy few weeks and we didn't have the energy to host, so it was just the four of us (or the three of us with Ginger spectating, as Ginger prefers not to take the microphone). It would have been fun to have people over, but, at the same time, the fact I was very close with everyone there meant it was slightly less intimidating to sing in languages I didn't know a word of, so perhaps it's for the best!

I kicked off the evening with the eternal masterpiece 'Wolves of the Sea' by Pirates of the Sea (Latvia, Eurovision 2008). My first performance of a karaoke session is always a bit wobbly, because I tend to start out nervous and then gain confidence over the course of the song, but this was a lot of fun. The others quickly started joining in on the choruses; it's very catchy!

My other performances:

- Duncan Laurence, 'Arcade' (Netherlands, Eurovision 2019). I've had this song stuck in my head a lot recently on account of rereading 'The Arcade' by Gnine, one of my all-time favourite Final Fantasy XV fics; it's a great outsider-POV piece about Prompto and his friendship with Noct.

- Marija Šerifović, 'Molitva' (Serbia, Eurovision 2007). I was nervous about singing in Serbian, but this went surprisingly well! Very dramatic and fun to belt out. It helped that nobody in the audience knew Serbian.

- Keiino, 'Spirit in the Sky' (Norway, Eurovision 2019), an incredible banger that should not be confused with any different and terrible songs that might happen to be called 'Spirit in the Sky'. This was fun, but it was also extremely challenging! It's very much a song for three people, and singing it solo required a lot of wild leaps between octaves and languages.

- ABBA, 'Waterloo' (Sweden, Eurovision 1974). Look, you can't have Eurovision karaoke without performing 'Waterloo'. It's against the law.

I also sang backup on Rei's performance of 'The Dream Daddy for Me' by JT Music (very much not a Eurovision song), a rap about the dating sim Dream Daddy, which was an absolute blast, and on Tem's performance of 'I'm Ready', in case any complacent fools thought they might get through the evening without hearing any songs from Death Note: The Musical.

I was very impressed by the performances; it felt like everyone really pulled out the stops, and, appropriately for the occasion, it was very multilingual. In addition to English, Rei sang in Japanese ('I don't wanna get out of futon' by Uchikubi Gokumon Doukoukai), Italian ('Zitti e buoni' by Måneskin, Italy, Eurovision 2021; I said 'holy shit' aloud when Rei launched into rapid Italian rapping) and increasingly fast Ukrainian ('Shum' by Go_A, Ukraine, Eurovision 2021).

Tem sang the Eurovision song 'Who the Hell Is Edgar?' by Teya and Salena (Austria, Eurovision 2023), which I'd somehow forgotten about completely even though it's about being possessed by Edgar Allan Poe, and the Eurovision-adjacent 'Money, Money, Money' by Abba. Xe also performed 'Idol' by YOASOBI and 'Gimme chocolate!!' by BABYMETAL, both of which looked absolutely exhausting. Tem's passionate BABYMETAL dancing had to be cut short, alas, because it kept causing terrible audio feedback whenever the microphone pointed at the speaker.

The final song was 'Eurovusion (Open Up)' by Two Hearts, which everyone joined in on. It's not technically a Eurovision song, but it is a song about Eurovision (and also a blast).

To end the evening, we watched the 2008 film version of Mamma Mia!, which was also good ridiculous fun! Tem had never seen Mamma Mia! before and, indeed, hadn't heard much ABBA. 'I don't know why I haven't been watching this film on a regular basis,' xe commented. 'This is the best film ever made.'

Tem had glittered up dramatically for the occasion, meaning that, using our shared bathroom afterwards, I ended up covered in collateral glitter. This is not a rare occurrence. I've become a lot more sparkly ever since Tem joined our household.

If you've been following this journal for a while, you've probably got an idea of what I talk about. I talk about videogames; I talk about television; I talk about my family and friends; I occasionally talk about language or writing.

Here is a load of rambling about birds.

I am by no means a bird expert or a serious birdwatcher, so I can't actually say anything insightful; I just like birds. They're cool, varied little living creatures that pop up all over the place, and it's fun to watch them move!

Here is an assortment of birds I've seen in London, and some brief thoughts on each of them. This is not a list of every bird I've seen in London; it's just the birds that came to mind while I was writing this entry. I'm still thinking of others, but it's too late; I've written the entry now! Sorry, thrush.

I don't know if any of this is worth reading, unless you're queenlua, but sometimes you just have to talk about birds.


( My thoughts on the birds of London. )


I've just realised I haven't even got into water birds! But this entry is already too long, so I'll set those aside for now. I will mention, however, that a year ago I looked out of my window, saw a heron in flight, and for a moment I genuinely thought, I know dragons don't exist, but I have no idea what else that could be.

Karaoke again! This was my third time at karaoke, so I was bold enough to attempt a couple of actual sincere songs, rather than just singing songs I didn't have to take seriously. (Although I still went with some non-serious songs; they're fun!)

My picks were 'Rasputin' by Boney M (try singing this without dancing; you can't), 'Little Talks' by Of Monsters and Men, 'Kiss from a Rose' by Seal and 'Independence Day' by Martina McBride. I also joined in on some picks by others: 'Don't You Want Me?' by the Human League, 'Points of Authority' by Linkin Park and 'Gotta Go My Own Way' from High School Musical 2.

Nobody else knew 'Independence Day', which meant it was the first time I sang anything solo at karaoke! I was so intimidated I was shaking, but I think it turned out okay.

'Gotta Go My Own Way' marked the third time Rei and I have passionately dueted on a song from High School Musical in front of other people. The first time wasn't even at karaoke.

As mentioned, someone else had added Linkin Park's 'Points of Authority' to the list; I just happened to be holding the second microphone when the song began. I couldn't remember how the song went, so I started looking for someone else to take the microphone. And then the lyrics actually appeared on screen - 'Forfeit the game before somebody else takes you out of the frame...' - and I launched instantly into rapping; it was as if I'd suddenly been possessed. Of course I knew this song. The whole of Hybrid Theory has been programmed into my veins since I was twelve.

There was a point where we paused the final song of the session to allow others to return from the loo, and, in the silence, Tem and I belted out the opening and first chorus of 'Where Is the Justice?' from the Death Note musical. The karaoke place didn't have the Death Note musical in its catalogue, of course, but we managed to beat the system!

More adventures in Italy! Once again, I completely fail to talk about anything cultural and just get excited about wildlife.

I've spotted surprisingly few mammals in Italy other than, you know, humans; I haven't even seen livestock grazing in the fields. But there are bats flitting about in the evenings, and at one point I saw a red squirrel! I didn't know there were red squirrels in Italy! I've never seen one before.

Or possibly even a black squirrel? I recognised the profile and tufted ears as a red squirrel, but it looked black to me; I thought it was just the lighting, but apparently Italy does have black squirrels with a similar shape. Not sure they have them in Umbria, though.

And then a hare ran straight past me! I was sitting on a stone wall above a boules court, I heard the thump-thump of its feet, and as I looked up the hare tore straight across the court and vanished down a slope.

Saw a deep fountain that not only had fish swimming around in it; it had a little black turtle!

My brother Joseph and I saw what appeared to be a grasshopper but was far larger than any grasshopper I'd ever seen, and then it flew away, which was also rather ungrasshoppery behaviour. No idea what that was. Maybe a locust?

Got prickled by a prickly caterpillar that had made its way onto my sleeve without my noticing. Cute, but mildly concerning. I waited in excited suspense to see whether it resulted in any skin irritation, but I think I got away with it.

I saw a hoopoe! I caught a glimpse of a bird with a weird crest on its head and went '??? is that some sort of... wild Italian cockatoo?'; turns out it was a hoopoe! Very cool bird.

Discussing my inability to drive with my brother and sister-in-law:

Riona: I just don't trust myself to operate anything that could kill someone.
Eleanor: Joe, do you think we should return Riona's birthday present?
Joseph: What, the Stabber 3000?
Eleanor: Which I always thought was a strange name for a gun.
Joseph: Well, not a gun that shoots knives.

Joseph and I stood in the garden at dusk, watching the flashes of a distant thunderstorm light up the clouds in the darkening sky, while fireflies nearby were 'having a fucking disco', in Joseph's words. At one point a bat flew past my head, surprisingly close.

There was one patch of soil from which I kept hearing noises suggesting a living creature moving around, but I couldn't actually see anything there. At night, though, I heard the noises again and shone my phone torch on the soil, and I saw little beady eyes gleaming back at me from a well-camouflaged body; it was a toad!

I asked Joseph if he wanted to see it, and he said Eleanor would want to as well. Eleanor was reading in bed, but I went to ask her.

'Eleanor, do you want to see a great big toad behind the poolhouse?' I asked.

'Yes,' Eleanor said, almost before I'd finished speaking, scrambling out of bed.

I took Joseph and Eleanor to see the toad, and Eleanor cooed enthusiastically and lovingly over it. As I headed off for bed, I looked up at the sky and saw a shooting star, which I assume was the universe expressing how glad it was that I was able to show Eleanor the toad of her dreams.

Went to karaoke again, so I was finally able to belt out the chorus of 'Stacy's Mom', which had been trapped inside me since the song got cut off last time!

My housemate's boss was present for this particular karaoke session and had never heard 'Stacy's Mom' before, so I got to watch his expression of dawning delighted horror as he realised what the song is about.

My other song choices were 'The Call' by the Backstreet Boys, 'Whenever, Wherever' by Shakira and 'Baby One More Time' by Britney Spears, but my favourite was actually someone else's pick that I joined in on: 'Complicated' by Avril Lavigne. I hadn't thought about that song in so long, but it's so much fun to sing!

One member of our party sang 'Memory' from Cats so powerfully I nearly cried, but it was hard to be too intimidated when we were all having so much fun. It also helped to ease the intimidation that we had two microphones, so, unless you picked a song nobody else knew (or, as in the case of that 'Memory' performance, you stunned everyone else into silence), you weren't going to be singing solo.

A person I'd first met at the last karaoke session greeted me with 'Hey! Have you been writing any fanfiction lately?' I explained that I'd got really into Lost and mentioned that my favourite character was Jack. She physically recoiled in horror, then said, consolingly, 'I get it; we're getting to the age where, the grosser the middle-aged man, the more appealing they are.' I had to confess that I'd been this way since I was sixteen.

Am I going to make a habit of this? It's definitely a lot of fun to sing for a couple of hours, then have a meal and chat about fandom with all of the delightful nerds who came along to karaoke. There were multiple people with Pokémon tattoos present. My housemate's boss listened, patient but confused, while the table tried to explain why 5 November is Bonfire Night in the UK and DestielPutinElection Day everywhere else. It was a good day.

(EDIT: Just realised that, during the karaoke, I was the same age to the day as Jack Shephard at the start of Lost. I had a much better day than he did.)

I went to a karaoke place for the first time last night, to celebrate Rei's birthday! And I had a blast.

Rei and I opened by dueting on 'Start of Something New' from High School Musical, appropriately enough. I was singing Troy's part, and I very much experienced Troy's arc in that song: I started out feeling awkward and selfconscious, and then got increasingly into it as the song went along.

My other performances from the evening were 'Eye of the Tiger', 'I Want It That Way', 'Carry On, Wayward Son' and 'Stacy's Mom' (tragically cut off just before the first chorus as we ran out of time), and nobody is allowed to question my taste in music. A couple of members of our party were really good singers (I'm still reeling from one person's excellent performance of 'Gee' by Girls' Generation, which I'd never heard before), so I was nervous before I worked out the perfect strategy of 'sing songs you don't have to take too seriously'.

You could quite fairly suspect that I'd have chosen exactly those songs either way. I certainly got into them; I gestured so dramatically during 'Eye of the Tiger' that I accidentally hit the person standing behind me.

Afterwards, we went to a restaurant and, as we found ourselves seated in a private room, were able to converse with great enthusiasm and very little restraint. A couple of the people who'd come along were new to me, but I had my suspicions that they were fandom people (one of them had reacted to 'Eye of the Tiger' in a way that made it clear she'd been in Supernatural fandom), so I asked them if they were on AO3 and we swapped usernames.

Turns out one of them had already read my Taskmaster fic If No One Moves, completely by coincidence! She was friends with Rei, but Rei hadn't pointed her towards it; she'd been recommended my fic by a third party. I was bewildered but delighted.

It was a really lovely evening! When my food arrived, I was so excited from getting to meet new people and chat about fandom that I had to take a moment to calm down before I could eat. I never really got back into the habit of going out with friends post-lockdown; I hadn't realised I'd missed it!