Yes, it has been too long since the last post. Essentially there were a few minor exams at the start of term which delayed posting and by then I’d missed a proper post about the New Year and subsequently became rather lazy. So here’s a brief rundown of how January has unfolded.

New Year was spent with Kirsten’s friend Moni and her boyfriend who came over from Germany. A mixup in booking flights meant ze Germans actually only reached the house at around 11pm, too late to go out and do much. So instead we opened a bottle of vodka, watched fireworks on TV and chatted. Many, many shots later the boys woke up with hangovers and trailed after the girls as they shopped in London. Repayment was dinner at the outstanding Hakkasan so one could hardly complain. Incidentally, creator Alan Yau has recently sold on the restaurant, along with the newer Yauatcha, to a foreign investment company for $60 million. Whether this will have any effect on its success is unknown, but you might want to book now just in case…

The new term at BPP kicked off with a couple of accounting exams which swiftly supressed our post-holiday exuberance. They turned out to be not bad at all, although results will not be released for some time. I had to do the first paper sans calculator after they took issue with mine for “looking like their picture” of a programmable one. At least that made it a little more interesting…

After that things died down into a steady tedium with little to report. Most of my free time has been spent videogaming, with much of the Christmas back catalogue still remaining. Games will require their own post at some point soon so I shan’t dwell here.

Stef’s birthday was last weekend and was a fun night out in Covent Garden, despite initial trouble due to Kirsten’s lack of ID (even at 21, really?). Joe and I talked games for a bit as he is currently working for Frontier Developments on “techno thriller” The Outsider. I finally ventured into Dirty Martini which is a great cocktail bar insofar as the drinks and staff go, but the venue is far too small and hideously overcrowded which significantly detracts from the experience. Their signature drink, a dirty martini obviously, was pleasant enough but the more outrageous chocolate martini went down surprisingly well with our crowd. Personally I’d still recommend a more classic martini, best obtained by ordering their Hendricks martini and requesting olives instead of their bizarre default garnish of cucumber.

And finally since I assume our family all now know, it is safe to write that my cousin Jenna is pregnant again. If her second child is even half as cute as Karleigh you can expect plenty of photos. It is due this summer so there’s currently a possibility that I may get out to the States during my last few weeks off before work starts in September.