Dear Livejournal,

This week is going to be awful. I know this, because I haven't done any work this weekend, and I haven't even started the reading for the work due in on Wednesday. But I don't mind, because Saturday night was wonderful.

I was thinking about not going to the Tolkien Society bonfire, even though I'd already paid for it; but I decided I'd give it a go, I could always leave if I ended up being totally inept, and at the very least I'd get baked potatoes. The rowing pub crawl was the same night - I figured I could always show up later. In theory people at that point wouldn't notice, and I'd be able to catch up pretty quickly.

It was amazing. We met on Magdalen Bridge and walked down the Iffley Road, quite a long way and I was worrying a bit about getting home; we then took a side-street and started walking through some meadows in relatively deep darkness, trying to avoid the huge puddles. I was with a girl I met at the first meeting as well as two I hadn't seen before, somone who knows Kholoud, another guy and then someone I'd talked to a few times, who seems lovely, Conrad. Well into the meadow, we saw lights. They'd put tealights in jamjars all the way down to mark the path to the bonfire, lights all around the edge of the clearing, too. We were overlooking the river.

So I sat and stared at the fire for a bit, and chatted to some people, and got less awkward, and joined in attempts to try and cut up the huge chunks of wood that needed to go on the fire - much hilarity ensued in the process, although we did manage to cut one in half with a saw about three inches long - and threw kerosene on the barbeque that wasn't lighting, and generally did silly things and were amused and I did talk to people, and I'm slowly learning their names.

Eventually, about quarter to nine, I realised I really did have to get back to the rowing lot, Kholoud had said she wanted me to say hi to some people, so I left, but not before getting a sparkler from a guy called Owen after he found out I'd miss the fireworks. And then he walked me back across the meadow up to the main road, and said that if I wanted to come back he'd tell me if there were still people around.

It took about half an hour to get up to the pub, walking, and to be honest it wasn't that great. There were some nice people from college there who I chatted to, but the two pints of cider I had were expensive and there wasn't anywhere to sit down and I kept thinking, there's somewhere else I'd rather be. About 11, a bunch of us decided we were going back to college. When we got there... I realised I wanted to go back. Grabbed my bike lights and keys, and jumped off, just a little bit drunk, to cycle like mad back down to the bonfire. And it was wonderful. Sat next to a guy called Nick who had been hilarious throughout the whole evening, and who shares my love of xkcd and Tom Lehrer (I mean it, these are my people), and who huggled me when I was getting cold. He can also sing and roll his Rs like awesome. There were filks and Lehrer songs and crazy mafia-like games which I need to get a lot better at, and we tried to burn a table. We burnt a large portion of a bed. Only wrapped up around two in the morning, and it was one of the best nights I've had in Oxford. I was going to go back to a small gathering afterwards, but decided not to, although I would really have liked to spent more time with them - I had rowing the next day, though, and I had a bike so I had the ability to get home, so I decided to. Besides, they all knew each other already and I didn't want to intrude, nice as they've been to me...

Then slept in this morning until twelve and had to immediately jump up for rowing, which was surprisingly good. And I had a Tesco Feast with Eve this afternoon! Complete with tea, Value Milk, 41p Custard Creams, Salt and Vinegar Maize Snacks, Value Ham Slices, Cheesy Twists and much much more. And we re-organised my room. My nice clothes all smell of smoke now, though, after the bonfire. Oh, and Nick apparently saw me in Tesco! It would have been lovely to say hello but I looked horrible after rowing, my hair is disgusting and my face is aargh, and rowing gear is something you never want anyone nice to see you in anyway. But he talked to me on facebook, so communication!yay!

I was going to work tonight but I think I might go to bed early and get up the same (shock horror), and seriously graft tomorrow. We'll see how it goes. Goodnight, lj!