turn the lights on, turn the lights off


This weekend I went to visit my sister in Leeds as it was her birthday on Thursday. We set off late but managed to get to her house quickly. She opened her presents and thankfully she loved the Pokemon Monopoly set I’d bought her. Yes, I bought my 22 year old sister Pokemon Monopoly. Children born around the nineties- remember how in the early 2000’s those Pokemon cards were all the rage? We’d collect and swap them and play with them all the time and we’d always be trying to get the biggest collection and the best cards. My sister had a massive collection of those and she loved Pokemon a lot, though I don’t recall her ever actually watching it! Even so seeing the board she could name some of the characters and she got really excited. I also baked her 30 Romany Creams which I think she loved too. I felt proud of myself, because I usually suck at presents. There is at least one person in this world who I can buy decent things for, thankfully.

Next we headed into town. We went to the theatre to see the ballet Cleopatra. You’d think by now after being to all the theatre so many times I’d know how to dress for these things, but I regretted not dressing up just a tiny bit more. I was corrected in wearing the smartest coat I own, fine in wearing  flats, but wrong in wearing jeans instead of tights under the long pink top/mini-dress I had on. I admit I look at my sister and she is so beautiful and fashionable and confident in herself that I cannot help but feel a tiny bit jealous sometimes. The ballet itself was confusing, and I wish I’d bought the programme before seeing it and not after so I could have some clue of the story. The entire time I was sat there thinking “WHO? WHAT? WHY?”. On saying that it was visually and musically gorgeous, very modern, and also very sensual…which I wasn’t really expecting. Though, to be honest I’m not sure what I was expecting. It was good though and it didn’t drag on forever and forever. The interval was about an hour in, and my sisters boyfriend bought us ice cream to eat. We chatted and my sister tried to explain what was going on, but me and her boy friend remained confused. After it had finished, and we’d gotten through the endless amount of clapping as the dancers bowed again and again, and we’d managed to worm our way out through the crowds, I bought a programme. As we all stood outside trying to decide where to go/what to do I read through the story, wondering how the hell we were supposed to know all of it from the ballet. On saying that out of the three ballets I have seen only one that has made sense to me as I watched it :/

There were limited options for what to do then as most tourist attractions closed so we trailed through town to waste some time before dinner reservations. Like most cities Leeds is not a good place on a Saturday night, as my sister and her bf admitted. All the immature students come out to be idiots. We got to the restaurant and the place was loud and packed with people but the food was decent. We also got a free bottle of sparkling wine. It was gross and made me sleepy. I do not like alcohol, still. Desert was an uncomfortable affair as the brownie I ordered was so sickly that even my sister couldn’t eat it. And my sister can usually eat anything, any quantity. I felt over stuffed and sleepy afterwards. We went back to my sisters and my parents headed off to their hotel. My sister and I put on our pajamas and lay down on her bed to watch TV for a few hours before switching the lights off.  We lay side by side in the dark and talked idly about university and such things, both of us sleepy but unable to fall asleep.

Sunday I woke up to my sister snoring and before I could get back to sleep the alarm went off. Got ready and the parents came to pick us up and together we headed to Bradford to the National Media museum (The above pic was taken from inside the museum). We saw a film at the Imax theatre about the Tuna Run in South Africa which was spectacular, and less nauseating than the deep sea film I last saw at the IMAX in London. Afterwards we looked around the museum. My sister was over excited and hyped up in that childish way that she’ll probably never lose, because she can still act that way even at 22. She looked around at everything, played with all the hands-on things, took thousands of pictures, and dragged her boyfriend around with her the entire time. I spent a lot of time sat on benches waiting for my family to catch up with me who had already seen all she wanted to see, trying to be patient as it was after all my sisters weekend and thus it was only right to go with her schedule. I was actually quite happy quietly sitting there, was happy knowing my sister was enjoying herself.  Admitedly was a little bored but I don’t mind doing nothing and I’m fine entertaining myself whether with my thoughts or some music or just playing on my phone. My mother came and sat down next to me multiple times and she’d break the silence with inane chatter, talk for the sake of talking and I hate that. There is nothing wrong with silence, with waiting quietly and patiently. My mother is childlike in her need for constant attention and her seeming inability just to sit still and wait. I admit I hated my moms presence that day. I’d rather sit silently by myself than suffer through some of the ridiculous conversations my mother tries to start just for the sake of talking.

We ate lunch at the museum then went to ASDA to buy my sister groceries, before going back to hers. We gathered our stuff and left soon after getting back to hers and went home.

I don’t know why but it was a bit of a shock going into university today, like that feeling you get after the holidays. Staying somewhere else makes you feel a little out of it. Today turned out to be awesome though. I left ridiculously late this morning and managed to make my train with time to spare, my first lecture ended early so I could go to Primark to buy a couple of things, my second lecture started late and finished early so I could get an early train home. And my tutorial tomorrow is cancelled so technically I don’t have to go into university, although I will go in the afternoon to do maths in the library. This week should be awesome, seeing so I have no deadlines and barely any set classes. :D