.: so comes snow after fire :.

Sorry for disappearing on you! It's been a tiring week, mostly because of the african weather. It's the worst we've had in 200 years, and for once I'm glad my aunt isn't here because she could never stand it. Walking down the street it feels like someone's holding a damp cloth over one's mouth and nose. My fridge is full of fruit and various kinds of juice, and almond milk, which is a very sicilian thing, and I love it. So sweet and refreshing. And I haven't actually cooked anything since monday, I've only been eating raw meat, salads, fruit salads, sandwiches, and the like. I get a vampire-in-a-sunlight-beam reaction as soon as I get close to the kitchen stove, hissing and wailing of the arms included. With my low blood pressure "ditzy" is what I am every hour of the day.

Sakura is suffering the heat even more than me. She spends the day curled on the marble floor under the air conditioning unit, and I have to physycally remove her and put her on the couch when I think she's had enough. And she sleeps even more than usual, which means she's awake only for two hours everyday.

Let's try and update this journal even during the heat: it's time for my usual meme.

day one • a song
day two • a picture
day three • a book/ebook/fanfic
day four • a website
day five • a youtube clip

Let's go with Give A Little Bit by Supertramp, as featured in this beautiful CocaCola commercial:



And I'm hitting PMS pretty hard, because this thing made me actually tear up. That and the latest Naruto chapter too. And every other fanfic I've been reading recently. I feel fine, happy even, and yet as soon as I read/watch something even remotely moving, here comes the sobbing. What the hell.

Amazing news on the gaming front, Capcom is releasing Okami in HD this fall. Okami is one of the most beautiful videogames ever made, and one of my personal favourites, and I just bought the artbook. This is the best news ever! ♥

EDIT And I just got some wonderful news, Frankestein is coming to theaters in Italy on September! I still don't know which towns, but I'm most certainly going to see at least one version. Never in a million years I would have thought they would release it here, and I've never been happier to be proven wrong. \o/

It's sunday, I'm still sick, it's raining and freezing outside and I'm bored, so how about some tv reviews?

( The Big Bang Theory )

( The Vampire Diaries )

I had to put all the books I'm reading on hiatus because with that stupid fever I had to re-read every page three times before I'd get it, so I've been playing Okamiden instead. Apparently my feverish brain works enough for videogames at least. Anyway, there was this scene where the two main characters had to wear masks to enter the demon market, and I had to draw demon faces on the sheets. I drew a huge smiley face on one mask, and wrote "GET SHERLOCK" on the other one, because it was the most demonic thing I could think of. And they wore those masks for a good hour of cut scenes and fight scenes, it was awesome. :D

Today I was going to meet a friend of mine who's three months pregnant. Luckly, yesterday she called me to tell me she had to postpone it. I said luckly because today I woke up with a cold, a slight fever, aching throat, sneezes, all the package. So I would have had to cancel it anyway (no way I'm going anywhere near a pregnant woman while having a cold, I've seen The Mirror Crack'd, thank you very much). I must admit I'm almost glad I got this stupid bug: everyone else had been sick these past two weeks, I was the only one left, it was only a matter of time, and I prefer to just get it over with. The one downside is that with such a sore throat I don't feel like eating at all, but I have to eat solid food to get my meds, so I've been in a sour mood since I woke up. Yes, I'm acting like an annoying six-year-old, yay!

Anyway, this is the week everything else I ordered during the last couple of months arrived: the courier even offered to help me bring all the packages upstairs, but I declined because otherwise what are all those months at the gym for? But carrying awesome stuff up two flights of stairs, of course! ^^



It's a Record Player! Now, let's rewind this a bit: we used to have a record player back in the 80s. Dad and Mom had many records when they were teens, mostly classic rock (although I guess then it was just... rock) but they had to leave them in their old homes when they got married and moved to Venice, so all the records I have here are records they bought for me and my sis. When I was five or six our record player broke, and dad decided to buy a cd player instead, so it's been at least 22 years these records have just been sitting there, in a corner with my old childhood books.


It took me a few attempts to get it working, because, I can't stress this enough, 22 years, but in the end it is surprisingly easy to use. And even more than the songs themselves (I own all these albums on tapes and cds too), it was the whispery sound between tracks that sent me down memory lane. I sat on the floor, while Sakura checked all the boxes, and felt like a little kid again. So worth it.


But since it's also 2012, I bought the player with the USB port too, so I can use it for my iPod as well. :D It also has a SD card slot, and on the back the jacks to connect it to my stereo speakers. The player speakers are already great, the sound is clear and polished, I was so surprised.

There's a lovely music store downtown where they sell all kinds of records, I'm definitely buying a Ella Fitzgerald one! \o/

And I also got the War Horse bluray (cue joyful dance I would do if all my joints weren't aching like hell), The Charioteer by Mary Renault (in keeping with the vintage vibe of this entry) and Okamiden, the Okami game for Nintendo DS. Okami is one of the most beautiful videogames ever created, an amazing experience, and now the sequel is my hands! Yessssshhhh!

Completely off-topic, there's an update on the Travelling Lemon project, with an amazing map of the submissions they already got, a new deadline, and info for donations. This fandom is brilliant indeed!

I just finished Okami! Yay! What an amazing game, and such a fascinating story! And now I can start it all over with three karmic transformations and all my weapons. *_____*

Since spring is finally here, everything seems easier, even studying. :D I'm also growing obsessed with Scrubs, I'm currently half-way through the fifth season (since that's what they're airing on tv now), and downloading the first one.

I just finished Okami! Yay! What an amazing game, and such a fascinating story! And now I can start it all over with three karmic transformations and all my weapons. *_____*

Since spring is finally here, everything seems easier, even studying. :D I'm also growing obsessed with Scrubs, I'm currently half-way through the fifth season (since that's what they're airing on tv now), and downloading the first one.

Tee hee. XD

News: my first concert was amazing, but when we got up to sing I had so much adrenaline in my blood I couldn't even walk straight. Luckly I remembered all my part and made no mistakes, but man, my heartbeat was so fast it felt like a buzzing noise in my ears. XD

I'm also finishing Okami: I got 11 constellations, and just got at Oni Island. As a Naruto fan, I can't wait to fight the Demon Fox. :D

Definitely one of the best chapters in months, I'm still thrilled about it. And now I want our masked friend to start explaining us everything. *_______* Unfortunately we have a break next week, how stressful!

A few days ago I finally bought Okami, and now I'm completely obsessed with it: what an amazing game! Right now I'm in the Moon Cave, and I have nine constellations. Can't wait to see Orochi! *______* Sono anche molto presa dalla lettura delle Cronache del Mondo Emerso di Licia Troisi: davvero degli splendidi libri! Sono quasi alla fine del secondo, ma ho già recuperato anche le Guerre, visto che alla Feltrinelli erano in offerta.

Definitely one of the best chapters in months, I'm still thrilled about it. And now I want our masked friend to start explaining us everything. *_______* Unfortunately we have a break next week, how stressful!

A few days ago I finally bought Okami, and now I'm completely obsessed with it: what an amazing game! Right now I'm in the Moon Cave, and I have nine constellations. Can't wait to see Orochi! *______* Sono anche molto presa dalla lettura delle Cronache del Mondo Emerso di Licia Troisi: davvero degli splendidi libri! Sono quasi alla fine del secondo, ma ho già recuperato anche le Guerre, visto che alla Feltrinelli erano in offerta.