.: so comes snow after fire :.

News from the past week: I had a bit of a cold and ear infection in the weekend that greatly affected my balance. Luckly it went away quickly, and it was probably because of the sudden spring weather we've been having. I'm greatly enjoing having the floor back where it's supposed to be. ^^

The other day something special arrived by mail:



That's my front door, with a new shiny burglar-looking-for-a-job rune on it. It's a childhood dream come true! It came with very complicated instructions, but in the end it only took me a few seconds to apply it. I'm very proud of my wizarding skills, not gonna lie. :D

I haven't written about it on here not to jinx it, but my new laptop seems to be working fine. The old one sputtered and died last november, and then when the new one arrived a few weeks back the OS wasn't properly installed (either that or it was possessed by an angry lumberjack - yes, I'm still squeeing over that new Gravity Falls episode) and it collided on itself. Now it's been back for a couple of weeks, and it seems to be working perfectly fine. All my favourite programs are installed, and I'm back to watching downloaded tv shows on the tv screen through a HDMI connector. I missed that so much. *_______*

Speaking of which, I started watching The 100 on Netflix, but had to abandon it halfway through the second season. It's good, but it has every single one of my triggers, it was too stressful. But hey, if you're looking for a new sci-fi series that's aimed at a young audience but is still full of references to classics, you should check it out. The writing is good, and there's a lot of great female characters. It's not that refined, true, but it's full of promise and intriguing enough.

Gravity Falls came back with a fantastic, unexpectedly gory, and truly amazing episode. It was great! And yesterday The Big Bang Theory did their toast to actress Carol Ann Susi. I loved it, it was quiet and respectful and full of love. One of the best moments of the season. I haven't watched Better Call Saul yet, shame on me, but everybody tells me it's awesome. I'll probably wait until it's over and then marathon it like the crazy person I am. Also Moriarty seems to be coming back to Elementary, I'm still celebrating over that letter!

And last but not least yesterday the actual creator of Over The Garden Wall wrote me a personal message. On Etsy, about the shipping cost of a book I ordered from him the other day. But it still counts!!! Seriously, when I recieved it I screamed out loud, and had to breathe in a pillow for a while.

I'm still playing Lego The Hobbit: I'm about to meet the Necromancer, and then the dragon. I can't wait! This game keeps being awesome and hilarious, it's a fantastic experience. The puzzles are growing in complexity, but they're never frustrating. I encountered a couple of bugs, but I just had to reset the level and everything went back to normal.

I was supposed to go to therapy tomorrow afternoon, but my therapist had to cancel; I have a billion other things I should do, but I'll probably spend it sorting my unread books for the Reading Bingo. ;)

I just realized today's Professor Tolkien's birthday. A lot of my friends on tumblr and twitter are celebrating by toasting to him, and I decided to join them. Trouble is, I only have prosecco in the house, leftover from NYE. It is the least Hobbitish drink I can imagine, thus I'm sitting here alone sipping from my glass while doing my best Thranduil impression. I am being silently judged by the cat. :D

Today I woke up with a bit of a cold. I'm glad it only affected my voice and nothing more, as on monday I'll have the first therapy session of 2015, after a two-week-long break. I have so many things to tell my therapist, I can't get sick now! I feel like I've done a lot of progress while I was away; as I thought, the change of scenery did wonders for my mind. But I still feel there's a lot of work left to do on the big anxiety crisis of last month. One step at a time. ^^

What else? Yesterday I watched the last Miranda episode, and I loved it to pieces. Even cried a bit. Today I did the laundry, mopped the floors, but didn't unpack yet, because my brain works in mysterious ways. It always takes me days to unpack after a trip. And my aunt just called me to tell me last night she was snoring so loud she woke herself up. I love my aunt dearly, but sleeping in the same room with her is something I always try to avoid. It always ends up with me spending the night wide awake staring at the ceiling. So we laughed a lot about this accident, and I maybe sort of convinced her to see a doctor about it. Crossing fingers here!

And now, it's time to read Thorin/Bilbo fluffy fix-it fics before going to bed. ♥

Look what I just did, all by myself!



Back in 2001, shortly after my sister's funeral, my classmates bought me a The Lord of the Rings poster, with the Argonath. I still remember that evening spent nailing it to the wall. Mom was holding the frame, but the glass slipped and I grabbed it before it could reach the floor. I cut my left thumb, all the way from root to nail. There was blood everywhere, my mom was freaking out, and I was jumping up and down trying not to get blood on the shiny new poster while reaching for something to wrap it. I was a little badass back then. :D

That poster followed me through all these years, and it symbolizes a huge part of my life. But it was time to start a new chapter, while still honoring the past. And that's why I bought this beautiful Desolation of Smaug poster, same size. I flipped the old poster, so it's still there, just facing the wall. And I managed to re-frame it and put it back on the wall while getting only a papercut this time. Go Nausicaa! \o/

And today Tati is coming over! I'm going to make her crepes a-la nutella, and she's going to be my guinea pig. *grabs chef's hat, laughs maniacally*

And the infamous heat wave is finally here. The air is heavy, sticky and warm, Sakura sleeps under the air conditioning unit all morning, then moves to my bed in the afternoon, and I'm drinking a lot of juice and mint water and eating apricots while marathoning Welcome to Night Vale. It has eaten my brain, all while the fandom has exploded over on tumblr, and there are lots of new fanarts and fanmixes and photosets popping up everyday, it's great. Though if I were to do a Night Vale fanmix myself it would be all Magnetic Fields songs, I'm afraid. The titles alone: "I don't believe in the sun", "absolutely cuckoo", "the cactus where your heart should be", "the night you can't remember" and "strange eyes", just to mention a few, they're perfect.

I spend too much time making fanmixes in my head. :D

In other news, a month ago the adorable space_oddity_75 gave me a The Hobbit moleskine as a gift, and the days passed and yet I couldn't decide what to use it for. As a daily planner it would become obsolete after a few months, and an address book felt too sterile a concept. Yesterday I had a long-awaited epiphany, and decided to turn it into a Recipe Book. I called it "Nausicaa's Hobbit Recipe Book" and wrote down my favourite recipes. Six down, thousands to go, it's so exciting! *_________*

Spring is finally here! Yes! I finally got my spring jacket out of the wardrobe, and all around Venice people were taking off their coats and walking around in their shirts, because the sun was so warm. I also discovered a nice chocolaterie (yep, a shop where they make and sell all kinds of Venetian chocolate stuff), and bought enough chocolate to last me for a month. Still, I promised the girl there I'd be back before that, because there's Tati's birthday, and my aunt is coming in two weeks, and, you know, chocolate. And in two days from today I'll be in Florence for the Mumford & Sons concert. Such a wonderful week! \o/

And look what finally arrived. I ordered them back in January, but the package was blocked at customs, in Milan, and I had to send them all kinds of info, and then call them on the phone, and I was starting to think I'd only get them after the next movie. Just when I was about to lose all hope, today they finally arrived:



There's no way they'll all fit in the tea cabinet. Also, my aunt is going to take a look at all that tea and laugh her sides off. But it's worth it! And my therapist says that I should just throw myself in the Tolkien fandom, because it's a trauma overcome, so they are therapeutic. Yes, I'm going to go for that excuse with my aunt. ;)

Now I should probably do the pre-trip laundry, which mostly consists of running around the house, tripping on Sakura while shouting "where are my socks?! I can't find any underwear!". Good times. :D

EDIT: Benedict Cumberbatch just confirmed the cast signed on for a 4th season of Sherlock!!! Let the celebrations begin!!! In my case, a hot cup of Bilbo Brew:



Irish breakfast, sweet potato, vanilla green and cinnamon bits. It tastes like a sunny meadow in the summer, with just that bit of a spice to be ready for an adventure. *______*

First, real life update. On friday Mom was moved to the main hospital, she'll stay there in an isolated room until she's finished fighting that nasty infection. They didn't tell me how long it's supposed to take, obviously, so I'll just have to wait. Even if waiting is literally 99% of what we all do in these situations, it is still nerve-wrecking.

Yesterday morning I had just called the hospital, I was tired and worried and on the verge of tears, so I thought I could start on one of the many tv shows I had downloaded these past few months for such an occasion. I started with Luther. I had absolutely no idea what it was about, except that it was probably about cops, definitely about London, that it had Idris Elba in it and it was grim. My, it certainly is! I loved the pilot, great acting, fascinating plot, and I was definitely not expecting that ending. Forgive me if I'm wrong, but isn't the fandom's favourite otp Luther/Alice? Wow. That brings back memories of Tokyo Babylon indeed. *___________*

Since it is a grim show, and quite a punch in the gut, I thought I could alternate it with Miranda episodes. stardust_made suggested it to me, said it was great fun, and I thought it would be a nice way to regulate the depressing storylines. Five hours later, I was halfway through the second season of Miranda, and my throat hurt a lot from all the laughing. It is so incredibly funny and witty, I'm utterly in love with Miranda and share her taste in music and habit of breaking into song as a comment in conversations, although I only do it in private or in front of my closest friends. :D The occasional John Finnemore appearance always makes me squee like a lunatic, to the point that I always have to rewind his scenes to hear what he's saying, and I'm shipping Miranda/Gary with the force of a thousand burning suns, I'm not even kidding. I'm usually not a fan of the ol' will they/won't they routine, but in this case I'm ferociously invested in this ship. I find myself shouting at the screen the same things I used to shout at Gene Hunt and Alex Drake. Good times. :D

This morning I finished Miranda (up-to-date with episode 3x03), now lunch and back to poor DCI Luther, who's feeling very neglected. ;)

Bonus picture, something that arrived yesterday:



I ordered it from England shortly before Christmas. I used to have one, it was the last gift I ever gave my sis, but it got stolen in 2009 when my apartment was burgled. For me to buy a new one, it's an incredible step forward. Seriously, I'm still not used to me just getting over a traumatic experience. I'm waiting for some kind of rebound, and it's not happening, and it's confusing and amazing at the same time. Go therapy! *_____*

I'M BACK! My, what a long trip. I left at 8 am, arrived home at 4 pm. I was very nervous, because last january when I came back home the power was off, the food in the fridge had died and gone through the whole Romero experience, and the whole flat was cold and smelly and it took me three days and a lot of bleach to get it back in working order. So when today I opened the door I was ready for anything. Thankfully the house was in perfect shape, and there was a small package on the table, left there by my neighbour, who got it for me when it arrived last monday.





It's Thorin's key from The Hobbit! Sfghfdhgfaldfhlghfdkjghfdjkh indeed! When I ordered it I planned to take off the little plastic tablet with the movie logo, but when I opened it I realized it had a tiny reproduction of The Map on the other side. The plastic tablet stays, oh yes, my precious!

Yes, with the Tolkien block faded I've reverted to the personality I had back in University: talking like Smeagol at the most inappropriate time, and making jokes that only my eldest cousin now understands. And hobbits with a bad sense of humour, I guess.

Tomorrow it's Christmas time, again, because Tati will come by and we'll exchange gifts and sing carols. I'll post pictures of the gifts, do not worry. ;)

And now it's off to vacuum the house while singing along Loreena McKennitt, adjusting the lyrics the Arthur Shappey way. :D