.: so comes snow after fire :.

First of all, and I can't believe I forgot about this until today, a friend of mine needs your help. The lovely nefertina86 is doing her bachelor thesis, and needs us to do this little survey for her.

Here's the link.

Just click "weiter", then the survey is all in English. It takes ten seconds, it's completely anonymous, and it's about social networks: how much/if you use Facebook/Tumblr/etc. Thanks in advance!

Today I had a lot more problems with red tape, which are a daily occurence in the life of a legal tutor, but still. Annoying as hell. Luckly in the afternoon Tati and I went to the cinema to see Miyazaki's Mononoke Hime, with a new Italian dubbing and in shiny HD. It's one of my favourite movies, and yet I knew the old Italian dubbing was full of flaws and mistakes. This one was unbelievably good. They went for very formal, medieval Italian, to re-create the original speech patterns, and holy hell it was amazing. It reminded me a lot of early Kurosawa movies, and it made me realize how much a bad dubbing can change the tone of a movie. All the political intricancies, the reasons behind Eboshi's deal with the Emperor, were completely lost to me with the old version. Amazing.

And today I also got my new Kindle Paperwhite! Nothing wrong with the old one, but I wanted to upgrade to a model with built-in light and touch screen. So far I'm loving it: it's very intuitive, and it indeed works in direct sunlight (we checked on the balcony). And the touch screen makes everything way easier! I bought the same skin I had on the old one, Van Gogh's Blossoming Almond Tree, because it's just the best skin there is. ^^ I named it "Traverse Town", following the tradition established with the first one, "221B", of using favourite fictional locations. \o/

Tomorrow there's no therapy, because my therapist is busy, and I'm going to help my cousin with his high school thesis on Futurism. I have absolutely no idea what that is. I graduated in Archaeology, anything past 200 AD is science fiction to me. Help.

I had forgotten how much I loved Yann Tiersen's music. It's like an injection of pure bliss. I'm listening to my old cds, and god, these songs take my breath away.

Even with the nice cover I bought a few days ago, I knew I had to follow serepink's advice and buy a gelaskin for my Kindle. I can be very clumsy, and I want to save it from scratches for as long as I can. The problem was choosing the right one. There are so many beautiful ones on sale out there, but as soon as I saw this one, it had to be mine:





It's from Van Gogh's Blossoming Almond Tree. Mom and I loved and worshipped all the Impressionist painters, and were absolutely crazy about Van Gogh, and we went to so many exhibitions that I can safely say I've seen a good 90% of his work in person.



That's the little bag I bought back in Rhodes and that I use for my iPod and spare headphones. In 2010 I spilled coffee on my old iPod and headphones, in the Turin airport, at 6 am, just before boarding the flight to Egypt. And it was the only pair of headphones I had for a whole week in Marsa Alam. Luckly my aunt managed to milk out the coffee (strengthening my conviction that she's in fact a very powerful witch in disguise) and they started working again, although they smelled of coffee the whole week.

Since that fateful day, I always carry two spare headphones in my bag. Better safe than sorry and smelling like breakfast.

Spent the day in Padova with two friends of mine, and it was a blast. I talked so much I'm literally hoarse, and we did some shopping, ate pizza, and organized a photography day in Venice. They're both studying professional photography, I just have my cute digital camera, but I can be an awesome guide. :D

Besides, I'm participating in a wonderful project, A Travelling Lemon Gift for John Finnemore. Follow the link for the rules, but basically you just take a lemon, put it next to a landmark in your city, and snap a picture, and then they'll all be sent to John Finnemore as a gift from his fans. Isn't it the most adorable idea ever? And I have literally a hundred landmarks to choose from! So they're going to take their professional photos of the Campanile of S.Marco, while I run around yelling "where do I hide the lemon in plain sight in front of a freaking cathedral?!" It's going to be crazy. :D

Let us not get off the nerd wagon just yet, because I have pictures of three packages I found on my doorstep when I came home, one from Amazon, two from Etsy. *_____*


I went a bit crazy with the Benedict Cumberbatch suggestions on Amazon, but a dvd there costs 3 pounds, it's unbelievable. An E.E. Cummings anthology because I read a few poems online and got intrigued, finally the Jeeves and Wooster boxset (finally!!!), and two cds I had on my iPod and that I was feeling way too guilty about. If I love it, I should buy it. Yo-ho a guilty pirate's life for me.


An incredibly cute cover for my Kindle (strawberries!), that actually protected it from a fall not even five minutes after this picture was taken. And the last piece for my Sherlock shrine, the magnifying glass! That made me squeal out loud when I opened the box. :D The shrine shall be on a shelf in my living room I emptied a couple of months ago for my favourite books, high enough that Sakura won't bother it, with the hat and the books and Sherlock Holmes' card from the museum. *________* Pictures shall be posted as soon as I'm satisfied with the final result. ;)


As Abed would say, cool. Cool cool cool cool.

I also bought orange blossom body cream. Orange flowers smell like Sicily, and it was always my mom's favourite scent, so now I'm sitting here with the smell of my childhood all around me. Nice. ♥

Spent a lovely day with Tati, we walked on the beach trying to fight off our shared incoming cold by inhaling the fresh salty air, watched A Study In Pink for the 100th time, sang harmonies on Rock Band. The usual. ^^

Then I came home, and there were a couple of packages on my doorstep.



My Kindle is here! I called it "221b Baker Street" and downloaded every fic I had bookmarked on AO3 (bless that site), and then I got a ebook copy of the complete Sherlock Holmes stories too. It's very easy to use, and the background is a nice light grey one, perfect for someone with my eyesight problems. Now I can bring my favourite fanfics with me everywhere, I'm so happy. *_______*

And my deerstalker hat is here too! I wasn't expecting it before Easter, it was such a nice surprise! I obviously had to put it on right away, even if I bought it for display. It fits perfectly, it's warm and comfy. I can't for the life of me understand why Sherlock dislikes it so much. :D

For a picture of yours truly wearing a death frisbee, ( this way please. :D )

A bit late, I know, but here's a picture of my nails! I asked Martina for something British since I was leaving in a couple of days for London, and she came up with this:



I love it. :D

Today I finally gave up and bought a Kindle. Summer is coming, and Tati's moving to a nearby town for her job, and I'm going to visit her every other day, and I need something to help me carry my favourite fanfics with me. Yes, it was meant for e-books, but I'm going to use it mainly for fanfics. I do love AO3 and their download options. ♥

And I forgot to write this in the big ass London post, but I did in fact listen to Cabin Pressure on the plane. On both planes, actually, and the experience was absolutely... brilliant! Mostly because the Captain kept calling the Cabin Crew on the Intercom in the background. :D

Also, new layout and text for the comments! It took me a while to come up with a nice option for that, and I'm so proud of myself. :D