.: so comes snow after fire :.

Just like I hoped, my birthday has been a turning point for me. I tend to fixate on dates and anniversaries, even too much, but sometimes that obsession does help. I feel like my birthday ended the awful year of illness and pain, and now I've started a new year of healing. I know it sounds a bit weird and new-ageish, but you know what I mean. I've spent a great week at home, I've made some wonderful new friends (thanks to capracotta, who is amazing), I've been to the bank and the restaurant and I've done laundry and everything feels normal and new at the same time. I feel like I'm taking control of my life once again, a life that includes monthly trips to the hospital, but also hanging out with my friends, going to the cinema, making marmalade with my aunt. I can do it. ^^

And in this spirit, here's an old meme because I need to start posting regularly here again, instead of only when I got news about chemo. New leaf.

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



And now, some fandom news! I finally watched that new Shane Black movie, The Nice Guys, and I loved it. It was funny as hell, the mystery was intriguing and had me on the edge of my seat trying to figure it out first, and Ryan Gosling and Russel Crowe have excellent chemistry. Plus the little girl was amazing, I can't wait to see more of her. I wish Shane Black did more movies, and that they did better at the box office. I think I liked this one even more than Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, and that's one of my favourites. Highly recommended.

Brooklyn Nine Nine and Star Vs The Forces Of Evil are back, and they're both still amazing. I know I'm overdoing it with that adjective, but it's true, they're both objectively amazing shows. I still have to watch that new Once Upon A Time episode, mostly because I got derailed by Final Fantasy Type 0: I played it for a month more than a year ago, then stopped just before leaving for the final dungeon. I can't remember why. Then last weekend I finally finished it, witnessed the incredibly depressing ending (even sadder than Crisis Core's, come on!), and now I'm replaying it from start because I'm not ready to let go of these characters. And I love the gameplay. ^^ Also I hurt my shoulder playing drums. Probably the most metal thing I did all year.

So that's it for me today, but I promise to be back tomorrow.

New Reading Bingo entry!



For the "The 1st Book in a Series" square I read Ben Aaronovitch's first novel in his Rivers of London series, Rivers of London. They changed the name to Midnight Riot for the US edition.

Let's face it, I couldn't not love this novel. It's basically Harry Dresden in London, except in this case the main character is a mixed race copper, and he's investigating a ghost who's re-enacting Punch & Judy by killing people. It's a love letter to everything that I love. *_______* There's supernatural creatures, genii locorum (the latinist in me was doing a happy dance constantly, as the latin is always correct and the history is spot-on), a lot of witty jokes, Blackadder references, a very diverse cast of characters, and the main character is constantly describing the route everywhere he goes, and as I've been to London enough times to easily know my way around it, it helped a lot with the feeling of immersion that the roads, tube stations, shops were exactly where they're supposed to be. ♥

I read it in e-book format, but halfway through it I was already ordering the paperback on Amazon. I know it makes little sense, but when I love a book I want to have a physical copy, a digital one just isn't enough. There's five books already published, with a sixth one coming out next year. Well, now we know how I'm going to spend my free time this month. :D

And a link for all of you lovely people: if you haven't already heard of Postmodern Jukebox, prepare to be amazed. ♥

Another Reading Bingo update, and sorry for spamming your friends page with these. ^^



For the "A Book With A One-Word Title" I read Rainbow Rowell's Fangirl. I bought it because the cover art was by gingerhaze, an artist I love. I devoured the whole book in less than a day, it was wonderful. It's the story of Cath, a fanfiction writer who's on her first year of university, has social anxiety, and whose relationship with her twin sister is starting to crumble. She falls in love, tries to keep the deadlines on her hugely popular Harry/Draco fic, all the while worrying about her family and her future. Story-wise, it's nothing new, but the characters are so alive and real that it all feels new and exciting. The importance of fandom for Cath is described with love and respect, and every chapter starts with an excerpt from either a fic by Cath, or from the imaginary Harry Potter books she adores (they're not called Harry Potter, but they're obviously talking about Harry and Draco). Plus the writing is great, fluid and fresh, and the author avoids all the tropes she could have easily fallen into. If I had to find one flaw, I'd say the ending is a bit rushed, but that's probably because I was loving the characters so much I didn't want it to end.

If you have the chance, read it, especially if you're a fanfic writer/reader and would love to see yourself represented in mainstream media. It's an act of love for fandom, and a beautiful story too. What more could we ask for? *_____*

And a couple of videos for you too! First, Nancy Sinatra's original music video for These Boots Are Made For Walking. It's the most 60s video to ever exist. If we had to explain what the sixties looked like to an alien, we'd just show them this video. I laughed so much I almost fell off my chair, and then I remembered my formative years were spent in the 80s and 90s and I have no right to talk. :D

Then, here's the latest Final Fantasy XV trailer. Oh yeah, look at those PS4 graphics! Dayum! Sadly Tetsuya Nomura just left the project to focus on Kingdom Hearts III, but he left the helm to the director of Crisis Core, so no worries there. ^^

And here's a random video from EuroAirDotCon, just because. :D

Now, it's back to working on my aunt's birthday gift. I have a week to complete it, and no time to lose! \o/

Health update! I'm taking some cortisone-based meds and the coughing fits are slowly going away. When it happens, I still sound like a chain smoker since the age of 12, to the point that even my cat gives me the side eye, but it's getting better. I haven't had an infection like this since before high school, it's really weird. And my sense of smell is coming back at random, abrupt times, like I can suddenly smell ORANGES for a couple of seconds, then nothing for hours, then SHOWER GEL, then nothing again. Super weird.

Yesterday's episode of Supernatural was another little masterpiece. And one of those times when, as great art always does, it told a good story while telling me, the viewer, a lot about myself, and choices I made when I was younger. It came into my life exactly at the right moment. And it also made me want to sing Bryan Adams' Summer of 69 at the top of my lungs all morning, but since my bronchi still won't allow that, I settled for putting it on the stereo on loop.

Standin' on your mama's porch
You told me it would last forever
Oh the way you held my hand
I knew that it was now or never
Those were the best days of my life
Back in the summer of '69!!!

*rocking air guitar solo*

So yep, I'm doing better. Not out of the woods yet, but I'm being a good kid, resting and taking all my meds, so I'm going to give myself a good pat on the head and go back to my chores. ^^

September is coming, and I needed a new organizer, so on the way home I stopped at my favourite bookshop and browsed for a longer time than I'm comfortable admitting looking for the perfect organizer to accompany me for the next fourteen months. There just were so many bright, colourful ones! In the end I chose a lovely green one with pictures of rainbows and butterflies and flowers on every page. A happy organizer for a happy Nausicaa. :D

On the way to the register I noticed they had a lot of jazz/blues/chanson cds on sale, and I just had to buy two of them for 10 euros. Meanwhile this beautiful cd was playing in the store, and while I was paying I asked the cashier what it was. She didn't know, so she called a colleague, but she didn't know either. The third one told us it was "Madeleine Peyroux's new album", which made me squeal "oh my god, can I have a copy please, please, PLEASE?!", to everyone's amusement. :D



My cd player is broken (that's the big one in the living room), and lately I've used the Playstation to listen to cds. Since I couldn't wait to listen to Madeleine's new album, and I had to cook lunch, I digged up my old portable cd player and connected it to my jbl speaker. It wouldn't start, so after punching all the buttons, I checked the batteries. I took them out, and got battery liquid all over my hands. Apparently they decided to commit seppuku quite recently, because whatever was inside leaked all over my fingers as soon as I touched them. What the hell. Much swearing and scrubbing later, I'm finally listening to my beautiful new cd (the portable cd player is surprisingly still working) in the kitchen.

She even sings a cover of Leonard Cohen's Bird on the Wire! *_______*

By the way, the Ladies Sing the Blues collection reminds me of a meme I saw on tumblr a couple of weeks ago. Take a song that has the word "blues" in the title and substitute it with "feels". Folsom Prison Feels. Empty Bed Feels. I'm Left with Feels in my Heart. And of course, Lady Sings the Feels.

I'm going to hell for finding it so hilarious, I know. :D



And my Welcome to Night Vale official shirt just arrived! \o/

Late entry for Supernatural's wonderful, epic season finale, Sacrifice, because LJ decided to take a holiday yesterday. Apparently it was a problem during maintenance, but my money is on "they tried to update something, and screwed up everything else". Good times.

Since I'm sure everything's been already said yesterday (or quite possibly sobbed and screamed), I'm going for a couple of visuals instead. Take your protein pills, put your headphones on, and pop under the cut. (I'm having a David Bowie sort of a day, sorry.)

( Let the sky fall, when it crumbles, we will stand tall. )

Now I've got to run, but first I have to make a quick playlist for the finale in my iPod. *___*

I kinda forgot I still had one day left on this meme. Sorry.

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

Anyway, I just finished watching Seven Psychopaths, and I loved it. It's actually easy to spoil a movie like this one, so I won't say anything about the plot, except that if you love talking about action movies it's the movie for you. ;) And it has Christopher Walken being amazing and Tom Waits carrying around a fluffy white rabbit. Plus, it introduced me to this stunning cover of one of my favourite songs from my childhood, from one of the first cds my dad ever bought (it was a Best Of Cat Stevens, in the early 90s). So here's P.P. Arnold, in her rendition of The First Cut Is The Deepest:



Then, because I'm on a roll and I had some brown sugar left from the mince pies, I made muffins! I tweaked the recipe a bit, and added Tardis tea to the dough. It gave them a wonderful aroma, while the brown sugar gave them this amazing colour.





They're very tasty, not too sweet, and they smell great. I ate one with tea, and then had one after dinner with a bit of ham and cheese, and it was superb. I love the contrast between salt and sweet (cheese and pears anyone?). *_________*

And my aunt called me while I was baking, and after I got them out of the oven, and she asked me for details and then to send her the recipe by email. I feel so grown up. :D

I should have learned by now to stay away from the Hard & Heavy section at the music store. Every single time I take a look at those shelves I see a cd some friend of mine burned for me back in uni, and I get this urge to buy the original and revel in the memories.



Oh well, the Blind Guardian are amazing, it was a great purchase. And the Hobbit calendar arrived, because I'm weak, and the calendars on Amazon are really cheap, and the pictures are so pretty. Plus I get Bilbo on my birthday month. :D



These last few days I've been always a bit on edge. As usual, it affected my sleep patterns, so I ended up sleeping a couple of hours less that I usually do. I decided to spend them watching british tv (because, seriously, what better way to spend the wee hours of the morning?). I finished the first season of Luther, and it was really, really good. I'm now shipping Luther and Alice too, because as previously stated, I am weak. Wish they released a soundtrack, so many great songs. I also watched the first season of Whitechapel, and I'm delighted to discover that the British can indeed make bad tv shows. Once in ten years, I gather, but it does happen. Good to know they're human like the rest of us. :D

Let's face it, it had bad acting, a stupid script, and the bad guy was the only talking character other than the cops. Never saw that coming. The parts about the original Jack The Ripper were interesting, but not enough to save the show. Shame.

Tomorrow I have to go to the dentist, which means I've been eating sweets all day. Sort of like a bear before going on hibernation, but with chocolate coins. :D

It's the Birthday Entry! This one was an epic one, at least for my standards. :D It's 29, the last year of my twenties. *drumroll*

First, a picture of yours truly in her lucky red corset (I just *love* it), eating sushi. See the hair? I'm going to cut it on wednesday. That already qualifies as "too long" in my mind. Although I do admit it has a certain puffy quality that on good days I define as "cute". My hair and I have a love-hate relationship.



( This way for pictures of the celebrations, with colourful wagons on the streets and dancing men in lederhosen, and old phobias being crushed to the sound of wonderful music. And shoes. )

I had to skip the gym today because I slept on my stomach last night, which I never do, and woke up with a wryneck. Well, that, and the air conditioning still on on the bus yesterday. It's wine season, for god's sake! It's cold! I'm feeling fine now, but I thought it best not to stress the muscles too much.

Tomorrow it's vet time (for Sakura) and therapy time (for me), then back to Tati to start the second season of Teen Wolf together! She's in for quite a great journey. ♥

Rock Band Blitz is finally here! I managed to buy it yesterday (it's quite complicated, as one has to buy three different files to make it work), and after trying my hand at a few songs, I must admit it's more fun than I thought. The one big problem, though, is that after three songs my motion sickness starts acting up. After two more songs, I can't focus my eyes and my hands begin to cramp.

Not really a big problem, though, as I bought it mostly as a dlc pack for Rock Band 3. It has 25 beautiful songs, and especially Fun's We Are Young. It's Tati's and my 2012 song, we sing it out loud everytime we're together, usually while cooking, so we were ecstatic when they announced it for Rock Band. Today I tried my hand at singing it, obviously on Expert (ain't no short-ass gods around here), first solo then on harmonies (one person can sing harmonies, you just have to plug in two mics and hope that everyone sings the same thing). It is, unsurprisingly, very, very hard, but I managed to get five stars both times. The hardest part is obviously getting Janelle's part right, carry me home tonight, while I usually sing the na na na na part there, because the choir is louder than her.

And the best part is that since I have a boom microphone stand (Tati gave it to me two years ago as a birthday gift), singing this song at the top of my lungs gets a hundred times more awesome. I always feel like Carey Mulligan in Shame, the New York New York scene. ♥

Man, I do miss singing in a real choir. The drums are my love, but singing is so much fun, especially in a group. Maybe I should roll up my sleeves and look for a new choir to join.