.: so comes snow after fire :.

Last weekend we had a national holiday, so I managed to have two whole days of peace and quiet, no appointments, nothing to worry about. I really needed some time to do some thinking. With the help of my friends I decided to push the CPE to December, rather than taking it this month. These last few months have been so hectic with real life stuff that I never had the time and peace of mind to sit down and do my exercises. Yes, I would still pass it, but I wouldn't be giving it my 100%, and that's unacceptable. This way I'll have the whole summer to prepare, when judges and lawyers and banks are all on holiday and I'm not needed anywhere.

In fandom news, Welcome to Night Vale had a bloody fantastic episode for their second anniversary. This Strexcorp arc was one of the best, and it kept me on the edge of my seat for months. If you're behind on the episodes, this is a great moment to catch up. *_____*

On the other hand, the latest Game of Thrones episode upset me so much I screamed and covered my face with my hands during a certain scene. I was a lot more upset than during the Red Wedding, probably because this time I didn't see it coming at all. And my friends who read the books tell me that even more shocking things are meant to happen in the next two episodes. Help.

I feel like I should mention it, I didn't like the books. I read the first one and almost all the second one, but I never cared for them. Something with the way they're written, cold and like a chronicle, they never gripped me. I didn't care at all for the same characters who would make me cry in the show. I can, intellectually, see that Martin is a great writer, but his writing leaves me so cold it's pointless to try again. The good thing that comes out of this is that I come to the tv show unspoiled, and every plot twist is completely unexpected. This way those among my friends who read the books can do their evil villain routine, with the twirling of the metaphorical moustaches and the evil snickering when I ask them about my favourite characters. Everybody's happy and there's jam for tea. :D

Happy August 15th, for those of you who celebrate it! I had a good night of sleep (yay), listened to Louis Armstrong all morning (double yay) and just finished listening to the new Welcome to Night Vale episode (triple yay)! It was a great episode, especially for fanartists. It felt like there were so many new concepts and scenes that deserve to be drawn. Speaking of which, the amazing entangled_now wrote a Night Vale fic for me, Poetry, and it's absolutely fantastic! \o/ *happy dance*

In other news, I spent a whole hour this morning fighting with some stupid malware that managed to infect my computer. I think some chocolate is in order now, to celebrate my victory. And I've also painted my nails and toenails fuchsia to match my hair. Yessss.

Hurrah for happy lazy summer entries!

The heat wave is still here and going strong, and truly unbearable. Walking outside feels like having someone holding a wet handkerchief over one's face. My therapist cancelled our session this morning, and while that's usually disappointing, I have to admit I wasn't really looking forward to walking through half of Venice in this ungodly heat. And it looks like it'll be here for another two days at least.

And now for the good news, this afternoon a package from Adagio Teas arrived! Very surprisingly, because I ordered these teas one week ago, and it usually takes them a month and a half to get here. Last time I ordered a package, a nice lady at customs, in Milan, told me that I had to ask the sender to print out the receipt, with the contents and the total amount of money I had paid, and stick it to the outside of the package, to speed things up. Just one week though! That's magic!


This is the first time I ordered teas from someone other than Cara McGee. I went with my most recent love, Welcome to Night Vale; from left to right, "All Hail The Glow Cloud", "Beneath Lane 5", "(Welcome to) Desert Bluffs", "(Welcome to) Night Vale", "The Whispering Forest" and "Old Woman Josie and the Angels".


Two teas from The Lord of the Rings, "The Brave Gardener" and "Dragon's Dream", and two from Game of Thrones, "Lannister Royal Tea" and "Stark Winterbrew".

Some of these have ingredients I have never tried, and all are original blends, I can't wait to try them! Sadly I can only drink one cup a day (with the heat I have trouble sleeping and caffeine doesn't help), so it'll take a while to taste them all. :D

In other news I just finished watching the 2011 miniseries Neverland. I'm a huge fan of both Alice and Tin Man, so I had great expectations for this one. Sadly, I found it to be incredibly boring. It really took an effort to get to the end without dozing off, and then there wasn't even a ending, not really. I feel cheated. But mostly bored.

Today is an historical day in my healing process. Or we should call it Huge Step Ahead Day. Today is the day I finally made my mom's signature dish, her favourite recipe, my sister's and mine favourite dish when we were kids. Mom last made it a month before my sister's death, and we never mentioned it again after. I talked about it a few times with Tati and my therapist, but I never thought I'd feel strong enough to prepare it again, to reclaim the memory for myself. As it turns out, two years of therapy did the trick. Yesterday I bought the ingredients, and this morning, after getting an haircut, because that always makes me feel stronger, the magic happened.



The recipe was given thirty years ago to my mom by a Spanish friend of hers, who called it "Zuppa Spagnola" (italian for Spanish Soup). She was talking of the Gazpacho, but translated it for us, and we thought it was such a cute thought that we kept using the name. There are several recipes of the Gazpacho, some with bread, some without, some with alcohol in it. This is my mom's recipe, so I don't really consider it Gazpacho, it's more like something similar, but unique. You get the idea.



It's very easy to prepare, just takes a blender, really. I only had red bell peppers, but when possible my mom used a red one and a green one, so to give it a greenish hue.



Final result gets in the fridge for a day. I opened the fridge a few minutes ago and it smelled heavenly, of childhood and summer. First attempt: complete success, A+ for me.

I know I go on and on about little things like they're immense, but they're huge to me. I've lived with small and big traumas half my life, and had no idea that therapy could actually work. Small steps feel exactly like huge steps ahead do, they're all equally awesome and unexpected. ♥

(And my hair is now a lovely Night Vale purple, yay!)

The heat wave has arrived, and I have to have the air conditioning on all day. Hope this won't mean weird crazy storms next week. Anyway, I'm prepared. I got liquerice in my bag everywhere I go, for blood pressure, I drink a lot of juice, and I'm always wearing a hat when I go outside. I have this cute straw hat that looks like something from My Fair Lady that I bought last year to wear at the beach, let's see if I have the guts tomorrow to wear it in downtown Venice. It would definitely look cute and weird. *____*

I'm up-to-date with Welcome To Night Vale. In fact, I listened to First Date this morning during breakfast, and I had to stop several times to clutch at my heart and make embarassing cooing noises. Cecil and Carlos are the most adorable couple ever. And I still can't believe I finally have a m/m otp that's canon. This show is a gift.

Not to mention I had the weirdest dreams last night, mostly because I went to sleep listening to Faceless Old Woman. I dreamt of all the creepy, Lovecraft-ian creatures of Night Vale, but like Cecil I wasn't scared at all, I thought they were completely normal. Until I woke up, thought about it for a few seconds, and went "what the hell?!" really loud in the darkness.

(And on another topic we can all agree Mama Hale is the best, yay for flashback episodes!)