.: so comes snow after fire :.

Third chemo done yesterday, I'm almost halfway through. It was the best one yet, because after the little side effects (my stomach burns something awful everytime), we decided to start on the drip really slow for fifteen minutes, and then turn it up to the proper flow. That did the trick, and it went like a cool drink of water. The doctor was very positive about all the progress I'm making, and I even gained some more weight since last time, and hit 60 kilos! Hurrah! The festivities surely helped, with the perfect combo of my aunt's and my oldest cousin's amazing cooking, and the sleepiness from the antiallergic meds: basically it was three days of eating a lot, napping for three hours, being woken up to eat some more, and then rolling into bed again. It was great. :D

I also did my first field test of the cvc, and it worked perfectly. No holes in my arms, yes! Now I have to go to the local hospital once a week to change the dressing and keep it clean, but other than that it's just a matter of learning to ignore it. The stitches itch a bit, but I can already sleep on that side, and they put a magical bandaid over it that allows me to take a shower without worrying about it getting wet! Gotta love technology. *___*

With all the cortisone I take before and after the chemo I couldn't sleep at all last night, so by 2 am I got fed up with staring at the dark and started reading. I'm halfway through The Kane Chronicles by Rick Riordan. I have to admit I'm not finding it as engaging as the Percy Jackson or Magnus Chase novels, which is a shame, but other than that I like it. I've also started on the Star Wars The Force Awakens novelization because that movie has taken over my life. ^^

I got so many presents for christmas, including two beautiful bracelets that I'm wearing all the time because with all the pains receding I can use my arms more freely now. I also got a beautiful Tigger mug from my cousins, and lots of tea and sweets and dragon-fruit-scented soap from space_oddity_75 who is awesome and always sends me Cabin Pressure themed gifts! ♥

My aunt is visiting her parents until the 7th, and Francesca and her boyfriend are in Istanbul (not Constantinople, now it's Turkish delight on a moonlit night - sorry, I couldn't help it) until next Monday. For a whole week it's just my uncle, Marco, and me. Yesterday at dinner they talked of hunting for a whole hour. Don't get me wrong, I'm as carnivore as they get, and I love eating what they kill, but oh boy. I miss girl talk already. Help.

I hope you're all having a great day. Me, I just got a text from my therapist telling me to come tomorrow morning for a session. I did some quick math, in the last two months we saw each other for a grand total of one hour and a half exactly. Unacceptable! First, I'll give her a big hug. Then, I'll talk at twice the normal speed, I have so many things to tell her, it's crazy.

And I come bearing pictures! A few pics I took at my aunt's with my new cellphone. I changed the settings of the camera when I came back, and I'm still learning how to use it, but it's quite useful to have a little camera all the time in my bag.


That's the only snow we got to see this christmas. It melted in under six hours, but I managed to snap this quick picture just before breakfast on my first day there.

( Under the cut for festive sushi and trees! )

I still have to take pictures of my gifts, I'll ask Tati to help me with that. ^^

We're having a lovely, sunny day, the perfect day to spend inside wrapping gifts. :D



I still have to buy two other gifts, and I'm set. And the little glittery bows for the gifts in the picture, on tuesday. I'm really proud of myself. *____*

Changing topic, today they're screening the first episode of Sherlock. That means, I'm dropping off tumblr and every community even remotely related to Sherlock. It was the only way, two years ago, for me to avoid spoilers, and since it's only three episodes, I consider every little piece of information a spoiler. If you need me, I'll be in a cave, with my fingers in my ears, singing xmas carols. ;)

Following tradition, today I decorated my little Christmas tree:



The only difference from last year is that I gave up on my usual decoration for the top of the tree, because it's very unstable and gives it a weird, sort of drunk look. I scratched my head for a while, and then decided on my favourite decoration, a Jack Skellington in Sandy Claws costume that I bought at the Disney Store years ago. Now he's sitting proudly on top of the tree overseeing his kingdom.



I had to get Sakura out of the room while decorating because she was driving me nuts, and now I'll have to teach her again, like every year, not to munch on the tree. She especially loves the bright scarves, and then I get to find sparkly poo in her litter. Nope, not joking. :D

With the fact that I've been sick all of November, I more or less skipped a whole month, and I still have to fully comprehend that Christmas is in a couple of weeks. It feels like it was Halloween only yesterday! Although to be fair everytime I enter a shop these days there are xmas carols blasting from the speakers, I bet my subconscious will get the memo soon enough.

Tomorrow is the last day of this short visit, but I'm making the most of it. I baked with my eldest cousin, and the whole family fell in love with our brownies. We made a lot, but they won't last the day, I'm afraid. This morning we woke up early to open the gifts (I'll post pictures of mine, I loved them all), and then we sang xmas carols out loud. We had a big lunch, and my uncle got me drinking three different kinds of wine, and a glass of porto (a protoguese liquor, very tasty) with the dessert. After that I fell asleep and slept like a log until 6 pm, when my aunt threw me out of bed. I only drink once a year for xmas, and alcohol makes me sleepy, it was to be expected. My uncle found it incredibly amusing. :D

There was this funny accident, when I was washing my hands in the bathroom and a spider fell from the ceiling right on the sink. I squealed and ran to the kitchen, and screamed there was a huge spider in the bathroom. My cousin immediately grabbed his rifle (it's the kind that shoots plastic bullets, for competitions and the like) and with this serious face he marched into the bathroom shouting "let me at it!". I stopped dead on my tracks and laughed so much I almost fell over. XD

Other than that, we played cards, and I did good, considering my uncle and his mom are great players, I'm having lots of wonderful conversations about our favourite books with my eldest cousin, and we both planned our weddings even if neither of us are engaged or are actually planning to even get married. I even picked the band. :D

I hope you're all having a wonderful time! \o/

Let's see, I have 15 gbs of music on my iPod, the Kindle is in its custody, the train tickets are in the Hobbit in my purse, the presents are all wrapped and the bag is almost ready, only the meds left. Yes, tomorrow I'm leaving to visit the family for christmas, I can't wait, it's going to be one amazing week of happy quality time with the whole family!

I won't be much online, obviously, but I'll check my mail and mps, so I won't disappear completely, I promise!

In other words, see you on the flip side of the safety demonstration, ciao! :D

Upon re-reading my most recent entries I noticed I sounded as being either depressed by tv shows or feeling homicidal because of tv shows, so here, have a happy christmas entry to balance all of that.

Guest starring my cat, who'd like to point out that plastic xmas trees are very tasty and fun for all the family to munch on. :D


Got the tree out of the bags. Sakura gives her seal of approval. Dean Martin sings "oh the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful", and I politely make him notice that it's 20° C outside (that's 68° F). It is really hard to get into the xmas spirit when it's so warm I have two windows open since when I woke up, and I'm walking around in my pjs like it's september.


End result. The pointy thing on the top is always like that because my tree doesn't actually have a top, so I have to twist one of the branches to put that on top. If I used an angel, it would look like I hanged it. Jack Skellington would be proud of me, but I'm going for authenticity here. :D Notice Ezio Auditore in the top right corner, watching over the room, and, I'm guessing, ready to assassinate Santa or something.


Bonus picture, I was just fooling around with my camera and I noticed that you can see me reflected in the ornament. All the time Sakura was nudging at my elbows trying to get on my lap. :D

I'll start looking for presents tomorrow. Best way to do it, walk around town, look at the shops, gather ideas. That's the spirit!

Upon re-reading my most recent entries I noticed I sounded as being either depressed by tv shows or feeling homicidal because of tv shows, so here, have a happy christmas entry to balance all of that.

Guest starring my cat, who'd like to point out that plastic xmas trees are very tasty and fun for all the family to munch on. :D


Got the tree out of the bags. Sakura gives her seal of approval. Dean Martin sings "oh the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful", and I politely make him notice that it's 20° C outside (that's 68° F). It is really hard to get into the xmas spirit when it's so warm I have two windows open since when I woke up, and I'm walking around in my pjs like it's september.


End result. The pointy thing on the top is always like that because my tree doesn't actually have a top, so I have to twist one of the branches to put that on top. If I used an angel, it would look like I hanged it. Jack Skellington would be proud of me, but I'm going for authenticity here. :D Notice Ezio Auditore in the top right corner, watching over the room, and, I'm guessing, ready to assassinate Santa or something.


Bonus picture, I was just fooling around with my camera and I noticed that you can see me reflected in the ornament. All the time Sakura was nudging at my elbows trying to get on my lap. :D

I'll start looking for presents tomorrow. Best way to do it, walk around town, look at the shops, gather ideas. That's the spirit!

Day 01 → Your favourite song
Day 02 → Your favourite movie
Day 03 → Your favourite television program
Day 04 → Your favourite book
Day 05 → Your favourite quote
Day 06 → Whatever tickles your fancy
Day 07 → A photo that makes you happy
Day 08 → A photo that makes you angry/sad
Day 09 → A photo you took
Day 10 → A photo of you taken over ten years ago
Day 11 → A photo of you taken recently
Day 12 → Whatever tickles your fancy
Day 13 → A fictional book
Day 14 → A non-fictional book
Day 15 → A fanfic
Day 16 → A song that makes you cry (or nearly)
Day 17 → An art piece (painting, drawing, sculpture, etc.)
Day 18 → Whatever tickles your fancy
Day 19 → A talent of yours
Day 20 → A hobby of yours
Day 21 → A recipe
Day 22 → A website
Day 23 → A YouTube video
Day 24 → Whatever tickles your fancy
Day 25 → Your day, in great detail
Day 26 → Your week, in great detail
Day 27 → This month, in great detail
Day 28 → This year, in great detail
Day 29 → Hopes, dreams and plans for the next 365 days
Day 30 → Whatever tickles your fancy



My favourite Xmas song, when we do it with our choir we always get an applause, even at 1 am. We don't use any bells though. ;)



Today's schedule: wondering why the hell am I awake at this hour, considering I came back from the Christmas concert at 2 am. Then, have lunch with my cousin and Tati. It's the first time I prepare Christmas lunch all by myself, so I made only things that we love, like Ravioli, Orange Salad and French Fries. It's going to be one tasty day. Then, cinema with all my friends, and we'll see that new Sherlock Holmes movie. Very tasty day, yum yum.

I just bought the last Christmas gift. I was sure I was going to end haunting the mall on the 24th, and instead, here I am! I only have to wrap them in colorful paper that doesn't have easter bunnies on it (yes, it happened. In my defense, they were tiny, and I thought they were cute ribbons...) and I'm done. Hurrah for me! \o/