.: so comes snow after fire :.

Let's see what happened these last few days, going backwards in time.

Yesterday Tati and I had dinner at her sister's. We had pizza and played the Game of Thrones board game. Last time I was a Lannister, and I won. This time Tati's sister was a Greyjoy, and she won. I was a Stark, but I was tired and sleepy, and got cornered in the North and stayed there pretty much the whole time. I came back home at 2 am, and today my brain feels like it's full of cotton. I'm too old for this shit, man. It was great fun, but next time it'll have to be before dinner.

In the afternoon Tati and I baked cookies, the same ones I made a couple of weeks ago, and this time we used tangerine powder instead of orange. It gives them a much more delicate flavour. This time around we counted them, and we made 100 cookies! Even so, they're not going to last long with me. :D

There was also the Merlin finale. I loved it. Yes, it was heartbreaking, but I think it gave a beautiful closure to a show that I loved but got lost many times during the years - mostly with Morgana and Gwen acting completely OOC because the writers had no idea what to do with them.

I watched the Doctor Who christmas special too. First, the things I loved: Madame Vastra and Jenny, the Sherlock Holmes references, the Tardis in the clouds. I didn't like Clara. Not because I don't like her character per se, just because she's the exact same carbon copy character we already had with River, Amy and Irene. It's getting beyond repetitive into the realm of "boring". Not to mention they do know how to make different female characters, just see what they did with Vastra! At this point I think it's just laziness, so I just shrug my shoulders and enjoy the story.

My aunt is at her parents' place, and sadly there aren't good news there. My grandparents are both getting worse with every new day, which isn't a suprise considering they're 90, but my aunt is obviously pretty affected. They are pretty much strangers to me, but I feel sorry for her.

Mom is doing fine, thankfully, while the rest of the ward is fighting the seasonal bugs. Even if we are having a warm winter, it is still to be expected. Me, I'm going back to the gym on the 3rd, which is the one thing that helps me the most to fight off the stupid viruses. ;)

Man, my circadian rhythm is really shot to hell. I should go and play the drums a while, to fight the sleepiness. I can't go to bed now, it's not even lunch time! So, so glad it's sunday. :D

Real life first, today I had my first therapy session in two weeks, I tried to talk faster than usual to squeeze in one hour all the things that had happened. And I'm already a fast talker. :D We decided to focus on the next few weeks on a couple of things, we'll see how it goes. *____*

Merlin is back! I spent the whole episode wondering how many years had passed, and then a certain character made his great entrance, and I realized it was a lot more years than I thought. No wonder Merlin looked so pissed off at everyone and eager of showing off he's a sorcerer. The poor guy looked one second away from hitting Arthur with a lightning bolt just to show him. After all the angsty scenarios I had in my mind for the big revelation, I now have a strong feeling it'll be a moment a-la Martin Crieff, "oh for god's sake, I'M the sorcerer! Look at my arm, look at my hat!". :D Speaking of which, everytime we had a shot of the guards in the cave, and Percival and Gwaine talking to each other, I shouted out "hey, you two! less yammering, more hoovering!". I'm easily amused. :D And kudos to whoever designed those prison uniforms. Yum yum yum.

Yesterday I finally watched Pirates, A Band of Misfits. Mostly because Martin Freeman did the dubbing of one of the pirates, and because I love stop-motion animation. And pirates. I especially adore pirates. It was lovely! The story was quite simple, but the british dry humour in every other line was unexpected and adorable. Highly recommended for an evening of snickering and giggling. :D

I finished The Sherlockian, and that's another recommendation, it was brilliant! I loved how it wasn't a shocking turn of the tables, but a slow, metodical build-up to the finale. I especially loved the Victorian characters, as they were incredibly realistic, from their time period, even with all the prejudices that a modern reader would find despicable in a good character. Well done indeed. *___*

Tomorrow my aunt will arrive. So what should I be doing? Cleaning up the house. Instead I'm bawling my eyes out because of that latest Merlin episode and planning on spending the rest of the day curled out in a ball on the couch eating french fries and listening to The National.

Seriously, when did this happen? First Merlin was that goofy happy show I'd watch to cheer myself up, and now it's turning into Supernatural. Kill every character and break our hearts in the process.

That's it! French fries it is!

I'd like to understand the way my brain works. I was up all night because of a horrible stomachache, and only around 9 am I managed to feel better. But now my brain has decided I'm all awake as if I had three cups of coffee. It's sunday morning. I could crawl back into bed and get a few hours of sleep, but oh no. Apparently I don't need sleep.

Anyway, this way I got to see Merlin before dawn, drinking hot tea and wearing two sweaters. My only coherent reaction to that episode? Holy crap. What's with all this plot? I'm used to good old Merlin, where nothing really happened and the status quo was always preserved, and now what the hell did just happen? This season is so grown up, I wasn't expecting that. I could even get used to Morgana's evil make-up.

Yesterday I finally went to the cinema to watch Arrietty! It's not like Porco Rosso where we had to wait twenty years for it to hit theaters in Italy, but it felt like a long wait anyway. It was amazing, but that's not a surprise. I love how every Studio Ghibli movie is completely different from the others. This one shares the same setting as My Neighbour Totoro, but it feels so different. More intimate, as if it was all set in a closed space, even when the characters are outside. It has a slow, relaxing pace that I've never seen before in a Ghibli movie. And the soundtrack is amazing.

What else? Even the Supernatural filler episodes this season are great, and I'm so glad I never watch trailers or read spoilers. I was so not expecting that character to come back. Such an heartbreaking scene.

And now I'll grab a cup of tea, wrap myself in a blanket and read for a while. Let's see if I'll manage to sleep a bit after lunch at least.

I'd like to understand the way my brain works. I was up all night because of a horrible stomachache, and only around 9 am I managed to feel better. But now my brain has decided I'm all awake as if I had three cups of coffee. It's sunday morning. I could crawl back into bed and get a few hours of sleep, but oh no. Apparently I don't need sleep.

Anyway, this way I got to see Merlin before dawn, drinking hot tea and wearing two sweaters. My only coherent reaction to that episode? Holy crap. What's with all this plot? I'm used to good old Merlin, where nothing really happened and the status quo was always preserved, and now what the hell did just happen? This season is so grown up, I wasn't expecting that. I could even get used to Morgana's evil make-up.

Yesterday I finally went to the cinema to watch Arrietty! It's not like Porco Rosso where we had to wait twenty years for it to hit theaters in Italy, but it felt like a long wait anyway. It was amazing, but that's not a surprise. I love how every Studio Ghibli movie is completely different from the others. This one shares the same setting as My Neighbour Totoro, but it feels so different. More intimate, as if it was all set in a closed space, even when the characters are outside. It has a slow, relaxing pace that I've never seen before in a Ghibli movie. And the soundtrack is amazing.

What else? Even the Supernatural filler episodes this season are great, and I'm so glad I never watch trailers or read spoilers. I was so not expecting that character to come back. Such an heartbreaking scene.

And now I'll grab a cup of tea, wrap myself in a blanket and read for a while. Let's see if I'll manage to sleep a bit after lunch at least.

Yesterday I should have gone and visit Tati. I was planning on spending the night there, then my cousin would join me in the morning and we would spend the day at the beach. What happened instead was, there was a bus strike, and I had to go back home. I was so pissed off, you have no idea. Anyway, I'm going back tomorrow, and I swear I'm getting there even if I have to walk the whole way.

Still watching the third season of Merlin, and everytime Morgana smirks I literally flinch. It's so annoying. I just can't buy this new version of her, it feels so out of character I would stop watching it if it weren't for the other characters. God I hope the dragon will eat her. And I hope Gwaine will come back soon, I loved how he seemed allergic to shirts. Fanservice, hurrah!

Yesterday my cousin watched Inception for the first time, and the whole experience was kind of hilarious. I sat down to watch it with her, but ten minutes into it my aunt called and I went to my room to talk to her. I lost track of time, until my cousin started yelling at the screen from the other room:

"What on earth... why are you going inside his dream?! You're violating his privacy! That's so fucked up... I can't believe you're going inside that room, he said no! I so hope she'll cut your stupid head! AND THERE SHE GOES! You're so dumb! I HATE YOU!"

So I yelled at her: "She has to go inside Dom's dream, otherwise the story won't proceed"

"But she's seeing private things, that's horrible, I HOPE SHE DIES TELL ME SHE DIES"

You know, I think she has a point. I never really cared for Ariadne, but what she did there was seven kinds of wrong, and I just realized it fully. Mmmh, next time I watch that scene I have a feeling I'll start screaming at Mal to kill Ariadne too.

Oh, I love lazy summer afternoons. My cousin is in the living room watching the extended edition of Avatar, since I teased her all morning with how beautiful it is, and much better than the short version, and you get to see future Earth too. I'm in my room and I just finished watching Source Code. It's the latest movie by Duncan Jones, who at first was the son of David Bowie, and then he was the director of Moon, and if you haven't seen Moon you should, right now. One of the best sci-fi movies ever, and you should see it even if you don't like sci-fi, it's that good.

Anyway, Source Code. What can I say? It was a great movie. Just like reading a Philip Dick novel, but less depressing. And a great, great performance by Jake Gyllenhaal, who's in literally every scene. I loved how they put the great reveal in the middle of the movie, so we wouldn't spend it all waiting for a big turning of the tables, and instead let us enjoy the ride. Great work. Having to choose, I still think Moon is better than this one, but hey, they're both beautiful movies, and this director is definitely a keeper.

Yesterday I started watching the third season of Merlin. At last. I had it waiting there since last december, and it was late night, I was wide awake, so I thought "what the hell". I only saw the first two episodes, and Morgana is so out of character it's unbelievable. Can't wait to see this Gwaine everyone's talking about though.

I also read the first Artemis Fowl book. Quite short, and yet I had to struggle to finish it. I don't know, it just never clicked, by the end I was skipping sentences without even noticing. Am I the only one who thinks this guy is Ciel Phantomhive from Kuroshitsuji? He's the same character, minor the abusive past. He even has a butler who's called Butler. It was eerie.

Other than that I found it really boring, so I'm definitely not going to read more books from this series. Oh well. Next on my list, The Once and Future King by T.H. White. A professor told me to read it back in University, and then I forgot about it, and then lately somebody in the X-Men fandom mentioned it's Magneto's and Professor X's favourite book (because they're so married they have the same favourite book), and I got this flashback of that sweet professor telling me to read it "because it's beautiful but it's nothing like the disney cartoon, here they don't sing".

Let's face it, everything is better with songs. Can you imagine Dean and Sam singing about demon hunting and feelings while sitting on the hood of the impala? I told you. Glorious.

Oh, I love lazy summer afternoons. My cousin is in the living room watching the extended edition of Avatar, since I teased her all morning with how beautiful it is, and much better than the short version, and you get to see future Earth too. I'm in my room and I just finished watching Source Code. It's the latest movie by Duncan Jones, who at first was the son of David Bowie, and then he was the director of Moon, and if you haven't seen Moon you should, right now. One of the best sci-fi movies ever, and you should see it even if you don't like sci-fi, it's that good.

Anyway, Source Code. What can I say? It was a great movie. Just like reading a Philip Dick novel, but less depressing. And a great, great performance by Jake Gyllenhaal, who's in literally every scene. I loved how they put the great reveal in the middle of the movie, so we wouldn't spend it all waiting for a big turning of the tables, and instead let us enjoy the ride. Great work. Having to choose, I still think Moon is better than this one, but hey, they're both beautiful movies, and this director is definitely a keeper.

Yesterday I started watching the third season of Merlin. At last. I had it waiting there since last december, and it was late night, I was wide awake, so I thought "what the hell". I only saw the first two episodes, and Morgana is so out of character it's unbelievable. Can't wait to see this Gwaine everyone's talking about though.

I also read the first Artemis Fowl book. Quite short, and yet I had to struggle to finish it. I don't know, it just never clicked, by the end I was skipping sentences without even noticing. Am I the only one who thinks this guy is Ciel Phantomhive from Kuroshitsuji? He's the same character, minor the abusive past. He even has a butler who's called Butler. It was eerie.

Other than that I found it really boring, so I'm definitely not going to read more books from this series. Oh well. Next on my list, The Once and Future King by T.H. White. A professor told me to read it back in University, and then I forgot about it, and then lately somebody in the X-Men fandom mentioned it's Magneto's and Professor X's favourite book (because they're so married they have the same favourite book), and I got this flashback of that sweet professor telling me to read it "because it's beautiful but it's nothing like the disney cartoon, here they don't sing".

Let's face it, everything is better with songs. Can you imagine Dean and Sam singing about demon hunting and feelings while sitting on the hood of the impala? I told you. Glorious.

So, to sum it up:


Best month ever. Not to mention that in the same week I'll get my Sherlock and Vampire Diaries blu-rays, my Supernatural 5th season dvds and blu-rays (the dvds are a gift to Shion), and my Supernatural 4th season companion guide. And it's my birthday on the 17th. Woot! \o/

On unrelated news, I'm in a Smiths phase again, and enjoying it a lot. They have the perfect songs to dance to while doing one's chores. :D

Because if it's not love, then it's the bomb
That will bring us together.

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

This is the book that's always on my nightstand, so it's the book I happen to quote the most.