karma drawn up in lines

do this last one, and then grow me some wine

2008-02-01T19:37:00.000+01:00

God. So tired.

If I never again see any mention of:
* contrastive grammar
* Puritans
* Great Awakening
* Emerson
* Thoreau
* Whitman
* naturalism
it will be too soon.

But I'm back home, and I can sit and stare at the computer screen and not feel guilty about it! Yay!

Also, either exhaustion has affected my sight, or I need better glasses. I'm sitting in the train compartment, and someone walks in.

They make a non-commital greeting noise.

I make a non-commital greeting noise. I notice it's a guy.

He puts his luggage on the shelves, sits down, gets out a paper. I sit and read.

Then I look up.

It's my friend's ex-boyfriend, whom we've travelled with on train a couple times before.

The rest is silence.

Now: back to staring at the screen!

NaNoWriMo07: the survivor's memoirs, vol. 2

2007-12-21T23:22:00.000+01:00

Since it's almost Christmas already, I might as well try to finish writing this up...

So, it's November the 1st, and I have the following:
* chapter-by-chapter outline of my story
* a map
* stylesheet with detailed notes on every chapter

In the morning of November 1st, I created a new MS Word document, entitled it "Totally Awesome NaNoNovel 2007", and typed the title of the first chapter - which I immediately added to my wordcount. Then I typed the first sentence, the next sentence, and so on, until I stopped to think - and to add those sentences to the wordcount. And... this is basically how my writing looked like. Typing, adding to wordcount, typing, adding to wordcount, etc. Even if I had only ten words written, I would still add them, look at how many words remained until the day goal, then added the next words - hopefully more this time - until I reached 1,666. And once I went past 1,666, I got the wind in my wings, and it usually felt pretty easy to get to 1,700, then to 1,800 - and when I had 1,800, I felt tempted to reach 2,000 (which I often did.)

Some things.

* It was always the most difficult to get myself to write every day. However, once I began to write, and began to add new words to the wordcount, I usually did pretty well.

* A good idea which I borrowed from somebody is to never finish writing with finishing a scene. I would try to write at least two paragraphs of the next scene - and then, on the following day, it would be much easier for me to pick up the thread.

* The first days, when I was still enthusiastic about the whole thing, are good for writing well above the wordcount, and writing a lot then actually makes it possible to write less later in the game. The weekends are also good for going over two, or even three thousands.

* Not writing anything on a given day, even if I'm above the goal - is not a very good idea. (It's what Vimes says in Thud! (paraphrasing): when you're five minutes late, you will make excuses to be ten, fifteen minutes late. When you have missed out one day, it will be more difficult to write on the next day, and so you will make excuses not to write.)

* Although, and let me be honest here, writing every day is not sunshine and roses - especially not when you have also a shitload of stuff to do for college. Personally, I just tried to finish all the college stuff before 8-9 pm, and then write - but to write every day, no matter how tired I felt.

* I do not edit, though mainly because besides getting to 50,000 words, I want to finish writing; and while editing can up my wordcount, it will stop me on my way to the finish.

* I try not to stop and think about some word, or a phrase - I just type the simplest thing that comes to mind, and resolve to take care of it later.

* At some point - 15,000 words? 20,000? - I stop to be able to have the whole thing in control. Before that, I know (more or less) what is going on, I recall some details, I take care of the style. Afterwards, I thank God for my outline, because without it I wouldn't know what to write. (This is also why I write chronologically; otherwise I would have no idea what to put my hands into at this point of writing.)

* Also, around 20,000 words the moment comes when I realize that the whole thing just sucks.

* And it probably kinda does suck. So 20,000 words is when I begin to repeat to myself, THIS IS JUST THE FIRST DRAFT. IT'S ALRIGHT. THE REVISIONS WILL MAKE IT BETTER.

* And so it goes until 50,000.

I guess that my conclusion, and advice for winning NaNo, would be: just write. Don't worry about the style, the vocabulary, the mistakes, the plotholes, whatever - just write. An outline may help, especially when you (as do I) see NaNoWriMo as an opportunity to write a story, a novel, that you would otherwise have no external motivation to finish. Slight falling behind is not the end of the world, though I prefer to stay above the word goal. And finishing is a lot of fun, even though it means that the dreaded EDITING days should be happening quite soon.

So. This would be about it. Thoughts? Comments? Questions?

Mmm. Sleepy.

2007-12-09T23:31:00.000+01:00

I went to see The Golden Compass today and I'm just underwhelmed. It's neither a good nor a bad movie, it just... sort of floates around. There are some pretty images, but all in all, my viewing experience looked like that:

*attempts to care*
*fails*
*drifts away for a moment*
*snaps back*
*attempts to care*
*fails*
etc.

Three things: one, dubbing sucks mightily, especially in case of the children, and Pantalaimon. Two, the Splitting Machine reminded me of the MRI of DOOOM in House. Three, there were some unintentionally very funny scenes, like Mrs Coulter's telling Lyra that she is her mother (hello, Star Wars), and Serafina Pekkala asking Lyra "which of the men on this ship was [meaningful pause] dear to me?".

Dakota Blue Richards and Nicole Kidman felt good, despite the dubbing, the rest of the cast failed to register on my radar that way or another.

Overall, a rather meh movie.

Yesterday I met , did "MY OBSESSION. Let me show you it" to her, interpreted The Labyrinth with her for a moment or two, and then went dancing with her and a bunch of other LJers. I had a lot of fun (and I hope I wasn't the only one).

Oh, and I also took the Swedex examination. I think it went ok, but we'll see in two months.

And how was your weekend?

Meet Leon

2007-12-06T22:41:00.000+01:00

I have (finally, finally) a new cellphone!

Leon is a Nokia 3110 Classic, and so far he's perfectly lovely and well-behaved. I put Chick Habit from closing credits of Death Proof onto him as my ringtone, and this icon is my wallpaper.

Originally I wanted another Nokia, but they didn't have in the store I went to, so I asked the sales assistant to help me pick out another one (I wanted mp3-ringtones support, and a good battery), and we arrived at this one.

He's Leon to keep in theme with my other possessions - the laptop is Louis, mp3 player is Lucian and pendrive, through Nanny Ogg logic, Eliot.

I had my previous cellphone for four-and-a-half year o_0

Other than that... meh. I'm overcome by a severe case of laziness, and I'd love to sleep my whole days sleeping. Unfortunately, I have an exam in Swedish on Saturday, so... shouldn't really sleep. Oh, the problems that life brings me ;)

NaNoWriMo07: the survivor's memoirs, vol. 1

2007-12-05T22:50:00.001+01:00

Here it is: the guide to surviving NaNoWriMo, part the first.

Writing a book begins, not very surprisingly, with having an idea.

Then we spend some time (in my case, almost two months) working on this idea, and on shaping and outlining the story.

Then November begins and we start to write, and we write, and write until we are finished.

EVERYBODY: Oh, sounds easy. So, we're meeting next November?

EVERYBODY: Wait. Two months?

Yeah. Two months.

Funny thing is, I actually came up with the idea for this year's book in July 2006. I spent some time on writing - I had about ten, maybe eleven scenes written down - but then I set it aside for the book of 2006.

I returned to my notebook in this year's July, read through the scenes that I had written, and realized that I had a big pile of crap on my hands. Or better yet: that I quite enjoyed some of the scenes, and some of the characters, but as a whole, the story made no sense. Oh, and it went nowhere, too.

So I took a pen, and on a new page of the notebook, I wrote more or less the following:

"okay, this sucks. [reasons for suckage]. So. Perhaps we should take it from another angle. Perhaps Daisy might actually [spoiler] instead of [spoiler]. And then [spoiler]." --- and so on, just very simple thoughts on how this idea of mine could be re-worked for it to actually work.

For a few days, I just wrote down everything that came to my mind - sometimes more coherent, longer ideas, like how the magic education worked, sometimes just loose thoughts, or titles of the chapters that I came up with. I didn't end up using every one of these things, and I changed quite a few of them on the way, but it's good to have them written down, because we are going to forget the details we've thought of two weeks ago.

At this point, I knew how the beginning would look like (more or less). I knew how the part-immediately-after-the-beginning would look like. I had some vague ideas of the ending. I slowly began to put it all into an outline. Again, it was very simple:

Chapter One. [Title]. [Character 1] does X.
Chapter Two. [Title]. [something]
Chapter Three. [Title] Daisy does Y.
and so on, figuring the details of the story as I went along.

Once I had the list of chapters, I decided to outline each of them separately, which looked more or less like that:

Chapter One

I would like to begin with... perhaps in several scenes from various points of time... The first scene might be ... The second might be ... - oh, and if [this is what happens], I know now why [the character is at a place where she is now].

So, again, it was more writing down thoughts and ideas than composing a novel. In most of the chapter outlines, I just related what I thought should take place at this point of the story - all in present tense, "she goes, she meets, she does this and that", and without too many details.

Of course, sometimes I got an idea for something that would have to happen in a later chapter, or a general world-building idea, but I wrote it down anyway, and just marked it with a highlighter so as to easily notice that particular passage when I would be looking through the notebook.

Somewhere on the way, I also drew a map. Now, I agree with Terry Pratchett that beginning a fantasy novel by drawing a map is kinda sad (paraphrasing, of course), but since I seem to have no ability of imagining things in space, and since I mess up east with west even when I do have a map, this was rather necessary for me. (And in the end, having the map helped me a lot, so the ten minutes devoted to its drawing were worth it.)

Once I had the chapter-by-chapter outline, I decided to make myself even more organized, and I made a big stylesheet to which I slowly transferred all essential information about the book. I had the following columns:
Chapter (of course)
POV (I later gave every person a different highlighter colour, which allowed me to see that Isabel should really appear in the story earlier than in the Chapter 10.)
Characters (list of characters in the chapter)
Events (just a list, no details)
Plot points (everything that moved the main storylines along)
Problems (things that at this moment seemed not to be working in a given chapter, or in the story itself).

All in all, I finished planning and outlining in the beginning of October.

Afterwards, I didn't work a lot on the book. I slowly began to come up with the names of the places - up until that moment, the three main countries functioned as X, Y and Z - and with names of characters that I didn't have yet. (I named the major players back in 2006, but there were some secondary characters that needed naming.) I spent some time thinking about plot holes, or about some of the characters, and figuring out their backstories - I didn't write down all of it, but if something seemed important, I did.

And then it was November 1st already.

to be continued!

[can't think of a quotation without swear words ;D]

2007-12-04T23:16:00.001+01:00

Just finished watching Death Proof.

It was really good.

Better yet, it was awesome.

Better yet, it was so awesome that it skyrocketed to the position of the second best movie I saw this year. (Spot #1 is occupied by The Prestige, which may be my favourite movie ever.)

So, what I want to say is:

AWESOME.

Also, Kurt Russell is creeepy.

My issues with advice on writing

2007-11-30T22:54:00.000+01:00

Before I even begin to share with you my wisdom on How To Survive NaNoWriMo, a few words on why I have problems with reading, and sometimes giving, writerly advice.

There is essentially one reason for this state of things, and it is, simply There is no one way how to write.

And since there is no one way how to write, there are - at least in my opinion - no definitive 'should's and 'should not's in writing, no 'always' and 'never'. Nobody can tell us how to write, and even if they are some kind of an authority to us - an accomplished writer, a friend with some writing experience - we should take their "you should"s with not only a grain, but a spoonful of salt.

Now, some seven-six years ago I was writing one of my Huge Epic Stories. I wrote it in chapters, rather slowly, about one chapter per month, but at first I only showed it to one person. Then, after some time, I decided to put it on my writing blog, and realized that the story would need some serious editing. First two chapters were okay, the third one already had been edited, I did something to chapter #4 - but the fifth one sucked, and sucked, and would not stop. Eventually I began to think about re-writing all of it, and I told my friend of this idea.

"Well," she said. "Re-writing is never a good idea."

Six (and a half) years later I'm baffled at what she meant, and whether she really believed it. But at that time, I took her words for granted - she had given me some good suggestions before - and only edited what I already had written, without trying any major changes. Today, I would open a new Word document and write a new version - and then I would try to choose between the two of them. Perhaps I would choose the first one, but at least I would be able to see if the other version worked.

That is not to say that every story needs re-writing. Editing, sometimes heavy, yes. Re-writing, no. If I have a feeling that re-writing might work, why not? It's not as if I was deleting, or over-writing the first document. I can still return to the first version, if I want to.

Still, when I see someone saying 'you should do this and that'... Um, no. The only thing you should do is write. How you do it is completely up to you.

Another thing connected with "there is no one way how to write" is the fact that what works for someone else does not have to work for you.

I used to have this other friend, who would write, and write, and write, and write. She wrote thousands of pages a year: journals, blogs, letters, stories. At the time, I stared, and envied, looked at my own feeble notebook, and tried to write more myself, utilize all spare time - which didn't quite work out. I have some leftover story-beginnings from that period, which feel kinda strained; however, the things I came up with, and wrote in the usual bit-at-a-time, when-inspiration-hits way, were all right.

Sometimes, of course, someone shares with you a piece of advice that you will find helpful; and, also obviously, trying out new things is never a bad idea.

So, what I'm trying to say is: when you read about my NaNoWriMo experience, and it inspires you to change your writing ways - you're very welcome, and I'll be happy to have helped. However, if you find my advice completely strange and unhelpful to you - it's all right. It will describe only one of the ways how to write, after all.

Not enough headdesk in the world.

2007-11-29T22:51:00.000+01:00

Today I took a train from Uni!City to Home!Town.

The journey went surprisingly smoothly - we even set out on time, despite all the other trains being late - until, at some point halfway between Uni!City and Home!Town --

WHAM!

BAM!

Thank you, Ma'am.

...in other words, I heard a noise like the train ran over something, we began to slow down, and then stopped. There was a smell like something was burning, the lights went off for a moment - and we were in the middle of nowhere. In pitch dark. Lovely.

It turned out that we *did* run over something - people were saying that it was a cow - and that the train wouldn't be able to move anymore. Still lovely.

We spent about half an hour in that middle of nowhere, with the staff avoiding answering all questions, and then another train came and picked us up. And then we got a third train to Home!Town.

In the end, I was home not even an hour late, but still - being in the middle of nowhere with a bunch of unknown people isn't exactly my idea of fun. Especially when it's dark outside and it's quickly getting cold inside.

And now going to sleep, because my flatmates accidentally woke me up at 5 am.

PS. gave me one of the best Christmas presents, ever. ♥

Real Life, revisited

2007-11-27T22:56:00.001+01:00

Um. Two days after finishing nano I had my first dream set in the novel-world. I hope this isn't the novel calling me back for more writing, because right now I really, really don't have time.

In Real Life, I'm busying myself with the following:

reading. (I read about 30 chapters of Moby Dick when Melville suddenly switched from honest-to-God adventure novel to some... well, weird shit. So I switched from honest-to-God reading to sparknotes. And now I actually have almost two weeks off from reading, because it turns out that MD is for next week, and I'm not going to go through it again. So: pleasure reading! Yay!)
studying. (translation, communication, Swedish, Swedish communication, Swedish grammar, and that's not the end of the list)
sleeping too little. (needs no explanation)

Oh, and also with TV series, but they are borderline not-Real Life.

I don't think I've mentioned it, but I talked to Dr Awesome about my BoA thesis, and she thinks that madness in Bronte's Jane Eyre and Villette is a good topic, so... madness in Bronte's novels it is! Yay! I've been fascinated with the Brontes for years now, so the writing shouldn't be very difficult - at least in terms of my getting bored.

(The new icon is brought to you by the ever-so-lovely (♥) and my being geeky enough to see Jane Eyre/Bertha in the Tori Amos picture from the article mentioned on Undented. Yes, it's going to be my default BoA-thesis-writing-icon, why do you ask? :P )

NaNoWri... oh wait. Novel Writing, Day 25

2007-11-25T23:56:00.001+01:00

The book is finished - 56,003 words, 23 chapters, 4 POV characters.

Thank you for all support and warm wishes - I'll get to replying to your comments individually tomorrow :) ♥

I *will* try to write an entry about NaNo - why I tried it, and how I managed to win - but not right now. Right now I'm celebrating :D

NaNoWriMo, Day 24

2007-11-24T23:51:00.000+01:00

NaNoWriMo, Day 23

2007-11-23T23:51:00.001+01:00

Chapter #19 - the one I've been writing for the past two days - wound up at 4,007 words long. Still six chapter to go o_0

NaNoWriMo, Day 22

2007-11-22T23:47:00.001+01:00

...the end of NaNo is almost at hand; the end of the book? Somewhere at the horizon.

NaNoWriMo, Day 22

2007-11-21T23:22:00.000+01:00

Seven chapters left, if my counting's not off. Ahahaha wtf.

NaNoWriMo, Day 20

2007-11-20T23:19:00.000+01:00

Aaaand we're getting closer and closer to the denouement!

NaNoWriMo, Day 19

2007-11-19T23:21:00.000+01:00

I don't know why, but getting up at 5.30 am seems to decrease my word count. *ponders*

NaNoWriMo, Day 18

2007-11-18T22:21:00.000+01:00

I wonder if I'll be able to close the book in 50,000 words -- there are some rather complicated chapters on the way, so it doesn't seem very likely.

Another thing is whether I'll manage to finish it once I'm past the NaNo goal and there will be no more pasting wordcount on the NaNo page and seeing the progress bar going further and further right. Hmm.

Wish me luck, anyway.

NaNoWriMo, Day 17

2007-11-17T22:55:00.000+01:00

Writing so much, or perhaps writing so much in the first person POV, makes me all hyper.

I'm going to finish that POV before I go to bed, so... yeah. To be updated.

NaNoWriMo, Day 16

2007-11-16T22:58:00.000+01:00

Not yet done for today - watch for ETA.

NaNoWriMo, Day 15

2007-11-15T22:56:00.000+01:00

...and still writing.

NaNoWriMo, Day 14

2007-11-14T23:19:00.000+01:00

Today on philosophy we had Plato, and for the first time the lecturer actually got verry abstract - and so I zoned out and began to come up with mythology for the NNWM Novel. I've had some elements of it before, but now it's shaping up as a story of its own.

Saw House and Bones.

And wrote me a tiny wee Bones [Booth/Bones, to be precise] drabble here. Go read. As I've said: it's TINY. But kinda awesome.

NaNoWriMo, Day 13

2007-11-13T23:08:00.001+01:00

That would be 1,820 words today! *is proud*

The weather this week is made of pure evil. It's cold, either grey or dark, and it rains. Or rains and snows. Makes me want to curl under covers and not go out until spring.

The History of English Language lecture is a complete waste of my time, and I think I won't be attending it any more.

Going home in two days - omg yay :)

NaNoWriMo, Day 12

2007-11-12T22:43:00.000+01:00

Back on track, I hope. Most of the world- and background-building is done, now I will finally have some action happening.

*

In real life news:

Translation is pure evil.

Today's Desperate Housewives were kinda meh, but there was a character played by Down With Love's Vikki - Vikki! Come back for more!

Handsome men should not be intelligent. - [tm]

The messengar doesn't work, and when it does, it's only for a few minutes at a time.

Am very, very sleepy.

NaNoWriMo, Day 11

2007-11-11T23:09:00.000+01:00

Let's blame yesterday's lack of update and the slight falling behind on 's visit, shall we? ;)

NaNoWriMo, Day 9

2007-11-09T23:43:00.001+01:00

Which is kinda awesome.

NaNoWriMo, Day 8

2007-11-08T23:19:00.000+01:00

A long of descriptions today...

NaNoWriMo, Day 7

2007-11-07T23:07:00.001+01:00

16,002, and I will ETA the meter in the morning, or tomorrow afternoon.

NaNoWriMo, Day 6

2007-11-06T22:56:00.001+01:00

*is proud*

*falls over asleep*

NaNoWriMo, Day 5

2007-11-05T23:04:00.001+01:00

Praise the Lord, it's 1,680 words for today, another chapter finished, and I'm going to bed as soon as I hit 'post entry'.

NaNoWriMo, Day 4

2007-11-04T21:44:00.000+01:00

That makes it 2,575 words today. Tomorrow, I'll be happy if I manage to hit the customary NaNo goal of 1,666 - I have classes until 6.15 p.m., and then will have to look into some vocabulary and reading for Tuesday, as well as read a bit of Lady Oracle.

I have 5 chapters completed, and the main character is close to getting to the Main Location.

NaNoWriMo, Day 3

2007-11-03T22:54:00.000+01:00

In case you wondered, this is completely and utterly awesome - and I'm going to write a few more words after I have posted this.

(The key seem to be to begin early in the day, write a scene, take a break to do other things, come back in the afternoon, write a scene, take a break, and in the evening just sit down and write.)

Also, I'm slowly getting closer to the part of the book that should be actually fun to write, when everybody will know each other, and the exposition will have been dealt with.

NaNoWriMo, Day 2

2007-11-02T22:40:00.000+01:00

Less than yesterday, but still a very good pace - especially since I had to come up with names for seventeen (17) islands on the fly.

Two chapters completed, and I'm beginning the third, when the main character is finally introduced.

NaNo, Day 1: the final count

2007-11-01T22:47:00.000+01:00

3023, and four scenes completed

NaNoWriMo, day 1

2007-11-01T12:20:00.000+01:00

First thousand!

An announcement

2007-10-31T22:16:00.000+01:00

Yep, you guessed correctly: RL has been eating me alive. Lots of classes, lectures, various stuff to do.

Anyway, NaNoWriMo is starting in about 50 minutes, and I'm taking part in it again. This year, I'm going to post daily updates of my wordcount here, so be prepared for a lot of cutesy graphs, and for some more whining.

Also, I think I'll have to put some TV series on hold for November - or at least, stop watching them on weekdays, because I really won't have time for college stuff AND NaNo AND TV.

I wish you all a good November! :)

*takes out her notes, and gets ready for hour 0*

the gigantic tv meme

2007-10-14T22:03:00.001+02:00

snagged from

Italicise the shows you've seen at least three episodes of.
Bold the shows you've seen all or almost all the episodes of.
Strike the ones you disliked.
*Place an asterisk next to the ones you own (in any form :P).
Place a ♥ next to the ones you love.

21 Jump Street
24
7th Heaven
8 Simple Rules
Adam-12
Aeon Flux
Airwolf
ALF
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Alias
American Idol/Pop Idol/Canadian Idol/Australian Idol/etc.
America’s Next Top Model
Angel
Are You Afraid of the Dark?
Arrested Development* ♥
Babylon 5
Babylon 5: Crusade
Battlestar Galactica (the old one)
Battlestar Galactica(the new one)
Baywatch
Beavis & Butthead
Beauty and the Beast
Beverly Hills 90210
Blackadder* ♥
Bonanza
Bones* ♥
Bosom Buddies
Boston Public
Boy Meets World
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Bug Juice
Caitlin’s Way
Chappelle’s Show
Charlie’s Angels
Charmed
Cheers
Clarissa Explains It All
Columbo
Commander in Chief
Coupling
Cowboy Bebop*
Crossing Jordan
CSI
CSI: Miami
CSI: NY
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Dallas
Dancing with the Stars
Danny Phantom
Dark Angel
Dark Shadows
Dark Skies
Davinci’s Inquest
Dawson’s Creek
Dead Like Me
Deadwood
Degrassi: The Next Generation
Designing Women
Desperate Housewives
Dharma & Greg
Dinosaurs
Different Strokes
Dirty Jobs
Doctor Who (1963)
Doctor Who (2005)
Dragnet
Due South
Earth 2
Emergency!
Entourage
ER
Everwood
Everybody Loves Raymond
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
Facts of Life
Family Guy
Family Ties
Farscape
Father Ted
Fawlty Towers
Felicity
Firefly
Flash Forward
Forever Knight
Fraggle Rock
Frasier
Freaks and Geeks
Friday Night Lights
Friends
Futurama
Get Smart
Gilligan’s Island
Gilmore Girls
Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.
Greek
Green Wing
Grey’s Anatomy
Growing Pains
Gunsmoke
Hannah Montana
Happy Days
Hardcastle & McCormick
Heroes
Highlander
Highlander: The Raven
Hogan’s Heroes
Hillstreet Blues
Home Improvement
Homicide: Life on the Street
House* ♥
I Dream of Jeannie
I Love Lucy
Instant Star
Inuyasha
Invader Zim
Invasion
JAG
Jackass
Joey
John Doe
Just Shoot Me
Keen Eddie
Knight Rider
LA Law
Laverne and Shirley
Law & Order: SVU
Lexx
Life on Mars
Life With Derek
Little House on the Prairie
Lizzie McGuire
Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman
Lost
Lost in Space
Love, American Style
M*A*S*H
MacGyver
Magnum PI
Malcolm in the Middle
Mama’s Family
The Man from U.N.C.L.E
Married... With Children
Melrose Place
MI:5
Miami Vice (I think...)
Millennium
Miracles
Mission: Impossible
Monk
Mork & Mindy
Murphy Brown
My Life as a Dog
My Name is Earl
My So-Called Life
My Super Sweet 16
My Three Sons
My Two Dads
News Radio
NCIS
Nip/Tuck
North Shore
Numb3rs
One Tree Hill
Oz
Perry Mason
Phil of the Future
Pokemon
Power Rangers
Prison Break
Profiler
Project Runway
Psych
Quantum Leap
Queer As Folk (US)
Queer as Folk (UK)
Red Dwarf
ReGenesis
Relic Hunter
Remington Steele
Rocco’s Modern Life
Rescue Me
Road Rules
Robotech
ROME* ♥
Roseanne
Roswell
Salute Your Shorts
Saved by the Bell
Scarecrow and Mrs King
Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?
Scrubs
Seinfeld
Sex and the City
Six Feet Under
Skins
Sliders
Slings and Arrows
Smallville
So Weird
South Park
Spaced
Spongebob Squarepants
Sports Night
Star Trek
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Star Trek: Voyager
Star Trek: Enterprise
Stargate Atlantis
Stargate SG-1
Superman
Supernatural
Surface
Survivor
Taxi
Teen Titans
That 70’s Show
That’s So Raven
The 4400
The Addams Family
The Adventures of Pete and Pete
The Andy Griffith Show
The Apprentice
The A-Team
The Avengers
The Beverly Hillbillies
The Bionic Woman
The Brady Bunch
The Cosby Show
The Daily Show
The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd
The Dead Zone
The Dick Van Dyke Show
The Dresden Files
The Famous Jet Jackson
The Flintstones
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
The Golden Girls
The Honeymooners
The Invisible Man
The Jeffersons
The Jetsons
The L Word
The Love Boat
The Lucille Ball Show
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
The Mighty Boosh
The Monkees
The Munsters
The Muppet Show
The Mythbusters
The O.C.
The Office (UK)
The Office (US)
The Outer Limits
The Pretender
The Real World
The Sentinel
The Shield
The Simpsons
The Six Million Dollar Man
The Sopranos
The Suite Life of Zack and Cody
3rd Rock from the Sun
Third Watch
Three’s Company
Top Gear
Torchwood
Touched by an Angel
The Twilight Zone
Twin Peaks
Twitch City
Two and A Half Men
Ugly Betty* ♥
Veronica Mars * first two seasons ♥
The Vicar of Dibley
The Waltons
The West Wing
Whose Line is it Anyway? (US)
Whose Line is it Anyway? (UK)
Will and Grace
Wings
Wiseguy
Without a Trace
WKRP in Cincinnati
Wonder Woman
The Wonder Years
The X-Files
Xena: Warrior Princess

go and catch a falling star

2007-10-12T17:04:00.001+02:00

The following is Wednesday entry that I was unable to post:

I'm having net troubles - nothing but the messenger works -, so here's to hoping that semagic will be able to post this entry.

Today was awfully cold - almost freezing, in fact. As I mentioned before, I'm taking trams this year, so the cold didn't bother me so much in the morning, but when I left college, and went with K. to a shop...

ME: Gosh. So cold.
K: *teeth clattering*
ME: Cold cold.

The classes:

History of English language - I choose to reserve judgement on that one. I had one moment of thinking 'this is going to suck so much', but then again, I had another one of 'wow, awesome'. So we'll see. This is one of the subjects I'm interested in, so I'd rather it was awesome ;)

History of Swedish literature (a lecture) - doesn't sound too exciting.

Oh, and there is a scheduling snafu: the web page doesn't list a lot of people as belonging to the English Lectures group. Fortunately, most of the lectures begin next week, but we did miss one - History of Philosophy - already. *shakes head*

Yesterday (Thursday) - only Swedish grammar, and I don't suppose it will be much different than last year and the year before...

Today I went to see Stardust, which was really good. Young Dunstan! I cannot wait for him as Prince Caspian. Tristan looked adorably dorky.

I enjoyed most of the movie, with two exceptions. Firstly, Claire Danes. She was all right in some scenes, but in others she bugged the hell out of me. And secondly, Captain Shakespeare wtf? I mean... I don't mind changes to the story, as long as they don't feel out of place, but Captain Shakespeare did feel out of place. (And I thought so at the 'Awesome! England! Tell me everything!' moment already.) At least imo.

But I really liked that Dunstan and Una got together in the end. And the crater when Yvaine fell! I don't even remember if there was one in the book? Also: the Witches' castle itself seemed to be located in a very old crater, which actually made a lot of sense...

They showed the trailer for The Golden Compass before the movie and it actually looks awesome - and I'm saying it despite the fact that I'm not all that fond of His Dark Materials. However, the trailer for The Dark is Rising - which I love - was almost painful to watch. Can I fly? Oooh, that's a really important question. *le sigh*

the king of the mountain (so sleepy zzz)

2007-10-09T20:37:00.000+02:00

Today:

The history of American literature - pretty much meh.

Communication - it seems that we will have regular tests and presentations, which is great: last year, the test 'didn't count' and we had about one proper presentation. And so, the classes were a bit of a waste of time.

We have the full schedule, and... no lectures wtf?

Life, continued.

2007-10-08T20:53:00.001+02:00

Had my first classes today. Still no word on the full schedule, though Dr Awesome says she's going to have American Literature Lectures with us every other week.

Anyway, the classes:

Translation - was rather meh. Just general introduction, and then some sight interpreting. What's more important is that, to my great surprise, the majority of the previous year's group made it to the third year. Oh joy.

The Seminar - it seems that these will be good times :) There were thirteen people, all of which claim to like reading, and Dr Awesome sounds seriously awesome. (I probably will elaborate in the future.)

Then we had a Lecture, which turned out to be about history of the cinema and film. Random much? It's compulsory students who attend literature/culture seminars; others presumably have lectures on topics related to their seminar fields. Methinks it's just a way to get us some more credits before we leave the college.

Overall, a rather good day, and I managed to take care of some things that needed taking care of (ie, my coat and my watch) in between the classes.

And tram lines dropping me almost by mine and college's door are ♥

What do you know, I do have a life. (Sometimes.)

2007-10-06T23:45:00.001+02:00

A TV-free post!

01) I got into the literature seminary/ BoA-thesis-writing group I had dreamed of. The first classes are on Monday. Truth be told, at this point I'm torn between "omg! too awesome for words" and "oh God, what was I thinking. LITERATURE? The culture group focusing on TV would've been better". Why? Well, while I love reading, I have my issues with discussing what I've read. But well, we'll see on Monday.

02) The cold is gone! But the cough is still here.

03) I finished outlining the NaNo07Book. Moreover, I created a gigantic stylesheet, in which I put down chapters, events, characters, POVs, locations, etc, etc. Now I only have to come up with location names and I'm good to go! And if I figure out how to de-lame the plot before Nov the 1st, all the better for me. (It's the first time I have chapters! This planning-the-story part excites me ridiculously.)

04) Tomorrow I'm leaving for Uni!City. With five (5) bags. *facepalm* (Well, in my defence, a) My parents are driving me there, so I'm making use of the car; b) I could make it four bags, but they would've been very, very heavy.)

05) Oh, autumn, how I missed you. [/sarcasm]

06) Something's been eating my socks. I had many more than just six wearable pairs! Even with the two or three still in the laundry-basket, I should have at least fourteen. *eyes laundry basket suspiciously*

07) My college schedule looks suspiciously workload-free. I suspect some heavy changes in the next couple of weeks, after which I will never be able to leave the college building again.

08) Earlier this week, Windows Media Player went on an unexplicable strike. I would switch it on, and it might even play me a song, but then it'd s.l.o.w. everything down. So I switched to winamp, which I don't like (winamp's media library is a total mess). And then today I was ripping a cd for my Mum, and suddenly WMP started to work properly again. Aww, my darling. Never leave me again! *snuggles*

09) I had an odd dream some two or three days ago: I was happily married to a really cute guy. And then my lovely husband went and poisoned me. In a very sweet and tender way. (Yes, it was the dying-of-poisoning bit that felt really sweet and made me go 'aww'. No, I don't understand either.)

10) Goodnight - I'm getting up early tomorrow.

Verily, being a vampire sucks.

2007-09-30T12:26:00.001+02:00

I watched series premiere of Moonlight and boy, oh boy, was it BAD.

Truth be told, it was even worse : it was boring and generic. Around seven minute mark I tuned out and began to read one of Dexter recaps at TWOP instead.

Vampires blah blah secretive blah blood blah. Murder danger blah save damsel in distress blah.

Special effects - sniffing the air, irises changing colour when a vampire was about to strike, Mick's fight with his wife - so bad they made me laugh. (The one thing I remotely liked was sleeping in the freezer; I've never heard of that one before.)

And Jason Dohring's character is, unfortunately, just Logan 2.0, and he only appeared in two brief scenes. Thank you, no.

Definitely not watching rest of the season.

New tv season! Yay!

2007-09-27T11:28:00.001+02:00

The new tv season is upon us, which means that summer is definitely over. Weird. I only managed to get sucked into ~~two~~ three! Big Love! new tv series over the holidays - and I had those big plans for watching Twin Peaks and West Wing, but I never got around to actually doing it... Anyway. This autumn, on my plate:

* Bones
* House
* Ugly Betty
* Dexter
* Moonlight - the new series in which Jason Dohring is staring; I'm going to watch the pilot, and maybe the second episode, and see if it's any good
* Desperate Housewives?... I watched the first six episodes yesterday, and I have to admit I enjoyed them way more than I expected to. (And I adore Lynette.) However, I will first have to go through the remaining 60+ episodes to decide whether I want to watch season four.

Yesterday, it was Bones/House day. Two excellent episodes.

Bones: The skull? The most perfect season-beginning visual ever.

Zach is staying! Woo! Bones has Booth-related issues! Duh. Hodgie has... shaved... Omgwtfpolarbear.

House: Oh, I loved the guitar-napping plot so much. And Wilson's "Not the season finale!". And bouncing ideas off janitor. And memo-war. And I can't wait to see The Longest Job Interview, Ever. Oh, House, you rock so much.

Tomorrow: Betty.

I love the smell of testosterone in the morning!

2007-09-25T23:24:00.000+02:00

I finished watching Big love.

And I'm honestly not sure what I think. It was certainly interesting to watch, but... But but.

Part of my problem is that until season two, I only liked one character: Sarah, who doesn't have a lot of screentime. I didn't suddenly start loving everyone is season two, but it certainly helped me get behind motivations of characters such as Roman, Nicki and Adaleen, and made me root for some of them.

Another part of the problem is what I consider a weird plot-progression. At the beginning, Roman is blackmailing Bill into giving him [Roman] money, and we root for Bill. But several episodes later, when Bill has a chance to end his troubles with Roman, he launches into a private vendetta instead, and makes everyone (or me, at least), go WTF. I honestly expected Bill to try and achieve peace, for his and his family's sake (and also Roman to continue with other hijinxes aimed at Bill), but no, he wants to enact revenge. Wtf, I say.

And this is not the end of problems with Bill, whom I completely and utterly despise. In many ways I believe Bill to be even worse than Roman. Why? Well, while both consider themselves morally superior to the others, Roman is at least officially a prophet and a leader of a community, whom everyone in the said community expects to make decisions for them, while our dear Mr. Henrickson acts like his wives were equal partners in the marriage - they have votings and whatnot on important decisions - but in the end, he makes clear that it is his voice that matters. (See: Bill's remark to Don that "[His wives] think that marriage is a democracy" -- well, dear, who made them think so? Certainly not Roman.) Also, Bill is just so stupid in his decision-making. He never knows where to stop, does not think ahead more than one step at the time*, and then is surprised when everything goes whoowee - and never stops considering himself the good guy. (My double standards, let me show you them.) And exacts his stupidness and general "Me penis! I rule!" in the name of religion. AAAAAAH.

I really pity his wives. I vote for Nicki to launch on a Kill Bill mission, for Margene to run away with Brynn (a little femmeslash never hurt anyone) and set up a bakery in Oregon, and for Barb to start working in some social organisation that will help her channel her 'save-the-world' needs into something good.

So, did I enjoy watching Big love? I did. Do I like it? I'm not sure. Will I watch the third season? I most certainly will. What do you know, perhaps Nicki WILL kill Bill!

*as noted by someone on televisionwithoutpity boards

meme after lunch

2007-09-24T13:12:00.000+02:00

(found at www.pajiba.com )

1) If you life were a movie, what would it be?
2) In a movie of your life, who would star?
3) What would the theme song be?

1) Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - of course, not exactly ESotSM, but something along these lines: a little fucked-up, in some moments sweet, and with random quotes thrown in for additional fun
2) Emily Blunt
3) Neko Case Hold On, Hold On, though Tori Amos' album To Venus and Back would also be a perfect soundtrack.

In other news, the lovely cold and headaches that I complained about last week turned out to be hay fever. Yes. In September. *headdesk*

meme in the morning

2007-09-23T11:33:00.001+02:00

Your home is a

Magic Muse's Castle

Your kitchen is manned by a team of Keebler Drow Elves. There's a Chocolatessen, which is rapidly becoming your favorite room of the house. Having one is also becoming a trend among your wealthy neighbors. Your master bedroom is decorated to look like the treetop village of the Galadhrim. Your study has every fantasy novel ever written, including multiple editions of the Silmarillion and advance copies of Dungeons and Dragons Fifth Edition. One of your garages holds your collection of ferraris, and is measured in acreage.

Your home also includes a roost for griffons. You've never actually seen a griffon, but you keep the roost ready anyway. Your guests enjoy your home theater with hi-def plasma screen TV, and the thrones you watch it from. Outside is the moat that protects your home from goblin invaders* and extended family.

And, you have a pet -- a unicorn named "Shadowhooves".

Below is a snippet of the blueprints:

Find YOUR Dream Home!

* omg lol XD

Finished season one of Big love. My favourite character is Sarah, and it's a pity there isn't more of her. Maybe in season two? (Which I'll most probably begin today.)

what, another TV series?

2007-09-21T16:10:00.001+02:00

...yep, I've just watched the pilot episode of Big Love (thanks, ! ♥)

Let me just say: Man, does Chloe Sevigny piss me off and have it out of the way.

Now: recap on TWOP. Afterwards: episode two? Why not? :)

looks like the summer is over

2007-09-19T19:46:00.000+02:00

01. The autumn is upon us - it's windy and cold, and the trees are already turning gold and red. And as usual, I feel cheated that the summer was so short and that I got so little out of it.

02. For the past few days, I've been having this awful headaches - I don't know if it's a) weather b) PMS c) the fact that, almost daily, I'm woken at 6 a.m. by Nephew's delightful voice, and then struggle to fall asleep again d) combination thereof e) something different, but me not likey.

03. I finished re-reading Martin's A song of ice and fire and it's even more awesome that I remembered.

04. I also finished watching Bones, and I can't wait for the new season. Yep. It's that good. (An additional source of delight: imagining how Bones and Booth would tear FBI!Veronica Mars apart. I'm almost wishing for a cross-over.)

05. Tomorrow is leaving for the UK. Best of luck, dear - autumn weekends will be boring without you ~~and your insane Japanese music videos~~ :)

06. Can't think fo anything more to say... Brain damage from... autumn, I guess. Also: see #02.

or that some friends just change like the seasons

2007-09-13T22:19:00.001+02:00

1. Go to http://www.careercruising.com/.
2. Put in Username: nycareers, Password: landmark.
3. Take their "Career Matchmaker" questions.
4. Post the top umpty results

1. Multimedia Developer
2. Website Designer
3. Desktop Publisher
4. Cartoonist / Comic Illustrator
5. Animator
6. Video Game Developer
7. Computer Animator
8. Writer
9. Activist
10. Political Aide
11. Critic
12. Graphic Designer
13. Artist
14. Translator
15. Market Research Analyst

I took a trip on a Gemini spaceship

2007-09-04T19:59:00.001+02:00

I'm back. *waves*

Well, I've been back since Friday, but I couldn't force myself to write an entry *facepalm*.

The holidays were as holidays are: some things were great, and some... weren't that great. I actually came back a day early because I got sick, and falling asleep in museums and on Cracow streets ain't no fun.

I may post some pictures in the future if I can get them from M's digicam :)

I may also post a more detailed account, but... don't count on it too much -_- I don't see myself being very productive in the next few weeks (apart from my new NaNoWriMo project, that is.)

suitcase packed

2007-08-24T11:04:00.000+02:00

I'm leaving for the mountains in a few hours (my first proper holidays in three years! whee!) and I shouldn't be back until next Saturday. :)

a little grace and some elegance

2007-08-18T23:01:00.001+02:00

I watched The Devil's Advocate today - for the first time in about six years. It didn't really do anything for me - because a) for some reason I cannot stomach Keanu Reeves in more serious movies, b) Charlize Theron got on my nerves c) Al Pacino's Lucifer was a bit too crazy for me, with the crazy laughter and all that jazz. I vastly prefer The Sandman's Lucifer (though the two of them would actually agree on the I've never made any of them do anything matter. Hm.)

But now, a writing meme that I spotted at 's a long time ago.

1. Do you outline?
I do, for the longer stories. It saves a lot of trouble while writing (especially when it's NaNoWriMo we're talking about and what you have to do once November hits is write write write without a stop.) With the shorter stories, I only try to keep in mind the general direction in which I want the story to go, and then make up stuff as I go along.

2. Do you write straight through, or do you sometimes tackle the scenes out of order?
I begin by writing whatever scenes spring to mind - usually something from the beginning, something from the middle, then I write down some ideas for scenes, then I try to figure out the ending. Then I outline. And once the outline is finished, I try to write straight through.

3. Do you prefer writing with a pen or using a computer?
It depends; I prefer outlining and making early drafts with a pen. But then again, I type faster than I write, so I type the longer stories on my pc - it saves time.

4. Do you prefer writing in first person or third?
Third.

5. Do you listen to music while you write?
I do, but I often tune it out.

6. How do you come up with the perfect names for your characters?
The "perfect" names just appear in my mind; I have to struggle to come up with the rest of them.

7. When you're writing, do you ever imagine your story as a television show or movie?
Always, and my stories would make much more sense on the screen!

8. Have you ever had a character insist on doing something you really didn't want him/her to do?
Not really, no. I guess I just start out with quite clear ideas of what my characters are capable of.

9. Do you know how a book is going to end when you start it?
I don't know the end at the moment of starting, but I try to figure it out before I get into more detailed outlining/drafting.

10. Where do you write?
At my computer; in front of my computer; at my desk; on my bed.

11. What do you do when you get writer's block?
Try to write my way around it, for instance by focusing on mechanics of the story [character motivations etc.].

12. What size increments do you write in (either in terms of wordcount, or as a percentage of the fic as a whole)?
Unless I'm doing NaNo, I don't really set myself any size-goals - the idea is to write something every day.

13. How many different drafts did you write for your last project?
Three + some minor corrections.

14. Have you ever changed a character's name midway through a draft?
I've changed character's name after four years of writing. 'Nuff said.

15. Do you let anyone read your story while you're working on it, or do you wait until you've completed a draft before letting someone else see it?
I wait until I'm finished.

16. What do you do to celebrate when you finish a draft?
Nothing.

17. One project at a time, or multiple projects at once?
One, I have difficulties switching from one story to another.

18. Do your stories grow or shrink in revision?
They grow; for example, the latest one grew from 5,000 to almost 8,500 words. It's because I usually leave out a lot of descriptions or transitions in dialogues when I'm writing the first draft, and then I add it on.

19. Do you have any writing or critique partners?
Unfortunately not.

20. Do you prefer drafting or revising?
Drafting. I absolutely detest revising; it consists mostly of "How could I write this? And this? And this? THIS STORY SUCKS!" . For Do the Goblins... I was pretending that I was only re-typing the story, not actually revising it.

You're on Tokyo time, woman!

2007-08-17T23:40:00.001+02:00

01. My lovely Wadera woke me up at 2 am, demanding to be walked out - second night in the row. I got up and put a shirt and trousers over my pjs, but before I made it through the door, Mum sprang out of her bed, dressed up quickly and took Wadera out. Awesome. Couldn't have done it before I got up, eh? [/cranky]

02. I've been trying to read Three Men in the Boat, but I just cannot read a page without getting off the track. It is funny, but it's not enough to make me want to read on.

03. I cleaned up my drawers and threw out three bags worth of rubbish. I think there's still more to throw out, but I didn't have the heart to do it yet.

04. Totally random: my song of the week is Kate Bush's Hello Earth. (I've recently arrived at the conclusion that I may be more about interesting song structures - see, among many others: Hello Earth, Yes Anastasia, The Bewlay Brothers - than the lyrics themselves; but Hello Earth also has some really brilliant writing: Go to sleep, little Earth. / I was there at the birth, / Out of the cloudburst, /The head of the tempest.)

05. I finished Ugly Betty! Well, technically - almost a week ago. In short: really good, go and check it out. Just keep in mind that a) it is based on a soap b) it can be really over-the-top - and that the first three episodes are the weakest of the bunch.

My favourite episode remains 1x04, with... um, 1x18? on a very strong second position.

Favourite character: Marc! Marc is, quite possibly, the most interesting character of them all (and, at least to my mind, the most consistent). We see him being snarky, vulnerable, protective (of Amanda), awful (at times, to Betty), but even when he is in the background, he steals the scene for himself.

Second place: Claire Meade - who is made of pure awesome.

Runner-ups: Wilhelmina and Amanda, though in my opinion they both could have been better-written and better used - Amanda at some point is reduced to nothing more than a character who delivers one or two bitchy lines in every episode; and after her affair with the Texan guy, Wilhelmina only showed her super-villain face. It was great to see the return of Willie Who Has Feelings and Mandy Who May Be Important For The Plot in the finale.

Honourable mentions: Alexis and Christina. Because you cannot hate characters who a) make their big entrance to the tune of David Bowie's Fame or b) love their drink and their guys.

Biggest disappointment: probably Daniel. His cuteness allowed me to survive through the first episodes, but besides that... He really sucks at the whole editor-in-chief thing - hello, he can't even force himself to write his editorials! What's wrong with this guy? I cannot help but agree with Wilhelmina: she should run the magazine.

Least favourite: Walter. Unghh.

I'm not sure if I have a favourite plot, but the most disappointing storyline was that of Henry/Betty relationship. I was rooting for them until the last episode, because, um, ex's pregnancy? Contrivance much? I know it's soapy et al, but jeez, just finish with them already.

Another problem I had was the inconsistent writing, with characters changing their motivations between episodes, and doing things out of the blue. She likes him! She doesn't like him! She likes him again! But no, she hates him! I suppose that different writers for different episodes were to blame, but they really should employ some kind of a script supervisor to take care of these things.

Still, can't wait till late September to see who is alive, who got killed off and whether Daniel and Amanda are half-siblings or not.

06. I will be going on holidays soon. Yay!

meme!

2007-08-10T20:31:00.001+02:00

(snagged from
I: give you first lines of 30 random songs
you: guess the songs!

01. love is blind, as far as the eye can see
02. though we gotta say goodbye for the summer
03. help. I have done it again
04. something's missing and I don't know why
05. tuna, rubber, a little blubber in my igloo yeah
06. heaven bent to take my hand and lead me through the fire
07. the early cars already are drawing deep breaths past my door
08. I'm home, lost my job
09. all the accidents that happen follow the dot
10. you came out of the night wearing a mask in white colour
11. there's a place I dream about
12. you'd better believe I'm coming
13. she's not a girl who misses much
14. in this age of grand illusion, you walked into my life out of my dreams
15. say goodbye to not knowing when the truth in my whole life began
16. with a strut into the room, with his a-hat cocked sure defiantly
17. she gave you everything she had
18. it was seven in the morning when the spark began to give
19. glue stuck to my shoes
20. empty spaces - what are we living for?
21. I was laughing with Picasso when she first entered the room
22. there's always the Diamond friendly / sitting in the Laugh Motel
23. do you think everything, everyone is going mental?
24. lucky you were born that far away so / we could both make fun of distance
25. sailing through the tunnels / in the morning by yourself
26. I'm gonna tell you about love / let's forget your life, forget your problems
27. sucker love is heaven-sent
28. I don't believe I went too far
29. Wake up in the morning with a head like "what ya done?"
30. you'll find me in Berlin bar, in a corner brooding

sail through my ears, I heard you fine the first time

2007-08-10T00:01:00.001+02:00

These days, my friendlist looks like this:

about 60 % - posts from fandom people angry with livejournal

20 % - posts from fandom people who decided to stay at livejournal despite the latest debacle

10 % - posts from non-fandom people, never once mentioning the debacle

10 % - posts from Tori Amos fans buying tickets for the US leg of American Doll Posse tour.

So, for the sake of posterity: I feel a little tired with this whole thing. The way lj handled the problem is creating a huge mess, and I don't like being part of a mess. And moreover, with the latest revelations re: the things that can get you suspended I cannot help but wonder if this one poster (can't recall who, sorry) who said that while now LJ/6a are cleaning their servers of the questionable material, they may move on to deleting users en masse, so as to present livejournal.com as pretty and sparkly to the advertisers wasn't right.

Anyway, I got myself back up journals at greatestjournal [though I hear it's not all that cool either], insanejournal, journalfen, blogspot and wordpress, I got myself semagic, and I'm now going to cross-post every entry to all those sites. I'm also going to move my archives there, because I have some stuff here that I wouldn't like to lose. Of course, I'm not writing/posting any pr0n here, but I'd rather not take a risk.

Other than on lj, life's been mostly all right lately. I'm reading, I'm writing, I'm watching Ugly Betty. And Nephew gave me two voluntary kisses today - sort of puts everything in a different perspective. :D

once more, with feeling

2007-08-01T17:13:00.000+02:00

warning! spoilers for Harry Potter 7

I finished Deathly Hallows re-read. This time it felt much better, made more sense and made me teary-eyed a few times, so I may grow to like it a lot. I cannot help but wonder how the film will look like, though. While Harry's visions could be made into a separate Voldemort plot, there are also all those trips into Dumbledore's backstory - not to even mention that a lot of DH consists of first the Trio, and then only Hermione and Harry camping around. Not too exciting.

More specific thoughts will go into chapter-by-chapter reviews (which I will try to do in the near future, though it's probably going to take me some time), but I will say one thing: I'm really happy that there was so little of Ginny. I didn't mind H/G in HBP, but everytime it surfaced in DH, it just felt so... shoved down our throats - a classic Tell Don't Show. Yeah, Ginny is amazing [like a tooth-ache!] - but it's actually Luna who instantly recognizes polyjuiced!Harry at the wedding, Luna who delivers Dobby's funeral speech that "says it all for Harry", and Luna who gets that he may be tired after the whole saving-the-world thingy. Not Ginny. And I'm not even shipping Harry/Luna.

Yes, the re-read was sponsored by Luna Is So Awesome, Inc.

And speaking of Luna, I read the recent interviews/chat with JKRowling and I have to say that while I'm not going to consider them canon (she's contradicting herself et al), Luna's becoming a naturalist and marrying Rolf Skamander is kind of neat. (Especially since it doesn't seem like she had been pining for him since she was ten years old.)

In other news, I began to watch Ugly Betty. The first episode was basically The Devil Wears Prada redux, the second was the first's twin, and the third was really cringe-worthy. I'd almost stopped there, but then I saw that the TWOP recapper for Betty is (or, at least initially, was) Jessica of Go Fug Yourself fame, and I decided to try one more episode. (The fact that Daniel Meade, Betty's boss, is really cute, certainly helped me make that decision.)

And what do you know? The fourth episode was very good. Betty finally bonded (a bit) with Bitchy Amanda and Evil Mark, and she dropped her I-don't-belong-here-I-should-quit shtick. Now I'm after episode six, and the whole thing definitely looks promising.

Of course, there is some stuff they could cut down on. Like: the Moral Lessons of Plinkety-Plink Music. Boring. The Let's Humiliate Betty stuff (both of the brought- onto-her-by-the-others and -by-herself variety) - because unlike Andrea Sachs, Betty *is* nice and earnest, and it pains me to watch her suffer. The Boyfriend, because he sucks almost as much as Ginny Weasley. And Christina - they may cut her out entirely and add more Daniel, Amanda, Marc or Wilhelmina instead :)

I only hope that the future episodes will continue with the good stuff, instead of going back to the cringe-worthy-ness.

Fic: Do The Goblins Grant Wishes? [1/1]

2007-07-30T18:23:00.000+02:00

Title: Do The Goblins Grant Wishes?
Author:
Fandom: Harry Potter/The Labyrinth crossover
Genre: um, uh. Romance.
Rating: PG(-13?)
Pairing: Jareth/Luna
Disclaimer: I own neither HP nor The Labyrinth. (Woe.)
Warning(s): spoilers for Deathly Hallows, lack of Earth logic, un-betad
Summary: Seven years after the Battle of Hogwarts, Luna Lovegood still believes in things that others find ridiculous.
Notes: This is for and , two crazy girls who urged me to write on.
Length: 8,455 words

Luna Lovegood emerged from the Second War relatively unscathed.

Certain people survive potentially traumatic events without any effect on their psyche because of their lack of imagination; however, it was quite the opposite with Luna. With her head already in the clouds, it did not seem all that difficult for her to distance herself from the horrors that she was seeing and experiencing.

That was not to say that she did not suffer at all, or that the things she saw did not cause Luna any nightmares; she had, after all, experienced the War first-hand. However, when in the months after the War she would wake up in the night, it was not from a dream of her imprisonment in the cellar of Malfoy Manor or the bloody Battle of Hogwarts; her nightmare was the sight of her father's motionless body on the morgue’s table. On the very day after the Battle, when the Azkaban gates were opened to release the innocents, Xenophilius Lovegood was found dead in his cell.

However, she soon taught herself not to think about it, to get on with her life. They were bound to meet again some day, as her father had told her when her mother was killed, and surely he would not like her to mourn after him for the rest of his life?

Having graduated from a zoology department of the best British magical university, Luna found herself a small job at the Ministry, in the Department for Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. The person who helped her secure the position was, of all people, Hermione Granger, and Luna felt quite sure that it was intended as a jab for all the tales about Crumple-Horned Snorkacks and Umgubular Slashkilters that Luna used to weave back in the schooldays, and perhaps also for Luna's briefly dating Viktor Krum shortly after the War.

Whatever Hermione’s intentions could have been, the job turned out not to be all that bad. True, since Luna's fame preceded her - some of her co-workers remembered her from school, and some had heard the gossip about her – she soon took the position of the office's resident nut-job; however, from Luna’s point of view, it was more or less what had been going on with her ever since she first went to Hogwarts, so it did not bother her very much.

Moreover, the co-workers’ teasing subsided significantly once they discovered Luna was at friendly terms with Harry Potter (he remembered her name, which already placed her above the majority of people) and Ron Weasley (who every once in a blue moon would drop by to say hi), and the Ministry paid well enough for her to manage to get by on her own, without having to touch the money Dad had left her.

All in all, at twenty-four Luna felt pretty comfortable in her life.

It was a typical Thursday afternoon: all the witches and wizards working at Level Four of the Ministry building were busy working on the reports from the meetings they had attended in the morning and thus the floor was very quiet. Luna had just finished writing her own report on the latest meeting of the Group for Promotion of House-Elves’ Rights (during which Hermione Granger was, as usual, rather more interested in setting all the house-elves free than the house-elves themselves were). She was getting ready to leave it with Mr. Diggory and then clock off, when Matthew Goldstein handed her a new issue of Quibbler, opened in the middle at some article with screaming headlines.

“Something for you, Luna,” he said with an innocent smile.

Ah, there they went again.

Luna smiled back, causing Matthew to frown slightly, and took the magazine. She did not read Quibbler anymore; after her father’s death, she sold the magazine to an affluent publisher, Mr. Cleophas Smith. His son Zacharias used to be in Dumbledore's Army, and Luna had vaguely hoped that the son's being a semi-decent person extended to the father's being the right man to take care of the Quibbler. He was not, and when she sometimes picked up an odd issue, she could not believe what kind of rubbish they were publishing in it now.

The headline of the article Matthew wanted her to see said something about goblins kidnapping a child in a small village in Essex.

“Isn’t that the Goblin Liaison Office’s field?” she asked mildly, raising her eyes to look at Matthew.

“Read on,” he urged, still sounding as if his honest intention was to show Luna something that could be of interest to her. “You’re going to like it. It says that it was the boy’s brother who called goblins to take him – they even quote the words he used.”

I wish the Goblins would come and take you away, read Luna, scanning the article. Then there was something about a labyrinth -

“But they say the child was returned,” she said absent-mindedly, thinking that the mention of the labyrinth seemed somehow familiar, and then realized – about a second too late – that she must have sounded genuinely interested with the story. She looked up. Matthew was smirking, and looking at Tom Zeller with raised eyebrows. “Have they had the Aurors look into it?” she asked.

“Now, Luna, come on,” said Tom. “I know you may be fond of the Quibbler, but you know as well as I do that goblins do not care for kidnapping children – and they certainly do not grant anybody’s wishes. Everybody knows that.”

Luna did indeed know that to get anything from a goblin you had to negotiate, and negotiate hard, rather than make a wish. However, she had heard the “everybody knows that something” phrase a bit too often in her life, so as not to realize that every now and then “everybody” was not exactly right and that what “everybody” assumed turned out to be a pile of rubbish. Had they not been saying that the Diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw had been lost forever, and had the Diadem not been eventually found, just a few years ago?

“Interesting,” she said, handing the magazine back to Matthew.

“I hope you’re not going to go there to check it out,” said Tom mockingly.

Luna gave him a blank look.

Tom was probably the least pleasant of her co-workers; while Matthew could be really nice and friendly at times - especially when Tom was not at the office - and Isabel Hopkirk just loved to gossip, Tom's jabs were simply vicious.

"No, I don't think so," she said politely. "It's not like I have time. We will have to finally get down to preparing for the Merpeople's festivities, won't we?"

"Oh, since it's an emergency, someone else surely-"

The door opened, and Isabel, a tall, dark-haired girl, walked in, for some reason looking a bit flustered.

"Hey, guys, what's up?" she asked, tossing her handbag over to her desk, where it fell down with a thump. "You won't believe what they want us to do."

Luna noticed Tom glancing over at Matthew, and then they all looked at Isabel, waiting for some kind of a follow-up.

"Remember that goblin article in the Quibbler?" asked Isabel. She walked over to her desk, sat down on the chair and looked at them.

"How could we forget?" asked Tom, putting into his words as much irony as he could muster; however, the effect was ruined by Luna asking the very same question, though with an utter lack of interest.

"Anyway," said Isabel, dismissively waving her hand. "I ran into Terry Higgs down in the hall, and he told me that goblins have complained to him about the article - about the kidnapping claim, mostly - and so he wants us to go and find out what really happened there - if anything happened at all."

Silence rang for a moment or two, and then Matthew snorted with laughter.

"Good joke," he said, shaking his head. "I almost believed you. It was your idea, right?" he asked Tom, but Tom was still staring at Isabel.

"This isn't a joke," said Isabel, confirming Luna's suspicions. When they were really making jokes, they would glance at each other a lot, and they would react to each other's prompts much faster. "No, really!" repeated Isabel more forcefully, and Matthew finally stopped laughing.

"Why us and not the Goblin Liaison?" asked Tom, crossing his arms over his chest.

Isabel shrugged.

"Probably because Luna used to own Quibbler," she said. "Or maybe because Terry and his boys are still busy with what's going on at Gringotts --" Luna recalled that for the last few weeks the goblins had been again trying to renegotiate the conditions on which their bank was working "- and we have nothing to do."

And that was how on the following day Luna found herself with Tom and Isabel (Matthew stayed at the Ministry, claiming that he could take care about 'nothing' they had to do) in Cleophas Smith's office.

"We came to ask about that article on the goblins' kidnapping a child in Essex that was published in the latest issue of Quibbler," said Luna politely after the greetings were exchanged and everyone was offered a cup of tea. "You see, the goblins have been bothered about the way they've been described."

Mr. Smith took a while to play with his quill before he answered her.

"Ah, this one," he said finally. "Our new reporter wrote it - visited those people and all that."

"Do you think this has really happened?" asked Tom, tapping his foot on the floor.

"She certainly seems to believe so," replied Mr. Smith, and he put his quill back on his desk. "I will mention to her that she's not the only one to do so."

"But don't you-" began Isabel, but Mr. Smith interrupted. "Miss Hopkirk, I do not have time to investigate every story - and that's quite beside the point of the Quibbler, isn't it?"

Luna stared at him for a moment, before he looked down at his quill. She felt that her commenting would be out of place, since she had herself chosen to sell the magazine to him, but it was difficult to restrain herself.

"Great," said Tom once they have left Mr. Smith's office and were going down a corridor, Luna in lead. "We found out it was all bullshit, as everybody expected, but at least we got half a day free."

"You don't know it was all bullshit," said Luna mildly.

"Right, there are goblins all around, just waiting for you to make a wish," said Tom behind her back.

"Maybe there are."

She had read about something like that, somewhere. But where could it have been?

"Oh please, Luna," said Isabel exasperatedly. "Enough of that."

"Oh come on, let her dream," said Tom in a mock-sweet voice. "What's wrong with that?"

Somehow, this faux-understanding stung Luna harder than the usual mocking. She stopped on the first stair of the staircase, put on her best smile, and turned to Tom.

"You know," she said. "Fantasy or not - I wish the goblins would come and take you away. Right now."

With that, she turned back around, and began to descend the brightly lit staircase.

She was in the middle of it, when all the candle lights suddenly went off.

After a while too short to even reach out for the wand, the candles burst with light again.

Luna shrugged, and took a glance over her shoulder to see what kept Tom and Isabel from laughing and continuing to mock her - but the staircase behind her was empty.

She waited a moment for them to emerge out of the corridor, and when they were not coming out, she went up several stairs, to a point from which she should have been able to see the two of them.

There was nobody in the corridor.

Luna felt slightly surprised. Were they playing a prank on her? Or - since she had said those words - did she really manage to make them disappear?

"Hey, where are you?" she asked, still expecting Tom to jump out of some door just by the staircase. However, there was no movement, no indication whatsoever of Tom or Isabel's presence.

"Why, in my Labyrinth, of course," said a male voice behind Luna's back.

Luna turned around with a start.

Oh, he was cute! was Luna's first, incoherent thought, before she even managed to take a full view of the man leaning against the banister of the stairs. He had a head of really wild, dirty-blond hair; he wore frilly shirt and black coat with a high collar that most people would have immediately deemed weird - but it was his eyes - mismatched, and brought out by a slightly too heavy make-up - that grabbed Luna's attention.

"Who are you?" she asked, feeling rather more curious that afraid.

"I am the Goblin King," he said with a slightly teasing smile.

To the best of Luna's knowledge, goblins did not have any royalty. On the other hand, as someone had told her only yesterday, they also supposedly never kidnapped people just because someone had expressed a wish.

"And you are here because - they are in your Labyrinth?" repeated Luna, and then something in her brain finally ignited. "Wait - I will have to walk it to make them return home, won't I?"

She must have had a bad case of Wrackspurts, really. She now remembered where she had heard about the goblins dwelling in a sort of a Labyrinth, and having a king. That was, of course, another of Beedle the Bard's stories that her parents would tell her when she was a child. That one was never a favourite of hers, though: the main character - the one who had to reach the Castle in the Labyrinth to take his little sister home - was an awful small boy, who won only through bullying all the goblins he met on his way.

"Yes, you will have to walk through the Labyrinth, and reach my castle within thirteen hours," said the Goblin King, watching her with great interest.

"Is it a long way to go?" asked Luna.

"Not if you choose the right pathways," he replied, and then tilted his head to a side. "Shouldn't you be a little more bothered?" he asked. "You've just made your friends disappear."

Luna looked up at him to say that they were never very nice to her, and so she had no reason to be bothered - but looking into his eyes, she momentarily lost track of what she was going to say. Oh, dear, she thought.

But no, she did not feel bothered; if anything, she was beginning to get excited - that another of the fairytales she had been brought up on, after The Tale of the Three Brothers, was coming to life, this time with her in the middle of it.

And if it was a fairytale, it must have included some kind of a catch. Her mother would point those out to her, a long time ago: a quest always seemed more difficult than it really was. Almost always, there was a very easy way of reaching the goal, a way that nobody thought of at the right time.

"Could you show me how to get to your castle?" asked Luna after a moment of consideration. "Or maybe lend me a map?"

The Goblin King smiled briefly. "I'm afraid that would be against the rules," he said. "But would you perhaps like a gift?"

He snapped his fingers, and a ball of glass appeared out of thin air, and then fell gently onto his hand.

"It's very pretty," said Luna, watching as multicoloured dust appeared inside the glistening orb. "Could I take it?"

The Goblin King handed her the ball, and when their fingers touched, Luna felt is as almost electrifying. To cover up her reaction, Luna took a moment to stare at the dust twirling inside the ball, and only looked up after a good while later, when she felt her wand sliding from behind her ear. Startled, she saw it shooting straight into the Goblin King's extended hand.

"This is also against the rules," he said, twirling the wand in his fingers, and then hiding it inside his coat. Luna opened her mouth to protest, but then closed it, noticing that the corridor of Mr. Smith's office slowly began to change.

The walls around them began to become thin and transparent, until they disappeared completely, together with the ceiling, showing a sky in a colour of deep yellow. Looking at her feet, Luna realized that the stairs transformed into a slope covered with tall, dry grass, and that the Goblin King and she were standing at the top of a hill overlooking what must have been the Labyrinth. It seemed much larger and much more complicated that Luna had remembered imagining it after reading the fairytale.

And then she noticed the castle, white and distant, placed in the middle of the Labyrinth, a long way from the place where they were standing.

"What will happen to - my colleagues - if I don't get there on time?" she asked, pointing to the castle.

"They will become goblins," said the Goblin King.

"And what will happen to me, if I get lost on the way?" enquired Luna, giving the structure that lay in front of them one more look. "I don't think I would like being a goblin." She thought briefly of their giant ears, and bald heads. "I'd miss my hair."

The Goblin King gave her a long look, and then reached out his hand to touch a strand of hair that was covering Luna's cheek.

"You have a point," he said. "Perhaps we would think of something different for you, should we?"

"All right," said Luna, feeling slightly dazed. The Goblin King smiled, and took his hand away.

"See you later, then," he said, and, before Luna could ask any more questions, he did a complicated gesture with his hands, and disappeared.

For a moment or two, Luna stared into the empty space; then she shook her head, trying to clear her mind and decide on how to best look for a way to the castle. Unfortunately, there seemed to be no bushes that could host Bubble-Headed Brugwigs on the hill; they would have made for excellent guides.

All out of sudden, Luna noticed the ball that she had got from the Goblin King becoming heavier in her hand than it was just a moment before. Upon raising the orb to take a better look at its insides, Luna realized that it was indeed gaining weight with every second, up until the point when Luna was no longer able to hold it. The ball slipped out of her hand, bounced slightly off the ground, and rolled down the hill towards the entry to the Labyrinth, giving Luna no choice but to run after it.

She caught up with the ball when it reached the giant door that marked the entry to the Labyrinth. However, instead of stopping there, the ball kept pushing onwards until the gate slowly opened itself, and as soon as there was a big enough gap between the doors, it rolled right in.

Luna stopped at the gate, and glanced over her shoulder at the deserted hill, which now bore no resemblance to the staircase that Luna had been standing on just a few minutes ago. However, the giant door creaked menacingly, and she recalled she had no time to waste.

Once in the Labyrinth, Luna saw the little ball motionless on the ground, and she leaned down to take it back into her hand. This time it felt light again, just like it had been when she first took it from the Goblin King. It really was very pretty: now a cloud of dust was spinning inside of the orb, creating a small, glimmering vortex. Luna smiled, put the ball in the inside pocket of her jacket, and looked around.

Once the doors had closed, the Labyrinth turned out to be a rather dark place, with high walls made of shiny black bricks cutting out most of the dim light, and an occasional tree or bush stealing the rest of it. As far as Luna could tell after having walked for several minutes, the Labyrinth consisted of a single narrow alley going straight up along the wall that was holding the door that she had gone through; there were no side-lanes or turns.

It seemed odd, since the construction Luna had seen when standing on the top of the hill definitely was a labyrinth - and a quite intricate one, too. So, either that sight had been an optical illusion, or it was now that her eyes were deceiving her, and the alley was not actually straight, but slightly bend, and leading Luna around the Labyrinth.

Or perhaps she should try and look for a disguised passage within the wall? There could have been one hidden behind movable bricks, like the entry to the Diagon Alley...

However, despite Luna's efforts, the wall remained solid and none of the bricks reacted to her touch. After a few minutes, she abandoned that idea for finding a passage, and continued walking down the alley.

There must have been a catch, she thought again. Was she supposed to ask the Goblin King to take her to the castle? Or was the little ball supposed to be of help to her? After all, it had already led her into the Labyrinth.

Eventually she managed to find a path leading deeper into the Labyrinth, obscured by the shadow of a mouldy tree covered with ugly, black leaves.

This lane was even narrower than the previous one, and soon Luna got the claustrophobic feeling that the dark walls were going to collapse upon her head. The black bricks and the musty smell reminded her unpleasantly of the dark cellar at the Malfoy Manor.

She wondered briefly whether the entire Labyrinth was that dark and lacking in space; if it was, she felt truly sorry for the Goblin King.

Perhaps if she failed to reach the castle in thirteen hours, she could trade her staying in the Labyrinth for the Goblin King's going back with her?

Just a moment later she discovered a new turn on her right, leading into a much more spacious alley. However, after a few minutes of marching, when this lane again failed to turn into any other, Luna found herself slightly annoyed.

"Oh, this is just -" she said out loud, stopping by an old, leafless tree to catch her breath. Her voice echoed off the walls of the Labyrinth. "This is just -" she repeated, but could not find an appropriate adjective to finish her thought.

"It really is, isn't it?" asked a tiny voice. It seemed to come from one of the tree's branches. Luna looked up, and, after a moment, saw a tiny figure clad in brownish-grey clothes, but for large green eyes barely distinguishable from the tree branch. It looked very different from the goblins that Luna had met, though its big ears were definitely typical for a goblin.

"Hello," said Luna, deciding that a creature of this size should not be able to harm her. "Could you help me? I'm trying to find a path that would lead me to the castle."

The little goblin jumped, and almost fell off the tree.

"Do I look crazy to you?" it asked. "He would throw me into the pit of stench if I offered you any help!"

"Do you mean the Goblin King?" asked Luna, and when the goblin nodded, she felt somewhat surprised. "But why would he do that? He seemed really nice to me. He even gave me a present."

The goblin made a tiny movement that Luna interpreted as a shrug. A moment later, the tree branches shook slightly, causing dust to fall down to the pavement, as the goblin crawled towards the trunk.

"Wait - could you at least tell me if I'm going the right way?" called Luna after it. "I have to get to the castle!"

The goblin stopped, and turned its huge eyes to Luna.

"You won't," it said solemnly. "Look around you. Look at the alleys you're walking. He's reshaping them so that you couldn't get anywhere."

"Why would he do that?" asked Luna, startled, but the goblin did not answer; indeed, it seemed to have disappeared somewhere in the tree trunk.

For a moment or two, Luna stared at the tree in disbelief.

He's reshaping the paths so that you couldn't get anywhere. But honestly, why would he be doing something like that? What for? thought Luna, as she got going again.

A sudden movement caught her eye. Lifting her head, Luna saw a flock of odd, pink and blue birds flying over the passage. They had beaks too huge for their small heads, and looked somehow familiar to Luna; she decided she must have seen them in one of her father's books.

It felt so weird, being in this place, thought Luna. She managed to find the next turn, this time leading her into an alley that was brighter and almost nice; she realized it could well be leading her away from the centre of the Labyrinth, where the castle was located, but it was better to try it out than to go straight onwards, perhaps never finding another lane to turn into.

It did feel weird, with the dust and the gloomy sky, with the high walls, and never-ending lanes, with the strange creatures that Luna was catching glimpses of with the corner of her eye, but that disappeared before she had a chance to take a proper look at them, and yet... after that awful, narrow lane, in which she felt close to suffocating, it did not feel exactly unpleasant. Strange as it was, and despite what the goblin had just told her, Luna did not feel herself unwelcome in the Labyrinth. If she only had her wand with her, she would change the alleys to look more admissible, and then her walk would have been simply refreshing.

She had only just managed to finish that thought, when the pavement underneath her feet chose to give in, leading her to a long, nasty fall.

She landed on a cold stone floor, raising a cloud of dust into the air. Once it had settled down, Luna found herself surrounded by complete darkness. After a minute had passed, and she got used to the lack of light, she realized she was trapped in a small, window- and doorless stony chamber. The passage she had fallen through seemed to have closed itself, for there was no hole in the ceiling.

There had to be a way out, right? Luna got up, walked over to the wall, and tapped on several bricks - they felt dry and rough under her fingers - but none of them moved. There had to be a way out, not like at that time, at the Malfoy Manor's cellar.

There had to be -

Luna realized she could not take a breath, and she desperately reached for the wall to prevent herself from falling down. The chamber was becoming more and more stuffy with every passing second - the walls seemed to be closing down on her -

- and then she was back out in the open air, and the Goblin King was leaning over her with an expression of genuine concern on his face.

Luna gasped for air and, to her huge relief, found that her lungs were working normally again.

"I don't - I can't - small spaces -" she began to ramble, but the Goblin King put a finger to her mouth.

"It won't happen again," he said, and then, almost gently, helped Luna to her feet.

The first thing that Luna noticed when looking around was the complete absence of the brick walls. Instead, there were green hedges and blossoming trees all around. Just by Luna's left hand, there was a small, oval pond with surprisingly clear water, in which swam some goldfish. Bushes covered with white and pink blossoms surrounded both sides of the lane that started at the pond.

Seeing the castle towering over the hill somewhere at the end of the lane, Luna made a few steps towards it, and, when she realized that the Goblin King was walking beside her, went on. The castle seemed to be closer from here, though still much too far to believe that she would be able to reach it in - what could it be now, eleven hours?

"You're not giving me even a chance to get to it," said Luna, gesturing towards the castle, and turning to give the Goblin King what she hoped was a stern look. However, he only smiled. "It makes no sense if I'm not able to reach it - your winning has no"- she sought for a right word - "no merit, if I don't get a chance to win."

For a moment or two they walked in silence, as the Goblin King seemed to ponder her words.

"Well, if you say so," he said at last, and stopped. Luna paused and watched with interest as the Goblin King made a complicated gesture with his hands. It felt to her as if the earth beneath her feet and the hedges around let out a deep breath. "It still will be difficult for you to make it on time," he said.

"Oh, it's all right," said Luna, smiling. "Thank you."

The Goblin King smiled back. "Absolutely my pleasure, Luna."

Mesmerized with this smile, Luna stared at him for a good while, until she finally realized what he had said.

"How do you know my name?" she asked, surprised.

"Your colleagues have mentioned it."

"Oh. Them," said Luna, and found herself somewhat flabbergasted at the realisation that she had not really given Tom and Isabel one thought since before entering the Labyrinth - and that she had entirely forgotten that the purpose of her getting to the castle was to save them from becoming goblins. "Are they all right?"

He shrugged.

"Do you really care?" he asked.

"Not really, no," said Luna frankly, and managed to elicit another smile from him.

"I guess I can let you go your way, then," he said. "Good luck."

"Wait," said Luna, just as the Goblin King was beginning to make that gesture that caused him to disappear back there on the hill, before the entry to the Labyrinth. "What's your name?"

"Jareth," he said after a moment of hesitation, and then finished his gesture - and disappeared, just before Luna managed to tell him that it was a really nice name.

It certainly did suit him, she thought, going along the hedge towards the castle. Jareth.

She doubted whether he really was going to allow her to reach the castle without any problems or interruptions. He seemed very reluctant to even allow her to go on, before she said she did not care too much for her colleagues, and it did not seem to her that he would have liked to send her back.

He could have asked whether she wanted to go back, thought Luna, absent-mindedly taking a turn right to avoid a row of evergreens, and then back left into the alley that was leading towards the castle.

He could simply invite her to stay.

It did not surprise Luna when the lane she was going down turned out to be a dead-end. However, between the twigs of the hedge that ended the alley, she saw several wooden doors, two each by her left and right hand, and three in front of her. All of the doors were closed and apparently guarded by ugly-looking creatures, whose bronze heads were fastened in the central part of each door. All the creatures seemed to be fast asleep, swaying slightly from side to side, and occasionally wiggling their giant ears.

Luna ventured over to the first door on her left.

"Hello," she said, pulling off her best out-of-this-world look. "Which door should I choose if I wanted to get to the castle?"

The creature over the door opened its eyes of bronze, and gave Luna a long stare. Luna noticed the neighbouring doors' guardians also waking up, and after a short while she got a feeling that all of them were staring at her.

"You don't want to go to the castle," said the creature she had spoken to. Its voice was slightly creaking, like a badly oiled hinge.

"Oh, you don't," chimed in its neighbour.

"It's ugly," said the first creature.

"It's stony," said the second, its voice full of contempt.

"It's huge," added another creaking voice from Luna's right.

"Not a nice place at all," concluded the first creature, and, seemingly having decided that this settled the matter, closed its eyes again.

"Thank you," said Luna carefully. "But I rather think I would like to get there anyway."

"No, you wouldn't," said the second of the doors' guardians. "You wouldn't."

"There are those ugly goblins," said yet another of the creatures.

"Lots of them."

"Hundreds and hundreds."

Luna stared patiently, waiting for the creatures to go quiet. When they finally did, she asked,

"Which of you should I choose?"

"You don't -" began the creature fastened to the door in the right corner of the hedge, but Luna cut it off.

"Yes, I know. But he - the Goblin King - promised to allow me to get there. You have to listen to him, don't you?"

It was a wild guess, but the creatures instantly stopped bickering, and, after giving her a short glance, they began to whisper frantically amongst themselves, first with their immediate neighbours, and then with the others, every now and then stealing another look at Luna.

"You should take this door," the third creature from her left said eventually, and the door that it was attached to swung slightly open.

"Thank you," said Luna. She stepped towards the door and pushed it wide open; however, before going through, she checked whether it did not lead to a trap of some sort. It seemed not to - the ground behind the door was a solid stone - so Luna went through the door, closing it carefully behind herself.

This pathway was not half as agreeable as the garden-like part of the Labyrinth that Luna had just left. At first glance, it seemed grey and rather bleak, and consisted mostly of hills. The ground was covered with grey stones in a variety of sizes and shapes. Going past a set of particularly large rocks, Luna realized that seen from a certain angle, they formed a giant sculpture of Jareth's head, and she smiled.

She took the path that was leading between the hills. Occasionally, she noticed some movement between the stones - a pair of green eyes watching her from behind a stone, or some goblin hurrying in opposite direction. However, since none of them tried to speak to her, Luna decided not to approach them.

She went pretty much undisturbed until the landscape began to change, and the mild curve of her path turned into a steep valley that led Luna right onto the shore of a gigantic river. There was no bridge visible in the close vicinity, and Luna stopped for a moment, wondering whether she should follow the river or rather go against its stream to find some kind of a crossing.

There were also no stones or pieces of pumice located conveniently in the water so that Luna could walk or jump from one to another, and make her way to the other shore. There were several trees scattered over the shore, but Luna did not think she would be able to break their trunks and push them into the water without her wand, not more than she was capable of moving any of the stones lying by the shore.

Luna went down the shore to the very point where the rocks ended and the water began. Raising her head, she could see the castle ahead of her; now that it was closer, she could distinguish the towers from the main body of the castle. She felt pretty certain, however, that to reach it she would have to cross the river - and even then there were still at least a few more hours of walking ahead of her.

"Having trouble?" asked a now-quite-familiar voice and, casting her eyes down, Luna saw the figure of Jareth standing on the opposite shore.

"Just a little," she called to him. A sudden splash made her look down, but it was just a fish jumping between the waves.

When she looked up, Jareth was no longer standing across the river; instead, with the corner of her eye, Luna saw him leaning against a tree just a few feet away from her.

"Do I have to cross the river to get to your castle?" she asked, looking over at him.

The Goblin King nodded. With a tiny sigh, Luna walked over to a big stone that was lying on the rocks, and sat down. When she turned to Jareth, she realized he was watching her closely.

"Has anyone actually reached it?" she asked, thinking of the boy from the fairytale. Someone must have been here and got to the castle to tell the story, but how long ago could it have been, and how much had the Labyrinth changed since then?

"A few have," replied Jareth, and walked towards her. "Then again, not a lot of people knows about this place to begin with."

"That's true," admitted Luna. "I guess the goblins from my world wouldn't be too keen on associating themselves with the Labyrinth - they must have done some hushing up."

They did, didn't they? she realized suddenly. They had been so indignant after that article in the Quibbler.

"They probably did," said Jareth. He now sat down on the stone just a foot away from hers. "Though not for the reasons you are thinking of."

"What do you mean?" asked Luna curiously, watching him arrange his long black cape over his back.

"They visit this place fairly often, and try to get the Labyrinth's treasures from me," he said carelessly. "But I am still their king, and they have to obey me, so no gold or jewels have got out of here yet."

Struck by a sudden thought, Luna took the ball that Jareth had given her at the beginning of her journey out of her pocket. She put it on her palm, and looked as the dust inside it glimmered in the dimming light.

"Is this a part of the treasure?" she asked, and took a sharp breath when Jareth reached out his hand and, without removing the orb from Luna's palm, began to play with it.

"It is - but a very small one," he said quietly. "There some very beautiful jewels in my castle, though. You would have liked them. If you only had twelve more hours instead of just seven -"

Luna looked into his eyes, having difficulty breathing.

"But unfortunately you don't," concluded Jareth, and swiftly withdrew his hand. "A pity, isn't it?"

He got up, and turned to the river. Luna stared as he made one of his complicated magical gestures; suddenly, the water in the river in front of the Goblin King began to froth, and a stone bridge rose out of the foam.

"There you go," he said, glancing over at Luna.

Luna smiled at him, still not quite able to breathe normally.

"Seven hours?" she asked, getting up at last, and putting the orb back into her pocket.

"More or less," said Jareth.

"I'll see you at the castle, then," said Luna and, with another smile, walked towards the bridge.

Going over the bridge, she felt acutely aware of the fact that Jareth was still standing at the river bank and watching her. She fully expected him to have disappeared by the time she had got to the opposite shore, but he was still standing there when she looked back.

Upon noticing her gaze, Jareth smiled, and with a snap of his fingers made the bridge vanish, before disappearing himself.

Luna put her hands in her pockets, and got on her way.

The length of her journey was finally getting to her. Going down yet another rocky hill, Luna found herself rather tired. The castle did not seem to become closer at all and stopping for a moment, Luna thought she could use some of the now-less-than seven hours to sit down in some nice and calm place, and possibly to catch some sleep, because the chances of her arriving at the castle on time were growing smaller and smaller.

Then again, there seemed to be no nice and calm place in this area of the Labyrinth, and sitting on tiny rocks and sand was not really Luna's thing.

Jareth should make a forest here, she decided. Of course, it would immediately become inhabited by Blibbering Humdingers - but Luna thought that if the goblins of Gringotts' listened to Jareth, it should be easy for him to control the Humdingers.

Yes, a forest. And perhaps also a lake or a stream, with crystal-clear water. And there would be a lot of wild-berry bushes in the forest...

She definitely had to mention it to Jareth once she had got to the castle.

It took Luna about an hour to leave that sandy and rocky region behind.

She regretted it quite soon, as this time her way led through a swamp, and within minutes she got herself covered up to her ankles in mud and slime. However, once she had stumbled upon a row of raspberry bushes, Luna's mood lifted significantly. She ate most of the fruit, and though they did not satisfy her hunger, at least she did not feel so thirsty anymore.

Having got out of the swamp, Luna entered the Labyrinth proper again, with walls - this time much shorter than before, and made of white marble - and clear pathways, covered with tiny grains of gravel. It again resembled a garden, and Luna could not help but wonder whether she had not manage to somehow get lost and return to the area of the Labyrinth she had visited before.

Then she spotted a fountain, hidden in the middle of a set of intricately cut hedges, and without giving it any further thought, ran straight to it to have a drink, and then wash the mud off her legs.

She was still sitting on the brink of the fountain, watching tiny orange fish swimming around her feet, when she heard voices from the other side of the hedge.

"I wonder why he wants us all to move out," said one, slightly squeaky voice.

"Since when has he been the paragon of reason?" snickered another voice, much lower than the first one. "You'd go crazy, too, if you spent all your time in the castle."

They were talking about Jareth, realized Luna. Careful not to make any splash, she slipped out of the water.

"Do you think she will make it there?" asked the first voice.

"No way," answered the other one. "Well, come on. We still have that one room to empty."

"The shortcut again?"

"Yeah."

Luna tiptoed over to the hedge’s side, and took a peek over it, hoping that the twigs and leaves would obscure her from the view of whoever was just having that conversation. Sure enough, she saw two goblins – one bald, and the other with a cap on his head - trotting towards the wall, empty leathery sacks thrown over their backs.

Upon reaching the wall, the bald goblin prodded the centermost of the bricks in front of him. The brick and several around it moved, making a small opening of irregular shape. The goblins passed through it, exchanging some more thoughts about Jareth.

Luna followed them without hesitation. Fortunately, the hole in the wall had not yet begun to close when she reached it, and she managed to squeeze through it.

The corridor that she entered was, to Luna’s relief, quite spacious, its high walls set widely apart. It was perhaps the most maze-like part of the Labyrinth that she had visited so far, and she felt that but for the two goblins going in front of her, she would have got lost soon. Tired from her journey, Luna almost had trouble with keeping up with the goblins, who walked quite fast for the creatures of their size.

She also had to make sure to stay out of their sight, and soon broke into a routine of carefully approaching the end of each node of the maze, peeking over the wall to see which corridor the goblins were choosing, waiting for them to walk into it, and then speeding over to the end of the next node. Once or twice the goblins almost heard her, and at one point the bald one almost saw her, but in the end, Luna managed to safely reach the end of the maze.

It was a small, dusty cellar equipped with nothing but a wooden ladder that was standing by the wall. Luna walked up to the ladder, placed her hand over its side, and hesitated.

Was the Castle just up there, within two minutes’ worth of climbing? If so, she must have made it faster than in seven hours’ time – and that meant she would be free to leave very soon.

It was just that she was not sure if she wanted to leave. There were so many pathways and places to explore, or to simply take a walk through in the Labyrinth; and Jareth looked so sweet when he smiled -

She climbed the ladder without finishing that thought.

Emerging from the cellar, Luna found herself in a corner of a large marble hall, full of staircases leading upwards and downwards in all possible directions. She stared at it, unsure as to which of the staircases she should choose, and then, having noticed some door in the opposite wall of the hall, she decided to take none of the stairs, but rather try her luck with the door.

As she was going towards the door, keeping to the wall, she saw that some of the staircases were disappearing, and others appearing out of thin air, and wondered how many of them could have been illusions.

Having reached the door, Luna pushed them open, and felt surprised by how easily they gave way under her hands.

The chamber she entered was, though it seemed a little too small to serve that purpose, undoubtedly a throne-room. There was a throne by the opposite wall, and several marble stairs led down from it to a hollowing in the floor. The door that Luna had gone through were not the only entrance to the chamber: right behind the throne, there was a staircase, leading upwards, possibly to some tower.

Slightly surprised by the emptiness of the chamber, Luna started to walk towards the throne, but paused on her way, mesmerized by the sight of the clock hanging by the window. Instead of twelve, it had thirteen hours on its face. The hour hand - shaped to resemble a dagger - was pointing to eight.

"It seems that you have won," said Jareth from behind Luna's back, and she felt her heart doing a back flip in her chest. She turned, and saw him standing by the throne at the bottom of the staircase. "Congratulations."

"Thank you," said Luna, thinking that he sounded disappointed. "It was fun," she added, in order to cheer him up.

Jareth sat down on his throne, resting one foot against the other leg's knee. Luna noticed that a strand of his hair was sticking out at a weird angle, and had to resist the urge to walk over and put it in order.

"How did you get here?" asked Jareth, and with some difficulty, Luna returned to reality.

"Oh, it was easy. I followed a couple of your goblins through a shortcut," she explained.

"I did tell them not to help you," he said. Without his smile, he looked a little weary.

"They didn't know I was there," said Luna. "They were saying rather nasty things about you, though."

"Typical," said Jareth under his breath. "Well. I cannot keep you here any longer. I shall be sending you and your friends back right away."

Luna looked at him, tilting her head to a side. Jareth really did look cute, though his clothes were slightly over-the-top, even in Luna's opinion - the haircut might have been a bit too wild as well... but then, he had the most beautiful eyes, and she rather liked the shape of his lips -

"Send them back, it's only fair," she said at last, arriving at her decision. "But I want to stay here."

Jareth looked at her with raised eyebrows, so Luna went on. "Oh, I agree that some parts of the Labyrinth are a bit off-putting, but others are very nice, and we can try to redecorate the rest... It can be really pleasant around here, I'm sure. Not that it isn't now," she added in an afterthought, so as not to sound rude.

"There are the goblins," said Jareth, already sounding much livelier than just a few moments before. "Not very nice."

"But you are the Goblin King!" said Luna. "They have to listen to you, right?"

"You are going to feel lonely," he said. It seemed, however, that he was fighting a smile.

Luna shrugged. "Perhaps I will go back for a day or two, if I do feel lonely," she conceded. "But I don't think that's going to happen soon."

She walked up to the throne, and looked right into Jareth's eyes. "I would like to stay in the Labyrinth," she repeated, and, after a moment's hesitation, added, "with you."

She took a sharp breath; Jareth looked at her thoughtfully, and then, finally, smiled.

So Luna leaned forward and kissed him.

"I can stay, right?" she asked, leaning slightly back.

"Perhaps - for a while -" said Jareth, and then, somewhat awkwardly, pulled her in for another kiss.

They said that goblins did not grant wishes. But perhaps, thought Luna, they sometimes did. It was just that nobody had come back to report on it.

More thoughts upon re-reading...

2007-07-22T18:20:00.000+02:00

I'm afraid that for the following week this journal will be very Harry Potter-centric. I've begun re-reading, and I will be posting more reactions, this time to specific chapters (but with spoilers for the whole book).

Chapter 1

Chapter 1 of GoF (the Evil Plans of Lord Voldemort, ending with a Random Killing) and Chapter 2 of HBP (Snape proves to be on the side of the evil) on a head-on-collision and, as in Spinner's End, we have the non-specific, omniscient POV (the narrator follows Snape and Yaxley from outside of the Manor, but then he also witnesses Narcissa touching Lucius' hand under the table).

The most interesting: the Malfoys. Draco scared of Voldemort and Lucius waiting for Narcissa's approval before doing a thing. And, while we're in the family, Voldemort/Bellatrix really seems like one of the OTPs of the book, what with Bella leaning towards her Dark Lord here, and Voldemort being devastated over her death towards the end.

Also, Snape, as Voldemort's second-hand and the only efficient undercover agent, ever. Also, the only person capable of learning and employing Occlumency. The Order is done without him.

Chapter 2

This time, Chapter 3 of HBP, expanded.

In the previous post I've said I enjoyed reading about Dumbledore's past, however, that bit about him being a great wizard by the end of his first year at Hogwarts? Too much Gary Stu for my liking. (Dodge mentions Dumbledore corresponding with Flamel, Bathilda Bagshot [Tolkien much?] and Adalbert Waffling - was the third one mentioned anywhere else in the books? Because the first two were crucial for the plot.)

I've seen people wondering whether Dumbledore was after all alive when Harry saw the blue eye, but somehow I knew it would be Aberforth. Frankly, I had expected him to be much more prominent in this book.

Chapter 3

Dudley! While I don't approve of Harry-fanboying, I'm very happy that in the end, Dudley wasn't just that awful fat cousin of Harry's, but had some personality and was capable of some deeper thoughts. *applauds*

(I have to admit I fully expected Dudley's "why isn't [Harry] going?" to develop into the Dursleys' again accusing wizards of trying to do away with them. Which, by the way, I'd fully understand - after all, the Dursleys' encounters with wizards never went too well.)

I wonder what Petunia was going to say?

Chapter 4

Some good lines here...

"None of us really fancy it ... imagine if something went wrong and we were stuck as specky, scrawny gits forever."

"Obviously there's no chance at all of us getting a bit of your hair unless you cooperate." "Yeah, thirteen of us against one bloke who's not allowed to use magic; we've got no chance."

"Bill, don't look at me - I'm 'ideous."

And one weird: "I knew Ginny was lying about that tatoo." Um, Ron? I love you, but 1) in that scene in HBP it was clear that Ginny was joking, and even if she wasn't, 2) which of you were more likely to have seen Harry's naked chest? You, after six years of living in one dormitory with him, or Ginny, after two weeks' of them going out? (Yeah, I know, a throw-away line, every of the Harry-look-alikes had to say something, but, meh, internal logic.)

Poor Hedwig :( I don't approve of killing animals just to show that everybody is under threat.

And thankfully, I had expected Hagrid to be killed at the end of the book, so I didn't do the happy dance here.

Chapter 5

Andromeda looking like Bellatrix - haha. (Also, what's with 'Dromeda'? It's not that much shorter, and it doesn't sound like... well, anything. 'Andy' would've made much more sense, especially with 'Bella' and 'Cissy' to accompany it.)

Ear-less George oh noes. I was always under the impression that the outer part of the ear was not THAT important to general well-being, so I'm not exactly crying here. (Buth then the twins are joking Molly will no longer have trouble telling them apart... WAH.)

Moody is dead. During the first reading, I thought he might turn out to be the spy, but it seems that he was simply killed. I have to admit I wasn't really touched by that.

And then Harry panics and says he has to go, because the Death Eaters will target the Weasley home, and everyone is like "BUT HOW WOULD HE KNOW YOU ARE HERE?". Hmm. Let's think. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that Harry's best friend is a Weasley, his girlfriend was a Weasley, there were two (not-Polyjuiced) Weasleys helping Harry get out of Privet Drive, and Harry has spent part of every summer since PS/SS with the Weasleys? Yeah. There's NO WAY Voldemort will suspect Harry's hiding at the Burrow.

And a vision - meh. JKR really shouldn't have abandoned them altogether for HBP, because now it feels like narration-ex-machina.

to be continued.

the obligatory reaction post

2007-07-21T18:18:00.000+02:00

I'm not sure if I liked it or not. There were some bits that I enjoyed very much, but overall, it felt a bit rushed - all action, no build up, and things happening at random (see: HBP ending on "I want to see Godric's Hollow" note, but when they finally do, it sort of comes out of nowhere). On the other hand, I may enjoy it more on second reading, when I won't be racing to get through it.

Okay, so. Random thoughts.

* Snape is Good and in love with Lily- who would have thought? (He is also the one person in the history of the Order that can pull off effective undercover work.

* Snape dying while looking into green eyes just like Lily's - let's just pretend I didn't get that... *looks the other way*

* I continue to be in love with Ron. The only normal, *human* member of the Trio *snuggles*. And he was actually right about not saying Voldemort's name! (So much for Hermione's constant 'shut up, Ron' in OotP and HBP when he didn't like them saying it. Haha.) AND he knew something Hermione didn't - the fairytales!

* Meanwhile, Hermione still is a dangerous psycho. Memory charming her parents - for the greater good, obviously.

* I liked Dudley's little moment. Not that I approve of fanboying Harry, but it was a nice touch.

* Rowling's timeline sucks again, this time re: Lupin/Tonks hasty marriage. It's like Fred's "Remember old Fleur?" at the beginning of OotP, when they had last seen her just a month earlier. So, a month ago Lupin was all reluctant about Tonks, and then suddenly he agreed to marry her? Yeah. Right. And then they both go and get themselves killed! Stealthy.

* Voldemort taking over the Ministry - why not two books ago?

* Major Regulus love. And, while we're at it, Kreacher love. (If Sirius had taken the trouble to be nice to Kreacher for five minutes, he might still be alive in DH.)

* As for the Deathly Hallows themselves... um. Meh?

* Xenophilius Lovegood - who gives a child such a name? Perhaps his mother was also a Prince and she had a bet with Snape's mother over which of them names her son worse?

* Code names in that radio programme? Impenetrable.

* The dark past of Dumbledore made a very enjoyable read XD Especially the Grindelwald parts.

* No redeemed!Slytherins except for Draco. I guess some people *are* born evil.

* I tore up at the end, a bit. Because this is the end. No speculations. No conspiracy theories re: a thing that Harry saw at one point in book 3. No sequels :( WAH.

* Oh, the epilogue? Did read like a fanfic. And then they all had a lot of cute children. Zzzz.

* It must suck to be Ginny in that marriage, don't you think? "Harry, can I name one of the kids after someone important to ME?" "Maybe after we're done with my father's friends and heroes of the wizarding world."

* And that's all, for now. Luna, Ron and Draco are alive, and that's all that matters XD And both my fanfics are alive and canon. :)

okay, firstly and most importantly

2007-07-21T14:23:00.000+02:00

LUNA LIVES!

LUNA LIVES!

LUNA LIVES! WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

And Ron and Draco, too! WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

The rest - sometime later today, after I'm done with my friendlist and have talked to

the end of the world as we know it

2007-07-21T14:20:00.000+02:00

Just finished the Deathly Hallows.

About 19 hours...

2007-07-20T17:53:00.001+02:00

I've made myself some back-up journals...

Vox: http://girlupnorth.vox.com/

Greatest Journal: http://girlupnorth.greatestjournal.com/

Blogspot: http://almostrosey.blogspot.com/ (girlupnorth was already taken)

These are all just-in-case, because I'm not leaving livejournal in any way - but feel free to friend if you want to :)

35 hours 'till HP7. Meanwhile, another movie afternoon

2007-07-19T10:43:00.000+02:00

Legally Blonde 2

Okay, sue me. I enjoyed this one thoroughly. The beginning felt a bit forced, but then it got a momentum, and turned out to be almost as good as the first one. A perfect summer movie.

On the Waterfront

After about 20 minutes we got that It Was So Awful To Live In America and switched to-

Bullit

(Which is my Mum's favourite movie.) In my opinion - good, though my lack of memory for faces struck again - 'do I know this guy?' 'is it the same guy?' etc. - and made it a bit difficult to understand what was going on.

Sweet Home Alabama

Um. You know, given the choice between Patrick Dempsey (Me: "Poor man's Hugh Jackman?" Magrat: "Yup.") and Mr Domestic Violence, I'd dump both and fly over to London to get myself some hot British guy. Just sayin'.

I'm going to make him an offer he cannot refuse

2007-07-14T10:38:00.000+02:00

We celebrated 's birthday in a traditional way - by watching movies.

Legally Blonde

was really fun, once we got past the initial 'Too much pink! Sensory overload! Redo from start!' shock. A very uplifting movie - and Elle had a doggie! (Grade automatically goes up ;D)

Also, it turned out that the person who wrote the screenplay and me apparently share a brain.

SOMEONE: Is it [something] or [something else]?
ME: Neither.
ELLE: Neither.

New character appears.
ME: He's her professor.
[He wasn't. But he wasn't a fellow student either, and that was the point ;)]

ME: I knew there would be a dancing routine!

Etc. Magrat got scarred for life.

The Godfather

(yeah... a logical follow-up to LB) - really good. We amused ourselves by looking for similarities with Arrested Development (in both cases Michael = the one son who had no choice but to keep them all together).

Mean Girls

was... uh... I expected it to be better, actually, for all the legend it is surrounded by. It was a nice movie - I especially enjoyed all the wacky adult characters (Regina's Mom ftw!) - but then it ruined itself by providing us with a Moral Lesson. I can't help but wonder if the original R-rated version wouldn't be better.

For the next time, we'll be having another great (and logical) selection of movies - Legally blonde 2, On the waterfront and, probably, Rebecca. Stay tuned!

she'd sigh like Twig the Wonder Kid

2007-07-13T10:35:00.000+02:00

Happy birthday, dear !

I hope you get a very good* year :)

*and very Bowie

Who da man?

2007-07-10T10:33:00.000+02:00

Exams' results:

Swedish - A
Knowledge about English-Speaking Countries - B
Descriptive grammar: syntax and morphology - A
History of English literature - A
English - B

I pwn all.

.
.
.
It feels weird not to have to learn anything for an upcoming exam...

2007-01-13T21:15:00.000+01:00

tagged by

Once tagged by this entry, the assignment is to list 10 movies: your 5 Favourites & your 5 Guilty Pleasures. Then, pick 5 of your friends and tag them. No tag backs. This explanation should be included.

Favourites:
1) Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
2) Gosford Park
3) Love Actually
4) Pulp Fiction
5) 8 women

Guilty Pleasures:
1) The Devil wears Prada
2) Down with love
3) Kate & Leopold
4) King Arthur
5) Chicago

tagging: ;)

I've just bought myself new winter boots - one of the old ones fell apart yesterday. And I almost suffocated going against the heavy wind. Gaah.

2007-01-11T21:14:00.000+01:00

So, let's see. Next week.

Monday
in-class writing: an essay

Tuesday
businness: a test. From 11 units.

Wednesday
English grammar: a HUGE test from the entire semester's worth of material

Thursday
Swedish communication: a test.
and also, quite probably: An exam in phonology

*looks at the list*

*panics*

2007-01-10T21:12:00.000+01:00

one thing re: Rome 2x01

That little moment when Mark Antony turns away from ~~his bff~~ Brutus and breathes with relief?

Emmy-worthy.

Give me more!

dvds 2007

2007-01-07T21:11:00.000+01:00

January
01. Resident Evil
02. The Devil wears Prada

February
03. Pride & Prejudice (2005)

March
04. Tori Amos - Fade to Red
05. Blackadder 1
06. Blackadder 2
07. Blackadder 4

April
-

May
08. David Bowie - best of Bowie

wiedźmina podróże przez bezdroża wiedźminlandu

2007-01-04T21:08:00.000+01:00

Przeskakujemy czas pogardy (jeszcze do niego spróbuję wrócić) i przechodzimy wprost do Chrztu ognia.

* Wyleczony z ran zadanych przez Vilgefortza Geralt rusza z Brokilonu na poszukiwanie Ciri. Najpierw przyłącza się do niego Jaskier. Potem Milva. Potem zaczyna za nim jechać Cahir. Potem wpadają na krasnoludów i jadą z nimi kawałek. Potem spotykają Regisa. Potem wiedźmin i Jaskier zostają pojmani. Ratuje ich Regis. Potem - bez zgody Geralta - konstytuuje się drużyna. Potem drużyna znowuż wpada na krasnoludy. Potem drużyna bierze udział w bitwie o most na Jarudze i Geralt zostaje pasowany na rycerza.

Żeby było śmieszniej, do punktu "wiedźmin i Jaskier zostają pojmani" czytało się bardzo fajnie.

* Wątek Yennefer jest dużo prostszy: zostaje zdekompaktowana przez Francescę, bierze udział w spotkaniu Loży, po czym ucieka w niewiadomym kierunku.

* Ciri jeździ ze Szczurami. I jest to najgorszy wątek książki.

* Pojawia się także Dziad Borowy, i jest to drugi najgorszy wątek książki.

* Regis jako taki nie przeszkadzałby mi aż tak bardzo (chociaż wielosłowie jest zabójcze), ale dlaczego na każdym kroku musimy słyszeć, jaki to on jest super!specjalny nawet na wampira? bleee. Taki Gary Stu.

* Poza tym jest dużo o genealogii Ciri. W zasadzie większość Chrztu ognia opiera się na tym, że różne postaci z różnych źródeł stopniowo dowiadują się, że "Ciri" w Nilfgaardzie to nie jest Ciri - i poszukiwania zaczynają się od nowa. Przy okazji dostajemy kolejnego anvila pt. Emhyr od razu wiedział, że to nie Ciri!!! Na pewno jest Myszoworem w przebraniu.

* Dostajemy też introdukcję do Genu Lary, wraz z popapraną genetyką... Z niewiadomych przyczyn wnuczka Lary ma gen latentny, chociaż po linii żeńskiej powinien przechodzić czysty (tak jak potem w sekwencji Calanthe - Pavetta - Ciri). Jeżeli to jest zamierzone, to Sapkowski powinien był wyjaśnić, czemu Fiona mogła mieć ten gen latentny. A jeżeli nie, to... błąd :> I powtórzę, rodzice "skażonej incestem" Calanthe byli rodzeństwem cioteczno-ciotecznym, czyli pozostawali w takim samym stopniu pokrewieństwa, jak moi dziadkowie. Na początku XX wieku w Polsce to nikomu nie przeszkadzało, a w stylizowanym na średniowiecze wiedźminlandzie tak? Przecież tam incest powinien być w każdej rodzinie królewskiej!

* Tworzenie loży czarodziejek było całkiem ciekawe.

Next on: jazdy, jazdy narracyjne.

New Year's Resolutions

2007-01-02T20:55:00.000+01:00

posted on January 12th, but thought of earlier

01. Lose some weight.

02. Write a little of something (fiction, fanfiction, nonfiction) every day - unless I'm really, really too ill/exhausted for doing it.

03. Watch some movies that aren't for eye candy only.

04. Try to widen my musical horizons by not stopping at one song by some artist, but rather exploring his catalogue until I'm sure there's nothing for me in it.

05. Study and learn things, and not forget about them when the exam/test is passed. (Especially in case of such subjects as Knowledge about Sweden or English-speaking countries.)

06. Enjoy myself.

quotes 2007

2007-01-01T20:53:00.000+01:00

January

For Rick's friend we have a small discount. Did I say 700 franks? You can have it for 200! (Casablanca)

April

In retaliation, I wrote Life on Mars. But I got my comeuppance when Miss Barbra Streissand decided to cover Mars... going through one of her slightly more lost periods, she had her then husband-cum-hairdresser produce and arrange and promptly blow-dry it.

It's the first song that, ah, I wrote and recorded as a solo artist. It's - it's a beautiful piece of sollipsism and it's called I can't help thinking about me.

(David Bowie, VH1 Storytellers)

Seriously?
Yes.
Seriously?
No.
(House, MD)

May
He's had the same tutor as Prince Charles.
Well, we won't hold that against him.

(The Queen)

cds 2007

2007-01-01T20:49:00.000+01:00

January
01. Scissor Sisters - Ta Dah
02. Lily Allen - Alright, still
03. Kate Bush - Aerial

February
-

March
04. Garbage - Bleed like me
05. Hooverphonic - The Magnificent Tree
06. Hooverphonic - A New Stereophonic Sound Spectacular

April
07. David Bowie - Outside
08. David Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders From Mars
09. Tori Amos - American Doll Posse (Special Edition)
10. Scissor Sisters - Scissor Sisters

May
11. David Bowie - Reality
12. David Bowie - Hours
13. David Bowie - Station to Station
14. David Bowie - Let's Dance
15. David Bowie - Earthling
16. Sarah McLachlan - Fumbling Towards Ecstasy
17. David Bowie - Low
18. Nelly Furtado - Loose
19. David Bowie - Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)
20. David Bowie - Tonight
21. David Bowie - Never Let Me Down
22. David Bowie - Heathen
23. David Bowie - "Heroes"
24. David Bowie - Diamond Dogs

June
25. David Bowie - Hunky Dory
26. David Bowie - The Man Who Sold The World

July
27. Kate Bush - The Kick Inside
28. Suzanne Vega - Nine Objects of Desire

movies 2007

2007-01-01T20:46:00.000+01:00

January
01. Casablanca
02. Rome 1x01
03. Rome 1x02
04. Rome 1x03
05. Rome 1x04
06. The Prestige *c *l
07. Resident Evil *l
08. Hogfather *l
09. Rome 1x05
10. Rome 1x06
11. Rome 2x01
12. House MD 3x11
13. Rome 1x07
14. Rome 1x08
15. Rome 1x09
16. Princess Mononoke
17. Rome 1x10
18. Rome 1x11
19. Rome 1x12
20. Rome 2x01
21. Rome 2x02
22. Veronica Mars 3x10
23. Rome 2x03
24. The Devil Wears Prada
25. Veronica Mars 3x11
26. House MD 3x12

February
27. Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
28. Rome 2x04
29. Veronica Mars 3x12
30. House MD 3x13
31. Nana 01 *l
32. Nana 02 *l
33. Nana 03 *l
34. Nana 07 *l
35. Nana 08 *l
36. Nana 09 *l
37. Rome 2x05
38. Veronica Mars 3x13
39. House MD 3x14
40. Rome 2x06
41. Veronica Mars 3x14
42. Memoirs of a Geisha
43. The Promise
44. Pride & Prejudice (2005)

March
45. Rome 2x07
46. Veronica Mars 3x15
47. Rome 2x08
48. House MD 3x15
49. Rome 2x09
50. Down with love
51. A knight's tale
52. House MD 1x01
53. House MD 1x02
54. House MD 1x03
55. House MD 1x04
56. House MD 1x05
57. House MD 1x06
58. House MD 1x07
59. House MD 1x08
60. House MD 1x09
61. House MD 1x19
62. House MD 1x20
63. House MD 1x21
64. House MD 2x18
65. House MD 2x21
66. House MD 2x22
67. House MD 2x24
68. House MD 3x14
69. House MD 3x13
70. House MD 3x15
71. House MD 3x16

April
72. House MD 3x17
73. House MD 3x18
74. The Prestige
75. The Labyrinth
76. House MD 3x19
77. House MD 3x20
78. Arrested Development 3x... (SOBs)
79. Arrested Development 2x03 (Amigos)
80. A bit of Fry and Laurie, episodes 0-6
81. The Devil wears Prada
82. House MD 1x14
83. House MD 3x02
84. The Queen
85. Twin Peaks. Fire walk with me
86. The Last Temptation of the Christ (a whopping total of 3 minutes, but hey)

May
87. The Man Who Fell To Earth
88. House MD 3x21
89. Veronica Mars 3x16

*c = at cinema
*l = with

books 2007

2007-01-01T20:43:00.000+01:00

January
01. Andrzej Sapkowski, Czas pogardy (re-read)
02. Andrzej Sapkowski, Chrzest ognia (re-read)
03. Andrzej Sapkowski, Wieża jaskółki (re-read)
04. Andrzej Sapkowski, Pani jeziora (re-read)
05. Katarzyna Grochola, Nigdy w życiu! (re-read)
06. Ewa Kraskowska, Siostry Bronte
07. Christopher Priest, Prestiż
08. Marta Fox, Czerwień raz jeszcze daje czerwień (re-read, fragments)
09. Terry Pratchett, Wintersmith (re-read)

February
10. Neal Stephenson, The System of the World
11. James Michener, Polska (Poland)
12. Metsy Hingle, Szczęśliwe życie (a Harlequin)
13. Arturo Perez-Reverte, Klub Dumas (re-read)
14. Terry Pratchett, Pomniejsze bóstwa (Small Gods) (re-read) (fun fact: I've had this book for almost 6 years, but it's only the third time I've read it)
15. Terry Pratchett, Men at arms (re-read, first time in English)
16. Ai Yazawa, Nana, vol. 1
17. Ai Yazawa, Nana, vol. 2
18. Ai Yazawa, Nana, vol. 3
19. Ai Yazawa, Nana, vol. 4
20. Ai Yazawa, Nana, vol. 5
21. Ai Yazawa, Nana, vol. 6
22. Ai Yazawa, Nana, vol. 7
23. Ai Yazawa, Nana, vol. 8
24. Ai Yazawa, Nana, vol. 9
25. Ai Yazawa, Nana, vol. 10
26. Ai Yazawa, Nana, vol. 11
27. Ai Yazawa, Nana, vol. 12
28. Ai Yazawa, Nana, vol. 13
29. Ai Yazawa, Nana, vol. 14
30. Ai Yazawa, Nana, vol. 15
31. Ai Yazawa, Nana, vol. 16
32. Ai Yazawa, Nana, vol. 17
33. Kard. Stanisław Dziwisz, Świadectwo
34. Guy Gavriel Kay, The Last Light of the Sun
35. Charles Dickens, Great Expectations

March
36. Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre(re-read)
37. Helen Fielding, Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination
38. Jasper Fforde, The Eyre Affair(re-read)
39. Ohba Tsugumi, Death Note, vol. 1
40. Ohba Tsugumi, Death Note, vol. 2
41. Ohba Tsugumi, Death Note, vol. 3
42. Ohba Tsugumi, Death Note, vol. 4
43. Ohba Tsugumi, Death Note, vol. 5
44. Ohba Tsugumi, Death Note, vol. 6
45. Ohba Tsugumi, Death Note, vol. 7
46. Ohba Tsugumi, Death Note, vol. 8
47. Ohba Tsugumi, Death Note, vol. 9
48. Ohba Tsugumi, Death Note, vol. 10
49. Ohba Tsugumi, Death Note, vol. 11
50. Ohba Tsugumi, Death Note, vol. 12
51. Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray

April
52. Irving Stone, The Passions of the Mind, vol. 1
53. Irving Stone, The Passions of the Mind, vol. 2
54. Umberto Eco, O Bibliotece

May
55. Witold Bereś, Krzysztof Burnetko, Kapuścinski: nie ogarniam świata
56. Terry Pratchett, Maskarada (re-read)
57. Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness
58. (Virginia Woolf, To the lighthouse - okay, technically not finished)
59. Neil Gaiman, Fragile Things

June
60. Ann Brashares, Stowarzyszenie Wędrujących Dżinsów. Ostatnie lato.
61. William Golding, The Lord of the Flies (re-read)
62. Spice Girls, Girl Power
63. Spice Girls, Spice World
64. somebody, Spice Girls
65. Joanna Chmielewska, Zapalniczka
66. JK Rowling, Harry Potter & the Philosopher's Stone (re-read)
67. Manuela Gretkowska, Polka (re-read)
68. JK Rowling, Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets (re-read)

July
69. JK Rowling, Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban (re-read)
70. JK Rowling, Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire (re-read)
71. Joanna Chmielewska, Zapalniczka (re-read)
72. JK Rowling, Harry Potter & the Order of Phoenix (re-read)
73. Jasper Fforde, Skok w dobrą książkę (Lost in a good book)
74. JK Rowling, Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince (re-read)
75. JK Rowling, Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows
76. Simon Berhton & Joanna Potts, Bogowie wojny (Warlords. The Heart of Conflict 1939-1945)
77. JK Rowling, Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows (re-read)
78. Michael Farquhar, Królewskie skandale (A Treasury of Royal Scandals)

August
79. Zadie Smith, On Beauty

a meme

2006-01-01T20:41:00.000+01:00

The results of your analysis say:

You like to be surrounded by four solid walls.
You are a shy, idealistic person who does not find it easy to have relationships, especially intimate ones.
You are diplomatic, objective, and live in the present.
You are a talkative person, maybe even a busybody!
You enjoy life in your own way and do not depend on the opinions of others.

Handwriting Analysis

What does your handwriting say about YOU?

Fic: Mistletoe [1/1]

2005-12-31T20:40:00.000+01:00

Title: Mistletoe
Word count: 1,123
Rating: PGish
Spoilers: none. OotP, maybe.
Pairings: Sirius/OC, Regulus/OC [the same]
Genre: aww! Romance!
Notes: blame it on martini. Well, on the perspective of martini drinking, anyway ;)
Summary: A late Christmas story.

It was late afternoon of the Boxing Day and Zia was listening to the music in her room when she heard the doorbell.

"Open the door!" She shouted in the general direction of Amy's room. The family left just after the early lunch, and their parent went to London to visit their old friends: they were alone in the house.

"No, you go and open it!"

Zia sighed, got up and went downstairs.

Hmm. Let's hope the mysterious bell-ringer is a friend, shall we?, she thought, unlocking the door.

There was no doubt to the guest's identity: the familiar dark hair, long black coat, trademark smile...

"Regulus," said Zia, surprised. "What are you doing here?"

Regulus' smile grew wide when he saw her amazement.

"We have some family close by," he explained. "I thought I'd drop in to ask how your Christmas are going."

It was difficult not to smile back. "Come in," Zia said, moving from the doorway.

"So - how are your Christmas going?", asked Regulus, taking off his coat and hanging it as a top layer of several other coats and jackets.

"Okay, I guess," she said. "Thanks for the gift, by the way." A little owl flew in late in Christmas Eve evening, bringing a tiny packet. Sirius' gift didn't arrive ‘till Christmas afternoon. "I didn't expect..."

Regulus gave Zia a look that reminded her of Hogwarts' corridors full of mistletoe.

"Tea? Coffee? Juice?" She asked hurriedly. Regulus smirked.

"Tea, if that's not a problem."

"Not at all." What a stupid answer. "So... go upstairs, will you? My door are first on the right. I'll be there in a minute."

She half-expected Regulus to insist on assisting her, but he just nodded and headed upstairs.

Zia entered the kitchen, filled the kettle with water and, having left it to boil, she began to arrange cookies and pieces of cake on a plate.

She was wondering what she should do.

So, well, there was a kiss under a mistletoe in one of the Hogwarts' corridors. Not all that mistletoe-ish, caused-by-custom-and-the-tradition-ish, as the matter of fact. Perhaps that was just the way people were doing such things in Slytherin. And then again - it should've been unpleasant, not something she kept thinking about.

She didn't even tell Regulus off. Very clever, Zia, very clever indeed. She felt rather sure Sirius would've gone for his wand if he'd only known Regulus laid as much as a finger on her. He would absolutely gone for the wand if he'd known she didn't mind.

There, she thought it.

The water was boiling; Zia took teabags in several flavours out of the cupboard, put them on a tray next to a plate full of cake and two cups, and went upstairs.

When she got to her room, she saw Amy leaning against the doorframe and Regulus, busy playing with the Mollesses' dog.

"She was barking," said Amy at the sight of Zia's surprise. "Well, I was leaving. Have a nice evening."

Sometimes Zia felt grateful for having such a shy, quiet twin sister. Amy indeed did leave, closing the door behind herself.

"She's nice," said Regulus, still cuddling Lana's fur. Then he looked at the dog. "And she's beautiful."

Zia laughed.

"She's awfully spoiled, to tell the truth," she said and put the tray on her desk. "What flavour of tea?"

"Do you have orange, by any chance?"

When he was saying "have", Zia had already picked a proper teabag and then presented it to him with a smile.

"You're predictable, sir."

It was Regulus' turn to laugh.

"Time to die, then," he said.

A gift of his - a butterfly-shaped brooch - was laying on the desk right next to the tray. Zia picked it up and began to play with the thing.

"It's very pretty," she said, noticing Regulus' gaze. "I'm sorry I had nothing for you."

She was such an idiot sometimes. She could've just sent him a self-made card, she was good in that kind of things.

"It's all right," was Regulus' obvious answer, after which came a rather unexpected addition: "What would've you given me?"

Zia pondered on this for a moment. Well, card was just an emergency answer...

"A scarf, probably," she said finally. "Maybe a nice Slytherinish-green cup. Something like that."

"What did you get from Sirius?"

"A necklace," she replied, putting Regulus' tea on a little table in front of him. "What about you? Any nice gifts?"

"An imaginary scarf," answered Regulus with a sudden flash in his eyes. "Which may've been a cup. Oh, and a kiss."

Zia turned around to give him a sharp look, only to recall - somewhat too late - that had put mistletoe under ceiling to decorate the room for Christmas; a thing that Regulus must've noticed when entering the room.

Regulus was now standing right under the wicked green-and-white thing, several inches taller than Zia. His lips were warm, and the kiss... not at all unpleasant.

"Make that two kisses," he said after a while.

"You're awful," Zia pronounced, giving Regulus what certainly wasn't a sharp look. "I have a boyfriend, and you don't happen to be him, you know?"

"And who is the lucky guy?" asked Regulus teasingly. "Well, since we are talking about that kind of things, I seem to have a set-up engagement with a girl from, like, the oldest magical family that exists."

"Oh?" This time Zia pulled away from him and, on desperate search for something to tend to, she turned her attention to the tea. "Really?"

"Even my dear mother isn't convinced this marriage is a good idea, so don't worry," said Regulus calmly, putting a spoonful of sugar in his cup. "And as for my brother..."

"...yes?", said Zia, really wanting him to say something unfair about Sirius, so that she could be offended.

"Well, he is nice, but he's still Sirius, if you get my meaning."

And Zia did, unfortunately.

She sighed.

"You're awful. And you have a warped mind," she exclaimed, feeling that she would be repeating this thing often in the months to come.

Regulus just smiled.

"Well, you're nice. And you have put here quite a lot of mistletoe for a non-warped mind."

This wasn't right, was it? Somewhere deep in her mind Zia was angry at herself for letting that happen; for thinking that with Sirius away and more and more annoying, with him suddenly growing distant from her and closer to James and Remus, and not even wanting to visit her... well, with all that things being close to Regulus somehow was right.

And, aside from all those reflections, there certainly was a lot of mistletoe in her, so they could as well make good use of it.

The tea wasn't bad either.

2005-12-31T20:38:00.000+01:00

One of the TV channels is having a LOST marathon tonight. I watched it (because I haven't previously seen first two episodes), but when the fourth episode began, I had enough.

- oh. Jack. what are you doing in the jungle, doc? Rose was on the beach, unconscious, and she was sitting right next to you.
explanation a): he DID wake up on the beach, but Others came by and hit him on the head, and then dragged him to the jungle
explanation b): it's a nice dramatic effect to have him running to the beach

- Jack is helping everyone. because nobody else will. yeah, probably they are too shocked, but he is REALLY ANNOYING. what a hero. awww. and how convenient is that he had a bottle of booze, that he found the sewing kit in first case he checked...

- awww! Boone! how cute he was when clean-shaven!

- Sayid: cuute.

- Sawyer: cuute.

- Kate: wow. she looks rather nice with clean hair :>

- Claire: I don't understand why she didn't give birth right after the accident. Perhaps the Others were there and helped her medically.

- aww, the monster is cutting trees! all the main characters gather on the beach to get a better look. WALT: It's Vincent! Yeah, totally.

- Locke: mr mysterious.

- Charlie singing you all everybody - sweet. Jack not knowing Driveshaft - you're losing points, man. Honestly, you could make an effort to be nice.

- Sensei Locke (TM ): enjoying rain like whoa

- Kate in the jungle: and since when is she afraid of anything?

- I keep squeeing over Boone. Let's hope that fancying characters after their death =/= fancying characters that are going to die.

- Sun seems to be mentally deranged.

- HURLEY (to Sayid): You're okay.
SAYID: *stares politely*

Republican Army = aww!

- Hurley with Jin (and fish): what a prick.

- BOONE: You've had a pedicure.
SHANNON (in my mind): And you put on make-up!

- Jin's terror at Claire's belly: PRICELESS.

- OMGWTFPOLARBEAR! (TM )

- Kate-the-prisoner-in-the-plane: full make-up

- Agent Shrapnel (TM ): where are my cuffs? Well, Iwould worry about your gun(s)...

- Kate (Tabula Rasa): I finished college.
Kate (Outlaws): I never implied I finished college.
Me: Liah.

- Something I noticed: during first three episodes, I'm squeeing over all guys (well, Sawyer, Sayid, Boone) and I'm happy to see them without facial hair. Then there is a break and around 16 episode I begin to squee again, because they all have nice long hair. Hair = good. Facial hair = not so good.

- I luuurve Locke's knives.

- ...and then I had enough of Jack. And Kate.

2005-12-31T20:37:00.000+01:00

In the year 2006 I resolve to:

Find Bin-Laden.

Get your resolution here

various stuff

2005-12-30T20:35:00.000+01:00

Spent the afternoon looking for new userpics. Now I have six (thank you, livejournal!):
- Delirium (The Sandman: Endless Nights)
- Luna Lovegood (by Potterpuffs)
- Gold Dust (Tori Amos, Scarlet's Walk)
- Keira Knightley as Elisabeth Bennet (Heroine addict by Cleolinda)
- Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish (A song of ice of fire, drawn by Amok. My second favourite character ever. I think.)
- and Clementine with Joey from "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" (by colorfilter)

I like my icons.

I also like my Christmas presents. I know it's been almost a week since Christmas Eve, but it's never too late to list some things :>

So, I got:
*under the tree*
- American Gods by Neil Gaiman - because I love this book.
- Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman - because I didn't want to read the Awful Translation (which isn't out yet)
- The Sandman: Worlds' End by Neil Gaiman - because that was the one part I didn't have at all
- Thud! by Terry Pratchett - because I love uncle Terry.
- stationary set - a notebook, an adressbook, two pencils, a photoframe and fancy-shaped cards to write on

*from *
- a cup + raspberry tea + cherries in chocolate
- a candle

*self-bought*
- Legends II - a collection of fantasy stories.
- Sin City - double disc dvd. I liked it better in the cinema.
- Tidal and When the Pawn... by Fiona Apple
- Moulin Rouge! - my God. Christian is an annoying person. But I like the music.
- a handbag! pretty pretty pretty!
- Good Omens by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman - one book to rule them all
- two Narnia guides. Love Narnia.

I gave others quite a lot of things, but my favourite one's 's blue sheep, whom she called Petyr. Aww. ;)

has bought latest volume of A song of ice and fire by George RR Martin - A feast for crows - and for the last two weeks we've been on asoiaf high. I love books based on British history. I love books inspiring conspiracy theories. I love books with proper evil masterminds. If said masterminds are going to die, I shall be extremely displeased. Amen.

As for my Christmas presents: Thud! is good and dark. And some stuff which doesn't make sense during first reading turns out to be really brilliant. Anansi Boys is... not exactly what I thought it was going to be, but still good.

About a week ago I was trying to fill a 2005 meme - but, obviously, I never finished it.

Questions I managed to answer:

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
...new part of "A song of ice and fire"

16. What song will always remind you of 2005?
Bonnie Tyler - Total Eclipse of the Heart

24. What was your favourite TV program?
If TV series count, it's LOST.
If not, I have none.

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
I don't hate anyone, there are just people who annoy the hell out of me.

26. What was the best book you read?
Read again - "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman
New - "A song of ice and fire" by George RR Martin

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Fiona Apple

30. What was your favourite film of this year?
"Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I had a small party. 18.

36. What political issue stirred you the most?
Double elections in Poland

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
This is who I am, you can like it or not
You can love me or leave me
Cause I'm never gonna stop

CDs bought this year:
Tori Amos - The Beekeeper (x2 - normal and special edition)
The Corrs - Talk on Corners; In Blue (special edition); MTV unplugged; the best of; Home
Fiona Apple - Tidal; When the Pawn; Extraordinary Machine
Garbage - Garbage
Sinead O'Connor - So far... the best of
Pulp Fiction OST
Madonna - Confessions on a dancefloor

I would list films seen in the cinema, but I don't have the January-May diary with me; and I would list dvds bought, but half of them reside with my cousin and Idon'trememberwhich.

All in all? It was a very good year for me. Difficult (living by myself; college; exams), but still very good.

a LOST personality quiz!

2005-12-30T20:33:00.000+01:00

You scored as Shannon.

You're Shannon! Materialistic, self-centered and a little manipulative -- but if somebody calls you useless, you're ready to prove them wrong.

Shannon

75%

Charlie

63%

Locke

63%

Michael

44%

Claire

44%

Boone

38%

Jin

38%

Hurley

38%

Kate

31%

Sawyer

25%

Sayid

25%

Jack

19%

Sun

13%

Who is your "Lost" alter ego?
created with QuizFarm.com

2005-12-25T20:31:00.000+01:00

Merry Christmas! :)

2005-12-18T20:29:00.000+01:00

I think it was Tuesday when my neighbour dropped by.

NEIGHBOUR: Hey, do you have Internet by any chance?
ME: Nope.
NEIGHBOUR: Oh, ok. I just need it right now... And Mr A told us yesterday there would be no Internet at all.
ME: ...Say what?
NEIGHBOUR: I'm not sure if only in our flat or everywhere.
ME: ...Riiiiiight.

DamndamndamndamnDAMN.

2005-12-12T19:18:00.000+01:00

no internet again. so happy. not.

I have a free hour before grammar now and there was a free pc in the college cafe, so... here I am.

today I got up - and was dressing up - when it was still dark. where is the sun? I want sun.

that's it, basically. nothing funny/interesting to report.

see ya soon (I hope).

today. History of England. and a dialogue with a friend

2005-11-29T18:57:00.000+01:00

LECTURER: So. The Wars of Roses. Known to you as The War of Two Roses.
*talks about The Wars of Roses*
ME: pays close attention.
HIM: And, at the end, a Welshman losely related to the Lancasters arrives, kills Richard III and becomes the king. And, as a wise guy, he marries the daughter of the last of the Yorks, Elizabeth.
ME: *begins to realize something*
ME: OMFG LITTLEFINGER WILL RULE WESTEROS!
ME: OMFG HE WILL MARRY SANSA!
ME: OMFG! SO HAPPY! YAYS!
ME: And if not, I will get medieval up GRRM.

*
FRIEND: What were you writing during final exams? I chose description.
ME: Me too.
FRIEND: And who were you writing about?
ME: Death.
FRIEND: ...*stares politely*
ME: Well, I wrote that she is nice and wise.
FRIEND: ....

later, we went to a bookshop
FRIEND: You know, I've lost my Ankh recently. Do you know what an Ankh is?
ME: Of course. Hey, wait a minute... I can show you Death!
ME: *finds the Sandman*
FRIEND: Hey, she looks nice! What's that Sandman about?
ME: Well, that guy here gets captured at the beginning... and then he is freed... and he seeks revenge, and he has to get back his tools. And he goes to Hell, and Lucifer (omgsquee) tells him that if he ever sees him again he'll kill him. And then, in second volume... well, third in Poland... Dream has to rebuild his kingdom. Wait. Have I told you that he is Dream?
FRIEND: um...
ME: Oh dear. I haven't?
FRIEND: Um...
ME: Well, he IS Dream. Or Morpheus. One of the Endless... *and so on, and so forth*

the obligatory Goblet of Fire post

2005-11-26T18:27:00.000+01:00

and me went to see Goblet of Fire yesterday.

General impressions: Cedric hot, Barty Jr hot (and creepy), dubbing awful, awful, awful. And also, the best movie of all four.

I enjoyed PS/SS and CoS because, well, Snape and Tom Riddle, and Lucius Malfoy. But take the guys out of them and I'd probably never watch them again.

Then PoA came and we (again, and me) watched it with legions of little children, and, obviously, with Polish voices. And, from what I remember, we couldn't stop talking and going "WTF?". I mean, PoA is the best movie of the three and I loved some of the ideas - the great clock at Hogwarts setting background for the Time Turner scenes. But - werewolf? Nobody could mistake it for a real wolf. And those deeep talks that Harry had with Remus? And Sirius' words to Remus just before his transformation? And I really hated Thewlis and Oldman. They probably played their parts well (again, I can't tell because of the dubbing), but they managed to ruin my love for Remus and Sirius.

And now, GoF. I had thought it was going to be a disaster - the book was so long, how could you made a movie of it?

Yesterday, I saw how you could. Yes, some scenes felt rushed (why no Quidditch Cup?), there were some Oh So Funny. Not. scenes, some slightly WTF scenes (Nigel?... and the first task?...

ME: Harry, the point is to catch the egg, not to race the dragon and ruin the school.
: He'll have to pay for renovation. He'll go bankrupt.
BOTH OF US: Teehee.
ME: Isn't that nice that Sirius will die and leave him his money?

... oh, and Padma Patil in Gryffindor), and some totally uneccessary scenes (think: Hagrid), but, overall I loved GoF.

And I did cry at the end. Not when Cedric died, but when Harry came back with his body, and he didn't want to let go of it, and Fleur screamed, and everyone went quiet, and Dumbledore arrived, and, and... *sniff*

Some random impressions:
I read 's filmockery before seeing GoF and I quoted her a lot.

: I hate dubbing.
ME: But hey, there is going to be a dark, intense, leather-clad man in there!
: ?...

And there was. Barty Crouch Jr.
: Hey. He's great.
ME: Dark, intense, leather-clad. Yeah.
ME (later): But that tongue thing is creepy.
: Oh, come on, he's HOT.
ME: Okay...

And Cedric was hot, too. And great. And very Cedric-like. And we wanted him to arrive in Prefect's bathroom. And that scene in the maze...

ME: Yes! You're going to win! Yes! (*rethinks*) Wait... No! No! No good! Don't run! Don't touch it! (*Cedric and Harry arrive at the graveyard*) Touch it back, touch it back!

I loved Fleur as well - and her little sister too. Krum was okay. I liked Ginny (as opposed to OotP and HBP book! Ginny), Ron is always good, Harry was ok, though I'm not a fan... But there were some scenes where I felt impressed with Daniel Radcliffe's acting. Well. A bit impressed.

That leaves Hermione. Movie-Hermione is just awful, and the girl who provides her voice in Polish version makes her sound even worse. Little Miss Know-It-All, indeed. No wonder Krum didn't like to talk to her.

Btw, dubbing was just SO AWFUL. There were several scenes where I knew I'd cry if I'd heard them in English - and several that I wanted to hear in English just so badly.

Oh, and Ralphdemort? BCJ's tongue thing creeped me more than Voldemort's lack of nose. In fact, V looked very like Ralph Fiennes and the dubbing didn't help to make him more scary. I mean... the guy just didn't seem much Dark Lord-ish: a bit too crazy to form a good evil plan to rule the world. Perhaps just because he spent thirteen years as something barely alive, but I wouldn't put my money on him winning with Harry.

And then two scenes at the end...

DUMBLEDORE: Remember, you will always have a friend in me.
ME: Yeah. And hereby OotP "Dumbledore won't even look me in the eye" commits a suicide.

HERMIONE: Everything is going to change now...
and ME: You're pregnant?
HARRY: Yeah.
ME: Don't worry, we're going to be godfathers?

Mmm. I liked it. Me wants more GoF. And more Cedric. And English voices. Mmm.

And now wants me to write more Regulus/Zia. I even have some plot bunnies =)

2005-11-21T18:26:00.000+01:00

I've got the Internet.

LET IT LAST, LET IT LAST!

2005-11-13T18:23:00.000+01:00

I've just checked weather forecast for the following week and apparently winter is coming.

Can't wait for the sleet and the slush! (I like snow. Winter without snow isn't winter. But there will be spring afterwards... ladeedah.)

It's good thing that I managed to buy winter boots; last year I was looking for them when snow had already fallen.

Leaving in about an hour =(

mhmm...

2005-11-12T18:21:00.000+01:00

There is something deeply surreal about coming home for just two or three days and then going away again. Travelling itself is ok, but I don't like having to walk to flat after that. Yeah, the kind of problems I have =)

I wouldn't mind living by myself all that much if I had the Internet in Poznan. But no, still no sign of it, though it should have arrived at least two weeks ago. Yeah, troubles with getting through to the service, yeah, it's always a problem to establish an Internet connection in this country, blah, blah, I get and understand it all, but. I. want. the. net. Amen. If someone says they're going to do something, they should either DO IT or say they WON'T.

[/rant]

Good thing: I'm writing a lot.

I'm listening to Madonna's new album... It's ok, if not good, better than American Life in terms of sound but worse than Music... at least imho. But Music had Paradise (Not For Me), one of Maddy's better songs.

A very tough week ahead. Keep fingers crossed for me.

2005-11-12T18:19:00.000+01:00

How to make a girlupnorth

Ingredients:

5 parts mercy

1 part brilliance

5 parts beauty

Method:
Combine in a tall glass half filled with crushed ice. Add a little fitness if desired!

Personality cocktail
From Go-Quiz.com

off to eat strawberries!

first draft of my fic

2005-11-09T18:17:00.000+01:00

Title: none. or Black is the colour.
Word count: 1,905
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: HBP
Pairings: Sirius/OC, Regulus/OC [the same], mentioned Snape/OC
Genre: let me know if you find out
Notes: please note that this is a) my first story written in English b) a first draft - there are a lot of things (passages, descriptions, and so on, and so forth) missing, and I'm going to revise it & maybe rewrite some parts. It's not going to stay as it is.

can't believe the things that you said
and all of my lies, and all of my graves hide you

She came home late that day, after a long, but still very good day spent in work at the Institute. Entering the house, she felt like having a cup of sweet tea, a long hot bath and maybe like listening to some stupid radio program.
She became aware of somebody's presence as soon as she closed the front door: a very clear disturbance in the house's usually lazy atmosphere. And that person was... yes, upstairs, she decided after a moment's thought.
She took the wand out of her handbag and quietly headed up the stairs, straight to her room. She switched the light - raised the wand - opened her mouth -
"Some people consider punctuality a virtue, you know," said a familiar nonchalant voice.
It took her eyes a moment to get accustomed to the light, but when they managed to accomplish it...
"Regulus," she said, surprised. "What on earth are you doing here?"
Young man called Regulus raised from the armchair, a smile on his face.
"There are a lot of answers to that question, Zia darling," he said, leaning to kiss her. "But for now, let's just assume that I've been missing you."
He kissed her and Zia tried her very best not to enjoy that kiss too much.
As usual, she failed spectacularly.
"Regulus."
"Yes?"
"You haven't forgotten I'm your brother's girlfriend, have you?," she asked, looking up into his bluish-green eyes.
"I hope to be forgiven soon," Regulus smiled again. "You seem to have forgotten as well."
"You're an awful, awful, awful person," decided Zia, separating herself from his arms. "So. What do you want to drink?"
"Hmm. Do you have any nice wine?"
She thought for a moment.
"Yes, I think I have something perfect," she answered at last. "If you excuse me for a minute..."
He didn't; instead, he followed her to the kitchen.
"You're a very sweet housewife," he exclaimed. "I envy my brother."
"You'd better tell him to treat that housewife better," sighed Zia.
"He's treating you badly? That bastard!"
"Lately, he hasn't been treating me at all. He seems to be upset about me postponing the wedding."
She said it lightly but was watching Regulus with extreme care. And she wasn't disappointed: the smile vanished from his face at once.
"I thought the news about your engagement had been pure gossips."
"I wish they had been," said Zia sincerely. "I don't feel too keen on becoming Sirius' wife... well, anybody's wife, really."
Regulus' gaze was fixed upon her.
"He's so utterly stupid a man," he said quietly, but then his expression changed totally. "So, what about this wine?"
Zia reached into the cupboard and produced a bottle of martini.
"Here. It's a gift from my dad."
Regulus opened the bottle and poured the wine into glasses.
"To your wonderful housekeeping, darling."
He was teasing her, she knew. Waiting for an outburst of "don't call me darling", perhaps for one more (how many happened before, by the way?...) of their arguments. She would've done it any day but this. Today, she felt tired - with work, but mostly with this strange, stupid situation with Sirius.
"To my housekeeping," she agreed. "And to your toasts."
Regulus looked a bit surprised, but he smiled anyway.
"Cheers."
"So - why are you here?," she asked, sipping her wine. "And how did you get in, by the way?"
"You know, I've always been good at charms."
"Yes, I know. But people who are equally good had troubles with entering this house," said Zia, this time more seriously. She really was hoping that the wards upon the house had been good.
"I guess they weren't fortunate enough to be friends with our good old Sevvie," said Regulus lightly. "And I had the luck - or lack thereof - to try and enter his dormitory several times when he didn't want to be disturbed."
Zia sat in silence for a while.
"That means than any Slytherin can enter this house without much trouble," she said at last, bitterly. "And we've thought we're safe here..."
Oh, to be as stupid as to rely on Severus Snape's work! Was he even aware that his charms weren't giving them safety? She couldn't decide if that was worse than him not knowing.
"Zia," said Regulus gently, "calm down, please. I assure you that not many people know about Severus and your sister. That's one thing. Quite few people would be able to open a door protected by his wards. That's the other."
"Still, there are some."
"Well, yes... Severus himself... you... your sister... me... Professor Flitwick, McGonagall maybe, obviously Dumbledore. The charming Potters, my brother, if he bothered to worry his handsome head. Narcissa, maybe. And, my darling Zia, you still don't want to believe what I told you during our very first conversation in Hogwarts."
"That being?"
"You're almost of full blood. And even that bit of Muggle blood that flows in your pretty veins is French, so sophisticated enough to be forgiven. Yeah, you're friendly with the wrong sort of people, but upon your conversion that would've be forgiven as well."
Regulus was saying all those things with that special tone of his that was light and carefree, but in fact hid real care.
"It's a good thing you're not a catholic missionary," said Zia with a glimpse of humour in her eyes. "All the pagan princesses would've be converting so that you could preach to them everyday."
"Catholic missionaries are forced to remain in celibacy, if I'm not mistaken."
"Well, yes."
"So - your answer is no."
"You're right," said Zia calmly. "Is it true that you have to kill somebody to actually join him?"
It seemed like Regulus had been struck with a lightning: he went extremely grave and suddenly distant. Zia felt sorry.
"I didn't want to...," she began, but he interrupted.
"No. No - it's okay, Zia-dear."
"Is it?," she asked quietly and for a moment they gazed into one another's eyes.
"No," Regulus seemed to force himself to smile. "It's not."
She touched his hand - a stupid, non-cold-blooded and non-English gesture (ah, that drop of French blood!) - and, what was even more stupid, she wanted to embrace him and say that everything would be alright, really, he didn't need to worry...
But that - that would've been a lie.
Regulus sank into his armchair, holding her fingers with his own.
"Have you ever had to kill anyone?" he asked.
"No," she admitted.
"Do you think you'd be able to?"
Zia considered this in silence.
"It's quite possible. If I was in grave danger - if someone I love was in grave danger..."
He laughed bitterly.
"You're a dear, innocent darling. I'm rather happy you never wanted to join him, I have to admit."
"I'm not that innocent."
"Really? I'd say you are."
"I'm not."
"Well, then, my not-that-innocent darling, could you maybe tell me - what do you know about horcruxes?"
Zia frowned at that switch in the conversation.
"Something very dark and awful," she said. "Why?"
"I do know they are something dark and evil," replied Regulus. "I know they are a means to achieving immortality. But I want some more details."
Zia looked at him thoughtfully. She did know what horcruxes were; the Institute possessed some books unavailable in normal wizarding libraries and as its employee she was more or less free to read them. But... why did he want to know about that sort of things?
"Not really a means to achieving immortality," she corrected. "Rather - to fool death. And not really horcruxes, they only go in singular."
"I'm quite sure that the things I'm talking about go in plural," he said without a smile. "Zia, please: can you tell me what a horcrux is?"
"Do you want to know it for your master?"
Zia's voice was quiet, yet determined. She didn't like the man, wasn't fond of his ideas. Isolating wizarding world from Muggles did sound reasonable, but there was no need to kill all those poor people.
She was working in an institution that let only second generation wizards to work on more serious charms and only wizards of a mostly magical origin (mostly: Muggles here or there were allowed) to touch those old volumes with charms and curses. Magic, Professor Tseive was used to say, sounds like an easy way to rule the world for some Muggleborns. Pureblooded of us are better aware of the limitations. Sirius was angry about her work choice; Regulus congratulated on a good decision.
"It's definitely not for my master," said Regulus calmly.
Zia shrugged. Well, there was always good old Obliviate...
"A horcrux is an object which contains a part of one's soul. A part of a soul that someone has put into that thing when killing somebody. There is a spell that divides a soul in two pieces..."
"Part of a soul," Regulus repeated blankly. "And that object can be?..."
"Virtually anything. A pen, a clock, a piece of furniture..."
"Sweet Jesus," said Regulus. "And - how exactly does it work?"
"Well, when your physical body dies, so does half of your soul that resides in it. The other one remains in your horcrux, not letting you die. But," Zia was beginning to feel the thrill of talking about her passion. "it's not a really efficient way to immortality. You don't have a body. When you acquire one, you don't have a horcrux. You can die or make another horcrux."
"That's why I'm talking about horcruxes."
"Yes... but you know, that kind of dark magic never leaves you unscarred. I'm not even sure if someone could be psychically able to make more than one horcrux."
Regulus smiled.
"See? You are an innocent person."
Zia shot him an annoyed look.
"And there is always a question of how good your soul is after the dividing..."
"Zia, darling," said Regulus, falling back into his usual manner. "Thank you for all these bits of information. This spiritual stuff... well, never mind it for now. But hey, is Sirius coming here tonight?"
Another switch in the conversation. Zia blinked.
"No," she said, knowing, what he was aiming to. "But..."
"But - what?" he asked. There was a strange shadow on his face - a sign of a shock after the discovery? Once again, she wanted to touch him and say it's alright - it's not like it was so important for him...
"He isn't coming, but... oh, Regulus, you awful creature, you can't stay! You know you can't!"
"Why?" he asked in a charming way. "Give me one valid reason."
"I'm your brother's fiancée."
"We love incest in the Black family."
"I'm your brother's fiancée."
"It's not like we ever cared," he observed.
"I'm... oh, I'm so awfully tired," she said, giving up to her weakness. "I'd only wanted to have a hot bath and then go to bed, before I realized you're here."
Regulus watched her closely.
"I think I can assist you in your bath," he said, smiling. "And we'll obviously be going to bed, Zia darling."
She threw her now empty glass at him; he caught it in midair and then leant to kiss her.
"I hate you," declared Zia when they broke the kiss.
"I know you do," he replied. "That's why I love you."
She let him stay that night, knowing that she really shouldn't and knowing that she really wanted to.

rambling about my writing

2005-10-30T18:16:00.000+01:00

Remember when I said I wanted to write a fic? And that it was supposed to be set after HBP?

So, I took the idea and wrote two scenes, one of which may be a short story itself. One takes place at Hogwarts post MWPP (but pre 1980), the other happens during summer of 1981. Both feature Regulus Black. Or, to be more precise: both feature Regulus Black, who seems nicer a person than his brother. That isn't surprising, really. The nicest of my characters is in fact the most wicked of them, though he never shows that. In the second scene, Regulus wants to find out about horcruxes and my OC is able to provide him with some bits of information.

You know what? I love writing. But I wish I was once able to write what I had planned: the talk between Narcissa looking for Draco and my OCs, post HBP, no Sirius, no Regulus, no Severus. Now, I'm wondering how I could resurrect Regulus so that my poor OC could have a family.

The other thing: yesterday I looked through old e-mails in my inbox and recalled why really I quit writing. Somewhen over this year, I managed to forget how tired I was of this world, these characters, these sets of events... Well, now I've changed most of them, so I'm having fun figuring out what the characters are thinking and how they're reacting. (Regulus/Zia otp! Why, oh why didn't you mention Regulus in GoF, JKR? I wouldn't have written hundreds of pages about Zia's children with Sirius.) And if I stick to just the new storyline, maybe I won't get sick with re-thinking the old stories and how I wrote them.

And would like me to write Vicious/Spike slash set after CB (so just a teeny wee bit AU), with some nice Jet/Faye. I've never written slash yet! :> But I suppose you never stop learning, so, yes, I'll probably try to write some of that. 'Cause I'm just that cool.

the real folk blues

2005-10-29T18:14:00.000+02:00

Watching sixteen episodes of Cowboy Bebop in one day feels a bit like brain-washing.

You know, I don't like anime all that much... In fact, I don't like anime at all. But I enjoyed CB. Especially the funny episodes (Mushroom Samba!). And the episodes with Vicious.

omg Vicious! omg Vicious/Spike otp!

is so obsessed about CB that she bought a dvd with all 26 episodes. She watched half of them for the first time with me today. Of course, she had spoiled each and every episode for herself (she always does stuff like that) and from session 20 on she was depressed that Spike would die. Also of course, she had spoiled everything for me as well (right after I'd seen episode 1), so I was sad that Vicious would die.

Ehm. From Vicious' description:
Vicious is a violent, black-hearted man who prefers to work in solitude. --> in other words, he's destined to be fangirled by me. Each appearance of V got an obligatory squee from me. (Each appearance of CB's wonderdog Ein also got a squee from me. That girl clearly has issues. I'm also very sad that Ein wandered away two episodes before the final one.)

I still don't get what Spike (and Vicious) saw in Julia, but I may be simply too shallow to notice that. (Vicious/Spike otp!)

now tries to decide if she prefers Spike alive or dead at the end (the little addict!). Well... If he's alive, he'd be the new syndicate head, right? Jet would have a fit :>

I'll try to borrow the CB dvd from (maybe by Christmas? :>) and watch it again, in a much more slow and calm way. But I'm still not going to get addicted. Nope. Not a chance :>

2005-10-15T18:11:00.000+02:00

We had first really "autumny" days: grey, chilly, no sun. I'm feeling kinda down. I'm addicted to sunshine.

College news: lots of work. Phonetics! Writing! And Swedish! And Swedish pronunciation! And lectures! I'm taking notes during lectures, but then I have to rewrite them so that I wouldn't have to decipher them every time.

Home again: in two weeks time. But that'll be for more than just the weekend!:)

a little meme

2005-10-14T18:09:00.000+02:00

Your Blog Should Be Purple

You're an expressive, offbeat blogger who tends to write about anything and everything.
You tend to set blogging trends, and you're the most likely to write your own meme or survey.
You are a bit distant though. Your blog is all about you - not what anyone else has to say.

What Color Should Your Blog or Journal Be?

2005-10-08T18:08:00.000+02:00

The thing I don't like about leaving home is the trouble to catch up with what was happenning on the net later on. I'm visiting net cafes, but only for an hour a day, so I can't read everything that was posted...

Came home only for the weekend - I'm leaving again tomorrow.

Poznan is beautiful; my room (and flat) is mostly ok, but annoying at times; my college and my group at the college seem to be ok - I hope it'll stay this way.

First 'real' classes on Monday. Lectures on Tuesday. First Swedish classes also on Tuesday and then on Wednesday. Only two classes on Thursday and then gloriously free Friday. Sounds ok.

My group has had a meeting set (by the college, I think) in a pub not-so-far from my flat on Tuesday. I wonder how I'm going to get up at 7 am on Wednesday :>

Hm. It's not all so sweet and bright - there are things that really really suck and living on my own still scares me. But I'm trying to work everything out :)

in conclusion: addicted liek whoa.

2005-10-01T17:56:00.000+02:00

hot men count for Poznan: 3 (two with dark hair, one with blond)

net cafes are my salvation.

2005-09-30T17:52:00.000+02:00

Spent some time at 's, mostly watching Cowboy Bebop, her latest obsession. (It's better than I've thought, and has some beautiful animations, but I'm not going to be obsessed about it. No. Absolutely not ;) Lj-ing does strange things to human's mind: the moment I saw Spike and Vicious together on screen I said "Spike/Vicious OTP, right?" and was very surprised to discover that... not really. Apparently CB fandom isn't much into slash.

Packed my things - let's hope I haven't left something essential. I'll be visiting home next week (elections), though - so if I take too many unnecessary items, I can bring them back. Or take something necessary on my way back.

Nothing more to add, except for:

Happy birthday to :)!

I'll be back. Soon! ;)

oh my dear God.

2005-09-29T17:49:00.000+02:00

I'm leaving for Poznan in two days - I'm going to study English and Scandinavian philology in a college there. So now I'm practically moving out: taking there most of my clothes, lots of household equipment, books, etc, etc. Poznan is four hours away from my home city and if I want to visit home, I'll have to take a train.

And I'm scared. Jeez. I've never been away from home for more than three weeks - and I've never really been on my own. Now, I have to leave my beautiful room, my family, my books, my things, my rabbit and little dog (well, technically both are my sister's, but let's not mind details) and move to a big strange city. Waah. I'm scared - I try to act as maturely as possible, but it's difficult.

*deep breath*

Ok. Tomorrow I'm going to be packing my things - I've already packed some of my wardrobe, but there is still a lot of stuff laying around.

My mum bought me a laptop (and a printer/scanner) to take with me, but I won't have Internet access for a while. Hopefully, no more than a month.

Other news - myspace features all of Fiona Apple's new album, Extraordinary Machine - you can listen to it on-line. I've already done it three times. I think it's really good, maybe except for Red Red Red - the first version of it was much better. It's being released on October 4th; I'm going to buy it soon.

2005-09-26T17:48:00.000+02:00

(Hm. I've noticed more than once that my mood - as presented above - has nothing to do with what I'm writing about.)

I'm tempted to write a fanfict.

Set (quite surprisingly) in the world of HP.

An epilogue to my old fic.

I'm seriously worried about myself. Two years ago, when OotP came out, I decided not to write anything new, just finish old stories and leave fandom.

I finished writing my last fic last year (without epilogue, because I couldn't come up with a proper idea for it) and I more or less left fandom. Well, Polish fandom.

I didn't even want to read HBP, but I bought it - just to get through it once and never return. I bought it, read it, really enjoyed it and began to browse various ljs. And, within a week, I found myself in a brand new old HP fandom.

And now I came up with an idea for this epilogue. It would be AU to the whole story (because, among many other things, my fic featured Sirius The Only Son), it would change everything in story's universe (I've got a bad feeling that one of my characters would actually prefer Regulus to Sirius, plus she would've been friends with Narcissa), I'd promised myself not to write another fic... and yet I'm tempted to write it.

Fortunately, I don't have much time on my hands now - and by the time I have some, I'll hopefully get over this idea.

karma drawn up in lines

do this last one, and then grow me some wine

NaNoWriMo07: the survivor's memoirs, vol. 2

Mmm. Sleepy.

Meet Leon

NaNoWriMo07: the survivor's memoirs, vol. 1

[can't think of a quotation without swear words ;D]

My issues with advice on writing

Not enough *headdesk* in the world.

Real Life, revisited

NaNoWri... oh wait. Novel Writing, Day 25

NaNoWriMo, Day 24

NaNoWriMo, Day 23

NaNoWriMo, Day 22

NaNoWriMo, Day 22

NaNoWriMo, Day 20

NaNoWriMo, Day 19

NaNoWriMo, Day 18

NaNoWriMo, Day 17

NaNoWriMo, Day 16

NaNoWriMo, Day 15

NaNoWriMo, Day 14

NaNoWriMo, Day 13

NaNoWriMo, Day 12

NaNoWriMo, Day 11

NaNoWriMo, Day 9

NaNoWriMo, Day 8

NaNoWriMo, Day 7

NaNoWriMo, Day 6

NaNoWriMo, Day 5

NaNoWriMo, Day 4

NaNoWriMo, Day 3

NaNoWriMo, Day 2

NaNo, Day 1: the final count

NaNoWriMo, day 1

An announcement

the gigantic tv meme

go and catch a falling star

the king of the mountain (so sleepy zzz)

Life, continued.

What do you know, I do have a life. (Sometimes.)

Verily, being a vampire sucks.

New tv season! Yay!

I love the smell of testosterone in the morning!

meme after lunch

meme in the morning

Magic Muse's Castle

what, another TV series?

looks like the summer is over

or that some friends just change like the seasons

I took a trip on a Gemini spaceship

suitcase packed

a little grace and some elegance

You're on Tokyo time, woman!

meme!

sail through my ears, I heard you fine the first time

once more, with feeling

Fic: Do The Goblins Grant Wishes? [1/1]

More thoughts upon re-reading...

the obligatory reaction post

okay, firstly and most importantly

the end of the world as we know it

About 19 hours...

35 hours 'till HP7. Meanwhile, another movie afternoon

I'm going to make him an offer he cannot refuse

she'd sigh like Twig the Wonder Kid

Who da man?

dvds 2007

wiedźmina podróże przez bezdroża wiedźminlandu

New Year's Resolutions

quotes 2007

cds 2007

movies 2007

books 2007

a meme

Fic: Mistletoe [1/1]

various stuff

a LOST personality quiz!

today. History of England. and a dialogue with a friend

the obligatory Goblet of Fire post

Not enough headdesk in the world.