W00t, I have tickets to go to a performance of Puccini's Madame Butterfly next week! *bounces*

( The Tudors semi-spoilers )

YAY FOR NEW DRAGON'S DEN EPISODES! Totally can't wait. But why has Richard Farleigh quit? I loved him on the show. :/

This weeks thefridayfive: ( How Long...? )

Current Mood: listless

I just watched this 1000th documentary on anorexia nervosa and they said some of the featured girls/women secretly took Neurontin. In my book Neurontin (Gabapentin) is prescribed for diseases like epilepsy and neurological pains (but it also treats partial seizures, I believe). I take it as a painkiller for my migraine attacks occasionally but it's pretty strong and I don't want to risk taking too much. One dose is often not enough and it can make me groggy so I try to avoid it as much as possible.

So how would anorexic girls think they 'benefit' (in their own distorted view, of course) from this drug? I don't know of any side effects that could, say, supress their hunger or give them some of the much-needed energy they lack when eating under 800 calories a day. Probably it's just the high that comes with it when you aren't used to it - much like addicts. Either way, it's horrible and it makes me fear what thousands of other things people can do to destroy their own systems and bodies. But I'm also curious as to why these people buy and take Neurontin illegally since I have no idea what kinds of effects it has on people without things like postherpetic neuralgia and why it would be perceived as something positive by anorexic people. Anyone know the answer to this?

Wow, I watched Dr. Phil today and what was all that about? There was this woman that had fallen in love with her brother's murderer while visiting him in jail. She is now trying to get him out and her mother (!) agrees with her. The latter even said: "He isn't a murderer." EH? Some people are capable of boggling the mind in more than a hundred ways, it seems. >.>

Current Mood: calm

I just remembered something that 'happened' to me about four and a half years ago. Having just entered the HP fandom on LJ, I felt a bit overwhelmed by all the talented and lovely people around - perhaps I didn't know how to begin communicating with them online - and that's why I loved posting memes and questionnaires to my journal. Somehow it felt comfortable typing up answers to personal questions because they helped me express my feelings and how I thought about my life at that time.

Anyway, there were lots of HP memes floating around but not so many of those focused on shippiness or OTP's, I noticed. That's essentially why I wrote my own 'OTP meme' (how original!), answered the questions and posted it to my own LJ. I thought I had created it only for personal use because I just wanted to list my canon and fanon ships in a clear way. I never expected it to snowball as much as it did. In the next few weeks the meme had reached many shippy communities, het shippers and slash people alike and even a lot of BNF's and well-known fic authors. It mus've been because of seeing my own meme on other people's journals all over fandom that I gained more confidence in talking to them and I eventually made a bunch of new friends and my flist grew exponentially as a result. This silly little meme in fact had given me the much-needed boost to really dive into this wonderful fandom headfirst. <3

Ahh, the nostalgia.

THIS IS SUCH SPAM, I KNOW!

Current Mood: chipper

I finally ordered Fahrenheit 451 and We (by Yevgeny Zamyatin) today 'cause I am a sucker for all things Huxley-esque. And are written well, duh. I once heard that We is believed to be the inspiration of Orwell, am I right?


Stephen Fry = love. I was watching his documentary HIV and Me yesterday and once again I realized how much I am in awe of this man. He's the kind of delightful intellectual you never come across anymore on television. He's also hilarious AND he has showed that he's capable of making powerful and honest documentaries without having sensation as the main focus. God, too bad he's gay because I want to shag him rotten.

Current Mood: chipper

I just watched Topmodel, the Flemish version of ANTM.

And dude, we SUCK at adapting existing formats for our own shows. They always forget to snag all the cool things about the original show and make it something repetitive, unexciting and ridiculous. Umph.

Current Mood: chipper

I'm finally going to watch an ep of Murphy's Law. About time. *licks James Nesbitt*

Current Mood: cheerful

Phew, I needed to take a break from all those (11th century and modern) Japanese novels and texts I'm reading for my thesis (The Influence of Heian texts on Modern Literature) so I started reading The Last Empress by Anchee Min. Fabulous novel written in a simple but elegant and very symbolic style. Just what I need.

I've become way too angry with the gratuitous and pointless violence and shocking images I come across in modern Japanese novels. I know this literary aspect is considered as a part of their culture but it makes me cringe every time I read about it - even Haruki Murakami attempted this sensational style (that's probably part of the reason I have issues with his The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles) and you can't ignore it. Why on earth would anyone want to write novel after novel about more than slightly psychopathic teens that masturbate over pictures of shocking diseases and later become serial killers or commit suicide or become nazi's? I must've read that kind of story about a hundred times in the past few years and I'm sick of it. It's not that I don't acknowledge Japan's war history but it's just too much. What a relief that the subject I'm doing my study on - Heian literature - concerns mostly female authors who didn't follow this ancient tradition and wrote about interpersonal relations and the individual spirit. Thrilling!

And I don't want to face my Dutch teacher for a while because of something silly and very puberal. What am I, a thirteen-year-old or something? ( TMI for women's problems. )

ETA: Watched part one of the repeat of Stephen Fry weekend on BBC2. How I love him! *snuggles Stephen* And what a naughty man he is, secretly liking to swear the hell out of people. But showing an episode of Blackadder Goes Forth after Who Do You think You Are? (in which he discovered that part of his fanily perished in Auschwitz) was a total mistake on behalf of the BBC. I know it's about WWI and not WWII and maybe I'm a bit sensitive about those things but hasn't Stephen played in Blackadder The Third also? Why not pick an episode of that series or just show the war ep the day after this shocking documentary?

Current Mood: chipper

It's reccing time! These fantastic fics have been accumulating in my memories over the last few days. About time for me to rec them already, methinks.

Pre-DH oldies that are worth checking out:

Water Trade (Draco/Luna, NC-17) by pennymintlick for last year's smutty_claus. Wow, I love the fact that it takes place in Japan (duh!) and pennymintlick's Luna is just perfect here.

Another one of those great smutty_claus fics: Living History (Snape/Tonks, NC-17) by iulia_linnea. This is such a clever little story. Definitely not a PWP.

Returning To London (Draco/Hermione, R) by applecede. Very interesting prompt and nicely written. Makes me want more!

Speak Easy (Harry/Hermione). parkergrey has always been a master of angsty H/Hr and this fic proves that for about the 20494th time.

Non-spoilery recs:

A Game of Cat and Mouse (Harry/Hermione, NC-17) by amethyst_j. Such raw feelings here and a wonderfully angsty and smutty read.

The Magic Number (Harry/Hermione, Mature) by scribooty. OMG GO READ THIS. IT'S H/HR FUNNY!SEX, HOW COULD YOU NOT?

A Birthday fic for Hermione (Harry/Hermione) by alissomora. *melts*

( Recs with DH spoilers (be warned!) )

On an entirely different note: I want to watch Tim Gunn's Guide to Style so bad (probably because I'm very shallow) and I can't! It'll take at least six months before it reaches our channels here. If not a year and a half. And ANTM too! And Journeyman! *goes crazy* Oh, well, I have BBC's What Not to Wear to comfort me, I guess.

Current Mood: bouncy

I want to watch Journeyman because well, LUCIUS VORENUS IS SEX.

And I can't because I'm stuck in this little country and it's going to take yeaaaaars before they're going to air it here.

I'll stop the whining now. Maybe I just need to search a download community.

Oh, jacyevans wrote me a Harry/Hermione drabble (DH spoilers) for her icon meme. Go check it, it's wonderful!

Current Mood: blah

Okay.

I've been taking these new migraine-preventive pills since Monday. Also I've been feeling quite depressed and tired these last three days and I have no strength in my muscles and I feel like a jelly doughnut (Not in JFK's or the dirty sence, mind you).

Time to put two and two together, isn't it?

Another thing that won't help. As if being allergic to aspirin isn't already frustrating enough when you need headache meds!

Learned a new word today! Apparently I'm a Migraineur. Came across it in this article. Sounds rather impressive, to be a Migraineur. Like I am a Doctor of Migraine or something.

There must be a demand for Japan-related icons, don't you dare tell me there isn't. I don't see them too often but I wantwantwant them and snag any I happen to stumble across. It's just that I'm totally in love with this country/their culture and I'm even doing a thesis on its 11th century literature. Because I am a geek like that!

Current Mood: busy

Phew, I needed to take a break from all those (11th century and modern) Japanese novels and texts I'm reading for my thesis (The Influence of Heian texts on Modern Literature) so I started reading The Last Empress by Anchee Min. Fabulous novel written in a simple but elegant and very symbolic style. Just what I need.

I've become way too angry with the gratuitous and pointless violence and shocking images I come across in modern Japanese novels. I know this literary aspect is considered as a part of their culture but it makes me cringe every time I read about it - even Haruki Murakami attempted this sensational style (that's probably part of the reason I have issues with his The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles) and you can't ignore it. Why on earth would anyone want to write novel after novel about more than slightly psychopathic teens that masturbate over pictures of shocking diseases and later become serial killers or commit suicide or become nazi's? I must've read that kind of story about a hundred times in the past few years and I'm sick of it. It's not that I don't acknowledge Japan's war history but it's just too much. What a relief that the subject I'm doing my study on - Heian literature - concerns mostly female authors who didn't follow this ancient tradition and wrote about interpersonal relations and the individual spirit. Thrilling!

And I don't want to face my Dutch teacher for a while because of something silly and very puberal. What am I, a thirteen-year-old or something? ( TMI for women's matters. )

Current Mood: pessimistic

I just agreed to write Lucius/Luna smut. How the hell am I gonna pull that off?

Current Mood: bouncy

My previous hermione_ldws entry. I got shared third place for this so I'm pretty content. :)

Prompt: Friendship.

Title: A Peaceful Evening
Rating: G
Warnings: None.
Summary: Hermione feels unable to cope with her anxieties all by herself. Takes place during HBP!
Pairing: Neville/Hermione, but only just slightly.
Word Count: 417
Spoilers: None.

( A Peaceful Evening )

Current Mood: bouncy

This is my second hermione_ldws drabble, aka the one that was submitted two weeks ago. My least favorite, but anyway.

Prompt: A kiss is a lovely trick, designed by nature, to stop words when speech becomes unnecessary. Ingrid Bergman

Title: Reminiscence
Rating: PG
Summary: Hermione loves to reminisce in her spare time.
Pairing: Charlie/Hermione
Word Count: 498
Spoilers: None really, except for a teeny-weeny mention of the funeral of a character that died in DH - no names, though.

( Reminiscence )

Current Mood: bouncy

Yep, I'm going. I'm going to hospital tomorrow to let everything get checked. I explained my condition in my last post.

I called my doctor this evening and he suggested I check in into a hospital for observation because this has been going on for too long (he finally admitted it!) and my fever is too high right now. He's coming over to our house tomorrow morning after he's spoken to an internist. He can't estimate how many days they'll keep me there; could be 2 days, could be 5. I hope they'll discover if this flu-like sickness I'm experiencing has something to do with the abdominal problems I had/might still have.

I'm not eager to go but it's for the best, I think. :( I'll try to post something before I leave!

I love you all! ♥ *hugs flist a thousand times*

Current Mood: sick

You know those days where you feel exhausted, rushed, irritated and sort of anxious all at the same time? That's how I've been feeling generally for the past few weeks. I'm still groggy occasionally because of all the painkillers I still need to take (otherwise my stomach still hurts too much - is that normal?), I've also gotten sick with this flu-type thingy that my doctor can't find out what it is exactly (for three weeks now o.O), I'm emotionally and physically drained and most of the time I'm way too tired to go outside or even go up the stairs. I'm constantly worrying if I might get a migraine (since I've had them so frequently last school year) because there seems to be something wrong with my menstruation (my migraine is hormonal) and I'm also panicky that my endometriosis (for which I have been treated) still isn't gone. I'm SICK of it now. It's summer vacation and I don't see how I'm going to survive the start of the new school year in two mere weeks.

I tend to be a fairly healthy person(which I know I don't sound like right now). It's just that all problems that I come across need to hit me in the face at the same time and make me go absolutely crazy.

So I just want to say: AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRGGGHHHH!!!

For those of you that have friended me quite recently: I was out for a couple of months because I had surgery for an abdominal infection. It's better now, but I still feel rather bad, obviously.

*doesn't know what mood icon to choose*

I'm off to watch Jekyll again for comfort. Always helps. :)

Yay for the_minx_17's Bring Back the Pr0n Day! With all of this horrible LJ drama lately, we need something like this. All you need to do is write a piece of HP smut (however little) and post it September 1st. Easy, no? :)

/pimping

Current Mood: blah

Yay! Shared 2nd place in the first round of hermione_ldws over at LJ! Here are the results. Congratulations, brentdax!

I guess I can post my entry now. :)

Prompt: Where is Hermione five years after Deathly Hallows? Bearing DH in mind, or ignoring it completely.

Title: Dawning
Rating: PG
Summary: It took Hermione a friendship of twelve years to figure it out.
Pairing: Harry/Hermione
Word Count: 499
Spoilers: None, except for Harry's profession post-DH. Also of the EWE-type.

( Dawning )

Current Mood: cheerful

I made quibbler_report and thegoldenseeker with my Dean/Luna fic. O_O Thanks, guys!

Woke up today at 1pm and still feel all faint, sleepy and dizzy. I hate it when that happens! I'm going to watch OotP again this afternoon though, that should wake me up completely. :)

I also have a Journalfen account now, here. Just in case. Anyone friend me over there?

Current Mood: blah

Title: Six Times Dean Nearly Fell In Love With Luna
Rating: PG
Summary: Dean has fallen in love with someone time and time again – only, he doesn’t realize it yet.
Word Count: About 3,600
Note: DH spoilers! And many, many love to rons_pigwidgeon who was so kind to beta this. I also notice that the title looks a bit stolen from the wonderful D/L fic butterfly_kate posted recently, but I hadn't even come across it when I started to write this. Sorry!

( Six Times Dean Nearly Fell In Love With Luna )

I always love comments, duh. ;)

Current Mood: cheerful