Happy Birthday, thebratqueen! All the best! *hugs*

I'm slowly getting used to my new computer (so fast!) and Windows 7. I love the Aero Peek effects and I think I'm a tiny bit in love with the post it thingy. You can make notes and stick it on your desktop and they look like post it notes! Awesome!

And I figured out why I had problems with my backup/sync tool that I've used so far. Turns out that the trick is to use it as an administrator and then it works like a charm. \o/

In not so good news, one week after my computer died, my brother's computer died, too. :-( He now thinks of buying the same computer I have.

In better news, since it's December soon I want to pimp mfac! mfac is a multi-fannish advent calendar made by the awesome saba1789. Over the course of 24 days you will get pretty pictures, recs, icons, and more. It's really, really awesome and if you don't believe me you can go to the journal and see the entries from the last few years. ♥♥♥

And a reminder for the Christmas/winter holiday/New Year's cards: relevant post on LJ or on DW.

Happy Birthday, thepouncer and _strange_music_! I wish you both all the best! *hugs*

I've got close to 100 open tabs and I'm not quite sure how I managed to do that again. I was so good for a while and now I've got tabiitis again ;-).

I also got a google wave. I'm skybss over there, anyone else have an account? And how does that thing actually work?

Happiest of Birthdays to stellamira! I wish you all the best and hopefully it won't take another three years until we see each other again! *hugs tight*

Thanks also for the lovely panda card, which I already got on Monday! So cute! :-)


I've had my follow up check up on my ankle this morning. I'm now allowed to take off the aircast during the night, which is a huge relief! My ankle still hurts with certain movements and of course when I prod and poke my ankle. But all in all it's better. Yay. I've got another follow up in three weeks.

Happy Birthday, lilysaid! I wish you all the best! *hugs*

After my computer died, I went out and bought a new one yesterday. Go me! It's a computer with a large harddrive and Windows 7, which will take quite some time to get used to after using XP for so long.

I liked XP! I new exactly where I could find things. It's really embarrassing how long it took for me to find the option to unhide the hidden folders. But after I found that, it was no problem to copy the Firefox and Thunderbird profile from my backup and voila, I've got most of it back.

Most of my programs seem to run fine under Windows 7. I also managed to copy the whole WoW folder and so far it seems to run fine with this computer. I just need to find a new and decent backup/sync program, because my old one doesn't seem to like Win7 all that much. :-/

Also, it was harder than I thought possible to change my wallpaper. Usually I'm not that much of a noob when it comes to computers. :-/

In any case, things seem to run fine so far with my shiny new black computer! \o/

My computer died a spectacular death today. I was about to watch the latest episode of Legend of the Seeker when the screen went white and I couldn't do anything anymore. I managed to turn the computer off, but it wouldn't turn on again.

My brother, who came by immediately bless him, tried a different monitor, opened up the computer and did some other stuff, but it seems to be deader than dead. Luckily for me, I made a backup on Friday. It already crashed on Friday, but I managed to turn it back on and make a backup, so all I lost are just the few things since Friday evening.

But still! :-/

I'm currently online with my old laptop that was still lying around on my living room floor since last year. The laptop of course is very out of date and slower than slow. But until I get a new computer, I have to make do.

But my brother and mother promised me that they would give me some money to pay for a new computer (it's the birthday and Christmas money from both of them). So, yay, for small favors.

Seems as if I'm on the late side to make this entry this year, but I blame it on my general laziness this year. Everything just takes a bit longer than usual. Or I'm getting old.

In any case, if you'd like to get a card from me please leave a comment (with your address if you're not sure I already have it - comments are screened) to this post. I'll try to send out the cards so that you get them by the end of the year. Oh, and tell me if you'd like a Christmas/general winter holiday/entirely different card.

Happy Birthday, tmz_cori and keksmitmilch! I wish you both all the best! *hugs*

Watched ( 2012 )

Happy Birthday, raven_lore and coreopsis! I wish you both all the best! *hugs tight*

We are closer than ever to the civil partnership for homosexual couples (eingetragene Partnerschaft für Homosexuelle) here in Austria. Yes, I know, we are quite late to the party, but... better late than never? If everything goes according to plan, same sex couples are allowed to marry register their partnership starting with 01.01.2010.

Sounds good, right? Except that there are a couple details that just don't sit right with me. A major one is that unlike heterosexual couples, homosexuals aren't allowed go to the civil registry office to register. No, they have to go to the municipality. :-/ And homosexuals aren't allowed to adopt, either. :-/

Still, better than nothing. *sighs*

In TV news and for the Austrians on my friendslist: tonight starts a new docusoap on ATV. It's called "Notaufnahme" and is filmed in various hospitals in my hometown, but mainly in the hospital where I work (AKh). Just in case anyone's interested.

Happy Birthday, franzi1981! I wish you all the best! *hugs*

Life with the aircast is weird. Sometimes I notice it, sometimes I don't. It's kind of itchy on the skin when I wear it at night, because I hate wearing socks in bed. My ankle doesn't hurt when I wear the aircast, which is kind of the point I think. I do notice the injury the few times I don't wear it (ie in the shower). I can't wait for the day when I don't have to wear it anymore. Just 5 1/2 weeks to go. *headdesk*

A couple things about a few shows:

( Legend of the Seeker - 2x01 and 2x02 )

( Merlin - 2x08 - The Sins of the Father )

( Stargate Universe - 1x08 - Time )

I'm going to see 2012 later tonight. I hope it's going to be cracktastic! The trailer promised me that much.

The Querstrich meeting last weekend was fun like always. For the first time instead of meeting at mamoru's flat we stayed at a house in the middle of nowhere. Everyone had their own bed and since we also had several showers and toilets, we didn't have the queue up like in previous years. In the past the morning routine usually took half the day, but not now. Heh!

We had so much space! It was awesome. We watched stuff on a big screen (bingeling had brought a beamer) and by stuff I mean about a million song vids, Supernatural (which I missed), Merlin, Glee, The Big Bang Theory, etc.

The downside of having the gathering in the middle of nowhere, though, was that there was hardly any mobile phone reception and of course no Internet. Most of us suffered horribly! Okay, not really, but in regular intervals people flocked to the few places where there was cell reception. Heh.

But the best thing about the weekend was that I met up with old friends, met new people and met people I've only talked to online in the past. Also, for the first time in four (!!!) years saba1789, stellamira and I were in the same place! Stellamira and I haven't seen each other in three years! As you can imagine there was a lot of hugging going on between the three of us! :-D

My way home wasn't that great. First we arrived really, really early at the airport. Then we found out that our flight was cancelled. But luckily, because we were there so early, we were able to get a flight back via Vienna. We didn't get home all that much later than with our original flight. The flight from Vienna to Linz was kind of weird, barely 30 minutes in the air and then we were back. Huh.


I had Monday and Tuesday off, which I spent lazing around and trying to catch up with all things Internet. That was fun.

And today it was back to work. At work my co-workers convinced me to go down to the ER/first aid clinic so they could check out my ankle. Turns out that when I twisted my ankle at the airport last Thursday, the ligaments snapped in my ankle. Which is why my ankle was so swollen and bruised. So now, I have to wear an aircast for 6 weeks and for the first 2 weeks I have to wear it day and night. Oh joy! (And no, I'm not on sick leave.)

I'm at saba1789's place using her computer, while she's packing or something. I guess we'll make our way to the Querstrich meeting place in a little while. It'll take probably longer than usual to get there, because at the moment I'm slower than a snail.

At the airport on my way to the loo I twisted my ankle and fell down a couple of stairs (I'm really talented that way). Now my ankle is swollen and it hurts to walk. Yay. /o\

But other than that, it's been fun at Saba's place. Already got lots of Saba!hugs! ♥ And we watched the EMA's last night. That was fun. Saba's so cute when she squees! ♥

Happy (belated) Birthday, autumnyte. And Happy Birthday, gwendolen! I wish you both the best! *hugs*

In a couple hours I'm off to the airport to visit saba1789 and then sometime tomorrow we make our way to the Querstrich meeting, which is going to be awesome. It's so good to see everyone again and meet new people! Wohoo!

Slashy mini con FTW! \o/

Happy Birthday, ridicully and ms_nerd! I wish you both all the best! *hugs*

Today was not my day. Not really surprising, considering that it was a Monday. How hard is it to reply to an important email or call back after I've left a message? And then the iPhone decided to play some tricks on my, not opening apps or letting me call anyone. Grrr.

But I bought some stuff after work and I started putting together a few things for the upcoming Querstrich meeting next weekend. Whee! A whole weekend with fangirls!

And now meme:
1. Post a list of up to 20 books/movies/anime/TV shows/video games/bands that you've had an obsessive fannish love or interest in at some time in your life.
2. Have your f-list guess your favourite character/member from each item.

I couldn't come up with 20, so have 15 instead (in no particular order). If you want you can even try and guess my OTP.

1. Buffy
- favorite: Spike - guessed by meinnim and dk_tigrrr

2. Battlestar Galactica (original)
- favorite: Apollo - guessed by padfootie

3. Stargate Atlantis
- favorite: McKay - guessed by padfootie
- OTP: Mckay/Sheppard - guessed by padfootie

4. Merlin
- favorite: Arthur - guessed by padfootie
- OTP: Merlin/Arthur - guessed by padfootie

5. NCIS
- favorite: Abby - guessed by coreopsis and meinnim
- OTP: Tony/Tim - guessed by coreopsis

6. Criminal Minds
- favorite: Garcia (aka "the blonde computer lady") - guessed by padfootie

7. Highlander
- favorite: Richie - guessed by coreopsis

8. Sentinel
- favorite: Blair (aka "the hairy one") - guessed by padfootie
- OTP: Jim/Blair (or as padfootie said "The hairy guy and the big guy XD" *g*) - guessed by padfootie

9. Popslash (NSync)
- favorite: Lance - guessed by between_names

10. Star Trek (TOS)
- favorite: Spock - guessed by padfootie
don't have an OTP

11. Star Trek: TNG
- favorite: Data - guessed by padfootie
don't have an OTP

12. Star Trek: DS9
- favorite: Bashir - guessed by dk_tigrrr
don't have an OTP

13. Torchwood
- favorite: Ianto - guessed by padfootie
- OTP: Jack/Ianto - guessed by padfootie

14. Star Wars (the original trilogy)
- favorite: Luke - guessed by dk_tigrrr

15. Hercules
- favorite: Ares - guessed by dk_tigrrr

Got back from London yesterday and I had a great time. Spent most of the weekend with mamoru, tmz_cori, kat_fanfic, tikiberry, and tika_w. \o/

Highlights include:
* Watched Merlin live, which was fun. Watching stuff with fellow fangirls is always fun.
* Watched Craig Kelly (Vince from Queer As Folk UK) on Strictly Come Dancing. He was so, so terrible! But he was also so, so adorable! He was singing during his routine! ♥
* Okay, not really a highlight, but I had the dubious pleasure of seeing the twins on The X Factor. They are bad. And unlike Craig, they aren't all that adorable either. *shudders*
* Went to Expo on Sunday!
* Saw the Katie and Angel panel and went to the autograph session. They are both so pretty and Katie is just awesome. ♥
* I did not get a hug from Darth Vader. :-(
* I met R2D2!
* I also met the awesomest Dalek ever! :-D
* And Sunday evening I met Terry Farrell and got a picture with her, which is somewhere on mamoru's camera. Terry was really lovely. ♥

Going back to work today was hard. I was so incredibly tired and no amount of helped. Good thing it was a slow day, because I was on the verge of falling asleep all day long.

Happy Birthday, cedara! And since I'm not home tomorrow; Happy Birthday, sperrywink! I wish you both all the best! *hugs*

I've got the day off, because I'm flying to London today! \o/ And there I will meet up with mamoru and tmz_cori. Don't know what I will do tomorrow (I plan to watch Merlin live on TV, though.), but on Sunday I'm gonna be at Expo. \o/

I need this mini vacation, because I've been feeling pretty down this past couple weeks. And I think I might be getting a slight cold. I've been sneezing all day long yesterday. :-/

I'll be back on Monday, where I have to get up at a ridiculous time to get to the airport in time. /o\

I'm listening to the not so live stream of Robbie Williams' concert (I considered going to the cinema to see it live, but it was bit expensive and it's a school night after all). I can't tell you how good it is to hear him in concert again. He'll always be my favorite! ♥♥♥

Weekend: lazy B is lazy!

I hate clothes shopping (sometimes it can be fun, but most of the time it isn't)! Even so, I went downtown yesterday to buy some new pants, because I really, really need new ones. I went right after lunch, went to the first one that carries sizes that I can wear, picked four pair of pants, tried them on, bought three of them, payed, and went home. I was back home in time to watch Merlin on Austrian TV.

Merlin started to air on German and Austrian TV. Not surprisingly, I prefer to watch it on Austrian TV, because a) no commercials and b) Zweikanalton, which means that they air the dubbed and original version and if you have a stereo TV you can switch between the two of them. Yay.

I did listen to the German version for a bit, though. The dubbing isn't too bad, they didn't pick horrible voices. Uther has Giles' German voice. Arthur has Xander's and Morgana Cordelia's voice. Makes the bickering between them quite interesting. Hehehe.

ETA: And my brother seemed to like it, too. According to my mom, he found the two episodes really amusing. He said that it's fun, but there's something missing. He'll keep watching, though. I count that as a success! \o/


In other news; I've started playing a lot more WoW again. I haven't played much during the summer, but now I'm into it again. It's fun and my little gnome warlock has switched guilds (the last one kind of died) and she turned 70 today. Wohoo. Unfortunately, she's kind of broke and can't afford to learn artisan riding. *big sigh*

On the Horde side my troll hunter is doing good, too. She's 38 or 39 now. So close to getting a fast mount!


On Friday, I'm going to fly to London (again) for a quick weekend trip! I can't wait. It's gonna be awesome.

A very Happy Birthday to kriski (lass dich knuddeln, Zwilling!) and slippery_fish! I wish you both all the best! *hugs tight*


Last week we had very warm temperatures of around 25° C (too warm for autumn) and this week the temperatures are just above 0° C (too cold for October). It snowed yesterday! o.O

I do like the cold a lot better than the heat, but temperature drops like that make me dizzy (literally). And I'm freezing. The only good place to be is wrapped up in a blanket with a hot cup of tea. Unfortunately, the wrapped in a blanket bit is really not that great at work.

Maybe it's the cold, but I've been feeling slightly depressed and lonely this week. The lonely bit is kind of funny, because I like being alone. I'm introverted! Antisocial me is lonely, what a joke. :-/


( Criminal Minds - 5x04 - Hopeless )

German (RTL) and Austrian TV (ORF) will start airing Merlin next week and I've already started my campaign to get my brother to watch it ("There's a talking dragon and sword fights and Giles is in it, too!"). I always make my brother watch the shows I like. Sometimes he even likes the same ones (he has the oddest taste). I wasn't that successful with Torchwood, he only liked the James Marsters episodes, but that's probably because of his giant man crush on JM.

Anyway, RTL (and ORF too) is going to air Merlin on Saturday afternoons, right before the new Knight Rider series. And because RTL likes to promote stuff, they decided it's a great idea to promote the shows together ("true legends"). No, really, it's absolutely glorious! See it here on YouTube!

And what happens? I want a cracky Merlin/Knight Rider crossover/fusion!!! Arthur = Michael Knight and Merlin = KITT! No? It would be so awesome! Someone needs to write this right now!


Someone on the anon_merlin comm posted this screencap from the latest Merlin episode (thread here). Bwahahahaha! And people thought all the tomatoes and sandwiches were bad. Talk about anachronisms *g*.


And now: ( Merlin - 2x04 - Lancelot and Guinevere )

Happy Birthday, bingeling and xkatjafx! I wish you both all the best! *hugs*

I've been feeling a lot better yesterday and today. Monday apparently wasn't my day :-/.

I had to take today off, because the people from the district heating company needed to do a software/firmware update and the time they appointed for it* was right in the middle of the day (between 9:30 and 11:00 am). When the guy finally came, the whole affair took about 30 seconds and then he was gone again. And for that I had to take a whole day off? *grumbles*

But at least, I used the rest of the day to go to the hairdresser and get rid of all the white hair. Yay for hair dyes.

*No, we can't make an appointment ourselves, they announce it on the billboard what day and what time they'll come.

On Sunday my wall clock fell down. There were glass shards everywhere, but the clock still works. Which is kind of surprising. Of course, when I picked up all of the glass I cut myself in my right index finger. It's just a shallow cut, but I think there's still a teeny tiny little glass shard in there. There's a little bump and the finger is red. I can't seem to get it out, though.

Happy Birthday, _inbetween_! I hope it's a good one! *hugs*

Friday was the big work outing day, which turned into a big shopping day. Officially, the trip was to Baden bei Wien, but instead of going hiking or the spa, our little group decided to go to the big shopping mall (SCS) instead. Yes, I know, but I'm really not into hiking or the spa thing.

Anyway, we all managed to find something nice. I raided the local Body Shop and bought two awesome shirts. Yay.

And then the weekend was spent like every other weekend: lots of sleeping, watching TV, reading, playing, etc. My life is so terribly exciting!

Things I watched in the past week:
I have to say that I feel kind of bored with Heroes, House, Dollhouse, and Supernatural (please, don't kill me!). NCIS is love and NCIS:LA is even more love (Sam/Callen ♥). Criminal Minds gets my love, too. Flash Forward is very intriguing! And Flashpoint made me cry again.

( SGU - 1x01 and 1x02 - Air Part 1 and 2 )

( Merlin - 2x03 - The Nightmare Begins )

Happy Birthday, moonlettuce! All the best! *hugs*

Work was a bit chaotic today with the lady boss having the rest of the week off and people being annoying and calling in sick and other stuff. But! I've got one more day to work and on Friday there's the big work outing and I'm determined not to care what the co-workers at the office have to deal with on Friday. Hah!

Today, I booked my flights for another weekend trip to London (in October). This will be my fourth time this year I'll be in London. How did this happen? o.O

Happy Birthday, the_milky_way! I wish you all the best! *hugs tight*

Had the day off and didn't really do anything at all. Just slept a lot \o/.

Things I watched on Saturday:

( Flashpoint - 3x01 - One Wrong Move )

( Psych - 4x07 - High Top Fade Out )

( Merlin - 2x02 - The Once And Future Queen )

Happy Birthday, i_am_schizo! I wish you all the best! *hugs*

( Ramblings about my day as an election supervisor. )

My co-election supervisor bought me ice cream and then we walked home together (we live in the same area). I was back home around 7:45 pm. Long day! And I'm glad that I've got the day off tomorrow!

As for the election results... wow, the Social Democrats lost so much in the election for the state parliament. After the first projections about 13 %! The Freedom party doubled their results! And the People's Party was able to gain, too. o.O

It's time for a new post, me things. Aside from work, I have watched things this week! Lots of shows back, yay.

( NCIS - 7x01 - Truth or Consequence )

( NCIS:LA - 1x01 - Identity )

( Criminal Minds - 5x01 - Nameless, Faceless )

( Heroes - 4x01/4x02 - Orientation/Jump, Push, Fall )

Have also seen House and The Big Bang Theory. I can't wait for a certain guest star that will be in an upcoming episode of The Big Bang Theory! \o/

Next Sunday there are three elections here in Upper Austria: the election for the state parliament*, the election for the municipal council**, and the election for a new mayor**.

For reasons that I cannot recall now (okay, it was mostly "money, yay!") I volunteered to be an election supervisor. Which pretty much means that I get to supervise and organize and count votes and do other election related stuff from 6:30 am till at least 6:00 pm next Sunday. Polling places are open from 7 am till 4 pm, but then there's the counting and all the other things you have to do. /o\ Why, oh why did I volunteer again?!?

I had my instruction for all the election stuff today and wow, this whole thing is kind of complicated. Starting from who is allowed to vote for what (residents, non-residents, people with and without Austrian citizenship) to the counting the votes at the end of the day. I already have horror visions of all the things that can go wrong!

On the plus side; the polling place where I'm working on Sunday is just 2 minutes from my flat (and about 30 seconds from the polling place where I have to vote). Also, money!

*Upper Austria, obviously.
** In my case, the municipal council and the mayor for my home town. But every other municipality in Upper Austria has those elections, too.


When I got home after half a day at work and half a day listening to the dos and don'ts of being an election supervisor I had quite the headache and was also quite dizzy :-/. It's the weather and I also haven't eaten much today. Had something to eat and a short nap and now I'm a bit better. No dizziness anymore, still a headache, though.

Happy Birthday, amikara! I wish you all the best! *hugs*

Watched ( Psych - 4x06 - Bollywood Homicide )

So, who else is excited about new Merlin tonight? Can't wait to see it again! :-D

Started this post this morning, but then I got distracted by lunch and playing WoW. *headdesk*

This week's been a drag! Thank god it's Friday tomorrow!

I don't know what to do with my hair. Some time in spring I decided that I wanted to grow it out a little bit. I got sick of the really short hair and having to go to the hairdresser every other month. Now, while it's still short, it's quite a bit longer and I'm still sick of it. It just looks stupid. My co-workers are trying to convince me to cut it short again (and to dye it purple), but I don't know. :-/

I'm going to have to dye it soon again, because the roots are way too white for my liking! How come that I already have so much white hair? Both my parents didn't have a single white hair at my age! I already started getting gray hair in my mid-twenties. *sighs*

Happy Birthday, trumpeterofdoom! I wish you all the best! *hugs*

After two weeks I have to go back to work tomorrow. I really, really don't want to! How come these two weeks went by so fast?!? I still haven't sorted through the pictures, still haven't written any postcards. I really suck!

Happy Birthday, between_names! I wish you all the best! *hugs*

Things that I have not forgotten:
* A couple months ago I did this postcard meme (sending postcards during the summer). Well, the good news is that I have bought postcards (even in Wales!). The bad news is that I still haven't written and sent them. /o\ But I promise I will do that soon.

* The same goes for the meme where I promised to make something for five people. I've started! Really! Will finish and send, I promise.

About reading:
As much as I love reading, I sometimes feel like a freak, because I'm such a slow reader.

I've never really managed reading a book in one day (well, there are exceptions). I can't really read long stories (and by long I mean anything above ~15-20,000 words) in one go. I need lots of breaks. I can't read several stories (no matter how long they are) right after the other. I need things to settle before I can start on the next story, especially when it's a long and plotty story. Sometimes I only manage to read one story in an entire day.

It used to make me anxious that people seemed to speed read through entire fanfiction archives/big bang challenges/etc. in a very short time. As if they expected me to do the same, which I know is not true. Sometimes I still feel like that.

I've tried speed reading, which I pretty much failed. It just wasn't as satisfying, I couldn't even remember most of the story right after I finished it. Went back to my usual slow reading, which was much nicer!

It seems that I'm always several steps behind everyone else. It feels weird. It also feels weird that most people I know read fanfiction in several fandoms. Most of the time, I just read in one fandom, sometimes in two.

I guess, I feel easily overwhelmed. Or more likely: I have the attention span of a gnat. :-/

While I was away I missed quite a few birthdays (and I realize that I haven't really been that great with birthday wishes in general this year :-/). So, Happy (belated) Birthday, sola_fiamma, elfy, fleurrochard, digital_diva, and ruric! I hope you all had a fantastic birthday and I wish you all the best! *hugs*

Since I got home all I did was eat, sleep, and sit in front of the computer catching up with LJ and playing WoW. Which is kind of bad, because I wanted to do so much while I'm still home before I have to go back to work next week. Declutter my wardrobe for instance! :-/

At least I don't have to clean my flat, because for some reason my mom thought it would be a great idea to clean my flat while I was in Wales. I didn't ask her to! All I asked her was to bring in my mail and when I got home the floor was spotless and the dishes were cleaned... among other things. I'm really not sure how I should feel about this. o.O

I still haven't sorted all the pictures I took in Wales. I took about 450 pictures, so it might take some time. I'll upload them to Flickr, eventually.


And I'm still very giddy about getting to see the Merlin preview screening. Whee! :-D Have a few impressions of the ( episode behind the cut )

I'm back home from my trip to Wales and London. *waves* I had the most awesome time! The weather wasn't that good (especially on Wednesday, where it rained all day long), but it was still great. Personal highlights include:

1) Going down to Cardiff Bay, finding the entrance to the Hub (which is now a Torchwood shrine).
2) Staying in a welsh farmhouse in the middle of nowhere having an awesome BBQ on a rainy evening. No really, it was really fabulous! :-D
3) Surviving Devil's Bridge ;-).
4) The Jack the Ripper walk in London.
5) Last but not least; getting to see the series 2 premiere of Merlin! *squee*

I'm mostly unpacked, showered (I ♥ my shower!!!), and now I'm wondering if I should try to catch up with LJ. Did anything interesting happen?

Not long now and I'm off to London and then Wales for a week! I wish you all a good week!

I may Twitter occasionally, but I probably won't be able to go online anywhere or read any Twitter replies. Just so you know. See you in about a week! (I get back on September 7th.)

ETA: And it's my baby brother's birthday today. So Happy Birthday! :-)

I've got a luggage packing crisis! How will I ever fit everything in just one bag? *panics*

I foresee even more packing and repacking tomorrow! Maybe I just leave all the clothes here and buy all the stuff there? Or maybe not. :-/

bingeling and saba1789 made some comments about Eurodance on Twitter and now I can't stop listening to Eurodance songs on YouTube! OMG! Sing Hallelujah! Be My Lover! All That She Wants! No Limit! Mr. Vain! What Is Love? Coco Jambo! Given the no brainer lyrics it's really no wonder I still remember all of them, right? *is dead*


mabiana tagged me with this meme:

First: If you've been tagged, you must write your answers in your own LJ and replace any question that you dislike with a new, original question.

Second: Tag eight people. Don't refuse to do that. Don't tag who tagged you. (I'm really not good at tagging people, so I just skip over it, okay?)

( Meme behind the cut. )

Happy Birthday, purelyironic! I wish you all the best!

Random things:

* Via frogspace; yvi: On not being a native English speaker and other related things

* Fat is Sexier Than You Think

* Merlin on German TV: 10.10.2009, RTL, 13:45 for the first week and then every Saturday at 15:45. Saturday afternoon, why doesn't that surprise me?
I don't know if Austrian TV will air it, too, but it's likely. ORF usually airs most of the shows German stations air. And sometimes they even air it in "Zweikanalton," where you can switch between the German dubbing and the original version. \o/
Not that I watch much TV anyway.

* Another day of work and then I've got two weeks off! \o/ I can't wait! Is there an English word for "urlaubsreif?" On Sunday I'm off to London and from there I'm going on a tour through Wales! Wanted to go there for ages! :-D Then a couple more days in London and then back home. Or maybe I'm gonna stay there. Who knows. ;-)

* Watched BSB's new music video. I like it. It's got vampires. Weird vampires, but still vampires. I like vampires. Also, can the four of them look any hotter? I'm still a bit cranky that they won't have a concert in Austria. Grrr.

* English language question: "was sat" and "was stood" and variations of that isn't actually grammatically correct, is it? Shouldn't it be "was sitting" and "was standing?" I've seen it used especially by Brits and even read it in a couple British books and it's driving me crazy. I know that I haven't learned it in school, which doesn't mean anything. I haven't learned any of the filthy, dirty words in school either ;-).

I've been tracking the Merlin anon meme a while now and last night I stumbled across something that still makes me angry. I thought I'd calm down after a good night's sleep and doing something else all day long, but apparently not. :-/

Someone asks if anyone else is a bit disappointed with the Merlin Big Bang stories and someone else replies with: Is it any wonder with so many ESLs participating?

I'm just... wow!

I doubt that any non-native speaker says that they have a perfect grasp of the language. I know I don't. I have to look up words too often for that. I'm not always sure that the way I say things are correct and of course my spoken English could be a lot better. (That seems to happen when you know the words and how they are written, but have no clue how to pronounce them.)

But to look down on ESLs for daring to write fanfiction? For dismissing them like that? It's insulting! Writing is hard enough and then writing in a foreign language? Even if it's not perfect, I believe that it deserves some respect.

Aside from that, there are plenty of stories from native speakers where you have to "slog through weird grammar and misused words". (If I'd get a Euro for every native speaker, who writes "definately" instead of "definitely" or confuses they're/their/there...)

I'm angry and it probably hurts more than it should, considering that I haven't written anything in ages.

Happy Birthday, mareen and frogspace! I wish you both all the best! *hugs*
___

The lady boss is on vacation and I have to deal not only with the heat (I hate heat!), but also with annoying co-workers. Yes, the heat does make people more whiny and aggressive (me included). Also, I really hate it when people call in the morning to ask for a day off, because they just don't want to go to work. And they know that we're short on people (it's vacation time after all) and they still want the day off. Gah!

And it's hot! *melts*
___

I watched the last ever episode of ER on German TV yesterday. I'd seen it before, but I had to watch it again after all the build up of the final season. I almost teared up at the opening credits for the final episode. The old credits! ♥

I really loved this final season. It was awesome and they brought everyone back! Doug and Carol, Mark (!!!), and everyone else. Carter and Benton still love each other! ♥

I've never been fannish about the show, but I still loved it a lot and I will miss it terribly. 15 years!

On Saturday, _sushi_ and I met up with Heli and his wife and baby girl.

It was so good to see them again and the baby girl for the first time. She's so cute and so tiny! She's a preemie (came four weeks too early) and had to have surgery pretty much right after she was born (something to do with her diaphragm), but she's making progress. And she's just adorable! Hee. And her daddy is quite proud, even though he doesn't like to show it ;-).

We all had lunch and then A. and the baby met up with her friends and Heli, Sushi and I went to a cafe for coffee and ice cream! It was fun and geeky. :-D
___

Last night I had a terrible night! The upstairs neighbor had a friend over that he hadn't seen a while and they were celebrating... with lots of alcohol and loud music. I discovered that when I finally (after an hour or so) got dressed and went upstairs to ask them to turn down the music, which they did. I went back home, back to bed, and about 15 minutes later they turned up the music again! Gah! In the middle of the night! During the week!

I was so close to go upstairs again or call the police, but then despite everything, I must have fallen asleep. But it wasn't really a restful night. I was so tired that I left work early and took a 1 1/2 hour nap once I got home. Gah! Some people!
___

Just in case you haven't heard yet, you can get extra paid time for the time when LJ was down during the DDoS attack a while back. Just go here for instructions.
___

P.S.: I wanted to post this entry a few hours ago, but then I got distracted by playing WoW. Oops. Off to bed now.

Every day I intend to post, but then I never do. It's the story of my life lately. I'm really behind in everything online. And I'm up to 95 96 open tabs again, how did that happen? Also, this little Firefox addon that lets me know how many open tabs I have is really handy...

Last week I said to the lady boss, "I really don't think I can make it till September [when I have 2 weeks off] without a break" and the lady boss said, "okay, you can have Monday and Tuesday off." I had too much overtime anyway, so yay! I'd made big plans of decluttering my wardrobe and playing WoW, but in the end I just lazed around all four days. But it was good! :-D

On Wednesday, I finally got my Torchwood: Children of Earth DVDs. It was actually the replacement shipment that they sent. I wonder what happened to the original shipment. They probably ended up somewhere in Australia. Wouldn't be the first time.

Yesterday, I went clothes shopping after work and I spent too much money on cute clothes. But I really needed new pants! The three tops and the one jacket just sort of made it into the shopping cart without me noticing! Really! Um. I did manage to buy two pairs of trousers, though.

This week _sushi_ and I finalized our vacation plans for September. We're going to make a week long tour through Wales. \o/ The whole thing will cost us way too much money, but it'll be worth it! Can't wait!

And tomorrow, Sushi and I will meet Heli and his new wife (they married early this month) and their baby girl for lunch. Last time I saw them the baby girl hasn't been born yet. I'm so excited to see her. :-D

Happy Birthday, esda! I wish you all the best! *hugs*

...and it may be necessary from time to time to give a stupid or misinformed beholder a black eye.


It seems that it's not just me. There are more people, who can't access LJ at all (see this entry over at JF). Crossposting via DW works, though. At least something. I do get all the email notifications, I just can't reply for now.

Ah well, it does give me time to read more of the Merlin Big Bang stories. \o/ I really like the couple stories that I've read so far (I'm a slow reader, it will take me quite some time to read all the stories I want to read). The skins of the website are very pretty, too. I'm not sure I like the site layout, though. I find it difficult to navigate and I would have liked to see the art directly on the page of the story that it was made for.

So, the LJ status page says that LJ is up, Down for everyone or just me? says that LJ is up, I even get the LJ email notifications, but I still can't access any LJ site. I can't even ping LJ.

I don't have any problems with any other site! Is it really just me?

I haven't updated in a week, because I'm quite lazy. Oops.

This past week has been quite stressful at work. We're understaffed, because pretty much everyone else is on vacation or soon on vacation. (Except for me, because who needs a vacation? Not me apparently. My summer vacation is now in September.) Unfortunately, the work load isn't much less than when everyone else is here, so, lots and lots of stuff to do. *sighs*

On Tuesday I had an appointment at my hairdresser's. Got a new hair color, yay! It's now very dark, which looks sort of violet when the sun shines on it. Not that I can see it myself ;-). She didn't cut a lot, because I'm trying to grow out my hair a little bit. I don't want to have long hair, but just a bit longer than I had it in the past few years.

Wednesday, _sushi_ and I went to Höhenrausch - Art on the rooftops of Linz, which is part of Linz09 (European Capital of Culture 2009). It was really fantastic, even though the entrance fee was a bit pricey. They have a ferris wheel on top of it! Not that I went on it, because I'm just too scared!

On of the coolest things is that they had this "rain dance" thing. You got an umbrella and you had to stand under the shower and the when the water hit the top of the umbrella you could hear music. That was quite fun! And then there was the millions of metal pellets right under the roof that were arranged in different patterns. It looked really cool!


And now pictures from the past month:
* Landesritterfest Linz: tournaments and knights.
* London: from two weekends ago.
* Höhenrausch - Art on the rooftops of Linz

( One picture of Höhenrausch behind the cut. )

Was man am Schwarzen Brett so alles findet.


Translation of the letter that was posted on the notice board in my apartment building:

Dear lovers!

Today (25th July 2009, 4:15 am), it was that time again.

A balanced love life is something great, but when half of the neighborhood has to listen to it and even wakes up from the loud cries, it stops being funny.

In the future, please be considerate of others.

I'm back from Graz, well got back yesterday afternoon, but I've been really out of sorts. So much train travel in just two days, makes my motion sickness go haywire (and I took pills to prevent that :-/). Anyway, Thursday was very hot, but my brother and I still managed to do at least some sightseeing (not much, though).

And then it was time for the Linkin Park concert. It was a perfect concert with just the right songs to make the crowd go wild, but many of us were still left disappointed. For one thing, it was rather short (barely 90 minutes), and they didn't interact with the audience at all (except for the occasional "Thank you."). They just did their thing with one encore and then they left.

I mean, what they actually did on stage was fantastic, but I still was disappointed. Compared to that Funeral for a Friend, who were the support group, really tried to interact with the audience! ♥


In other news, I still haven't gotten my Torchwood Series 3 DVDs. I pre-ordered and then they mailed it out on the 13th and they are still not here. I hate it when snail mail is extra slow. It can't take two weeks from the UK to Austria!

But I did get a couple postcards this past week!
elfy, I got your postcard from Nairobi! Thanks so much! \o/
And raven_lore, I got your card from Cambridge! Thank you! ♥

Off to Graz to see Linkin Park tonight. \o/ On the hottest day of the year (so far). /o\

I'm back from London, have been since Sunday evening. Would have liked to stay longer, but it was a great weekend and I really needed that getaway! :-)

On Saturday, raven_lore and I went to the Royal Observatory, Greenwich where we proceeded to make dorky pictures with one foot on either side of the Prime Meridian (along with lots of other people). Heh. And we saw the red time ball drop at 1 pm.

Then we used the Greenwich Foot Tunnel to get to the other side of the River Thames. Then there was lots of walking and Covent Garden and food and Forbidden Planet and some more walking (not necessarily in that order).

Saturday evening we went to see Waiting for Godot with Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen, which was really great. Funny and tragic and all the actors were fantastic! We did the stage door thingy again, but unfortunately Ian had already left the theater. I got another autograph of Patrick Stewart! And this time the pen worked! \o/

We didn't do much on Sunday, since I had to leave for the airport around noon. But we went to the Australia shop so that I could by Tim Tams! I love me some Tim Tams. \o/

And that was pretty much it. Miss London and miss raven_lore!


But, tonight, I'm finally going to see the new Harry Potter movie. And on Thursday I'm going to see Linkin Park in concert with my brother! Whee!

So, I'm off to London for the weekend in a little bit. I hope you all have a fantastic weekend! See you on Sunday.

It's still the 15th, so: Happy Birthday, valya22!
And it's almost the 16th: Happy Birthday, (1/2 of) mumblemutter!

I hope you both have (had) a great day! *hugs*

Also, I've been quite bad with wishing everyone a Happy Birthday. I'm really sorry if I missed yours. :-/

I've been feeling down in the last couple days. Everything just sucks and things at work aren't the best. Also, it's way too hot for me. Have I mentioned lately that I hate heat?

In more positive news, I'm going to London for another quick weekend trip. Yay. I'm flying to London Friday evening and get back Sunday evening. I'm meeting raven_lore there and we're going to see Waiting for Godot (with Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen \o/).

Mad World (Spoilers for Children of Earth!)
A Curious Thing (Jack/Ianto, no spoilers for series 3)


Immortal (Merlin/Arthur)
All Seasons (Agent AU! ♥ I recognized clips from Merlin, Doctor Who, Dis/Connected, Lewis, Primeval. Also, Robbie Williams song! Heh.)
Obvious (Bradley/Colin)