Hurt/Comfort - Injuries

blood loss

head trauma

hypothermia or heat stroke

bullet wounds

lacerations / knife wounds

from avengers_tables

Happy valentine's day, everyone! And thank you for the lovely virtual gift, anon <3

Arrived in London safe and sound after some last minute panicking over my flight. My hostel is pretty cool (obviously super cheap, but that's why I picked it) and there's free wifi. Of course my phone was dead by the time I got there and I hdan't even thought of bringing an adapter for the sockets so no Internet for me until I found a cafe in the city. I've now achieved both an adapter and a charged phone \o/

I'm the single most unprepared traveler ever. I had to exchange cash at the airport because I'd forgotten to get it in Berlin, didn't write down the tube station for my hostel and had to guess (thankfully I guessed right) and didn't write down any details on the stuff I wanted to do at all.

So after about 12 hours in the city I already love it. And just like Berlin I want to have ALL THE FOOD omnomnom. You can get sushi and edamame bento at the drug store! Crazycakes, of course I had to try it :D

Only one stupid thing: what's with the lack of trashcans?! I carried the remains of my dinner with me through all of Victoria station last night before finally dumping it on a bench with a guilty conscience at Kennington because I couldn't find a single bin anywhere. Only signs telling me I'd be fined if I was caught littering -__-

Yay weekend! Too bad I'm a bit too tired for big plans. My last two weeks were busy busy busy with several projects from hell at work and not much sleep. I also lost some major sleeping time to inhaling all of Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games books. I bought the first one on a Monday night at the Frankurt Aiport and finished the last two (hastily ordered via Thalia) four days later early Friday morning. I like the first one best but that's probably because it pushes all of my h/c buttons. They're all A++.

I've also spent some major time planning my vacation. London and Berlin are both happening, yay! I'm taking a bus to Berlin on a Saturday, flying from there to London four days later and then back home another four days later. Bus, plane and hostel are all booked. While looking for some new travel books (my Berlin travel guide is so outdated it still has prices in D-Mark) I found guide books specifically for low budget traveling and they're awesome. I'm thinking about getting one for Hamburg too because they're just that great, actually.

Now that the travel bug has got me I can't stop thinking about all the awesome stuff I want to do. In London, I've never had the chance to really take the time to see anything in depth or explore during later hours/experience the nightlife because I've only been there on day trips during my language courses as a teen. Berlin I've been to for an entire week with my social studies class in high school but I'm still excited to go exploring on my own.

I also can't wait to plan the next, next vacation already. Paris is another place I've only ever been to for one day. And today I was watching an episode of Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations in Istanbul and thinking I'd love to go there again. I've been there before as well with my parents when I was 10 or 11 but can't remember that much about.

I should really be packing and or cleaning since I'm leaving for my parents place tomorrow but DNW. I've been keeping busy the last couple of weeks and I just want to be lazy. I went to an all-night theater night, LGBT choir night, a birthday party and a good-bye party. I finally got subscription for the public pools in Hamburg so I can go swimming whenever I want, as much as I want and I've mostly been going early before work. I also have to really awesome translation projects on the side that make me gleeface but make me wonder when I will find the time. One is an iPhone app and it's for my boss who's paying me overtime to do this after work (score!) and the other is subtitling a 15 min. short film for a local film festival and it's volunteer though they're paying in comped tickets. And tomorrow my new, new, new roomate is moving in.

It turns out Ben can't get out of his lease until the end of December and obviously can't afford to pay rent on two places and I didn't think I could really afford to start paying for my entire apartment myself again either. The new, new, new roomate will also be a coworker come next Monday, but at this point I was so sick of searching I was happy to find someone without having to go through the whole searching thing.

Then in awesomely good news that did wonders to my finances I got my electricity bill for the past year and I'm getting 485 € refunded. \o/ Not having heat until December last year seriously paid off! I already took a week off work in November and I'm planning to treat myself to an awesome vacation. Since Hungary this summer was kind of a bummer I'm thrilled to be able to take another trip. I'm tentatively thinking London, possibly with a day or two in Berlin thrown in because flights from Berlin seem to be cheaper than from Hamburg and I've been meaning to visit again for a while. Other thoughts are Italy again or maybe Spain, since I've never been to the non-island parts before.

I'm hoping I can either find a friend who'd like to join me or convince my mom to come with me since a week is a bit too long to be fun on my own. Sadly though, my mom already went on two trips without my dad this year and would feel guilty about a third and pretty much anyone else I know already has vacation plans for fall. We'll see.

A little late but here's a meme I got from saba1789:

1. Reply to this post with "LICK ME" (or any other explicit form of consent), and I will pick five of your icons.
2. Make a post (including the meme info) and talk about the icons I chose.
3. Other people can then comment to you and make their own posts.
4. This will create a never-ending cycle of icon glee.


( Here are the ones Saba chose for me )

Since my current roomate is going back to university in Leipzig in ten days I've been looking for a new roomie and it's so freaking hard to make a decision. I met a ton of really nice people and picking just one sucks. I think I've finally found the one but I might have to sleep on it for another night.

What's up lj? I've been spending my days alternating between light exercise and lying around doing nothing to get my back un-fucked up. It's a lot better and I'm going to back to work this Thursday. FINALLY. I'm a litte apprehensive about getting back into it after a month and a half away but on the other hand I'll be so glad to get out of the house and see people other than my roomate.

Over the past month I've watched approximately a billion hours of TV and read enough fanfic that if you printed it out, the stack would probably be taller than me. I don't even know how I found stuff before I used my delicious network for recs but it's a neverending source of awesomeness. Apart from the usual suspect fandoms, I read some awesome random stuff as well that I think everyone should read as well. Well, everyone has already read the South Park fic already because I saved that one for last but still.

Lord Wolfe and the Ape-Leader
It's described as a Little Red Riding Hood/Regency Romance fusion. I have to say the fairytale influence is really small, but it's a delightful bit of original fic. Totally recommended!

the myspace admirer Glee fic, Rachel/Quinn and background Brittany/Santana
I found this while looking for Brittany/Santana recs after my epic Glee rewatch and it's so hilarious. I thought the premise needed some suspension of disbelief, but it's cute, has some awesome oneliners and I thought the voices were very well done.

The Scenic RouteSouth Park fic, Kyle/Stan with background Kenny/Butters
Oh god, this story is so good. THE PINING ;___; It's a classic best friends becoming more plot with a roadtrip and it's so well done and the characters are A++.

No seriously the South Park story, you guys!! I think part of the reason I devoured this was the fact that I did the whole hopeless crush on the BFF thing for years in high school. I only got over it through distance when I went to Idaho and her having an long-term boyfriend when I got back so basically Kyle's angst used to be my angst and ALL OF THE FEELINGS.

Things that have been awesome this week:

* Work was only minimally hectic with only minor catastrophes to manage \o/ With my luck that's just the calm before the storm, but I'm enjoying it while it lasts.

* My The Social Network DVD arrived and omg the extras *____*

* I've had a roomie for almost exactly one week and it's surprisingly nice :D We aren't getting in each other's way at all so far, even though we freaking work together as well. And having someone else around is making me much better at cleaning up after myself immediately, particularly because L. doesn't really cook and so any mess would be mine exclusively.

* I'm getting paid for all of the overtime so far this month so my next paycheck will be pretty awesome. That plus the extra rent money means I bought plane tickets for visiting saba1789 in August already and won't have to worry about paying for my vacation in July and best of all, I've been eyeing dishwashers. This is literally the only thing missing from my household to make it 100% awesome and perfect and I might actually be able to buy one, if not next week then at least in August \o/

I actually have the apartment to myself this weekend since L. is visiting her family and it's the first weekend in ages where I have absolutely no obligations or things that vitally need doing. I only have some major vegging out planned and a trip to the museum I've been putting of for weeks (William Turner watercolors exhibition! So pretty!). And all of the cooking, of course. I just bought a ton of groceries and I'll pick up some more things from the Asian store in the city and then there will be homemade ricotta and cheesecake and japanese noodles and if you don't ever hear from me again I'll probably be in a food coma for the rest of forever.

Oh my god, you guys it's the weekend! And it's so freaking good that it's actually really a real weekend for me too. I had to go into work the last two Sundays and it was hell. Even extra holidays during the week can't make up for 1-day weekends. I really hate clients that are a) extremely demanding and worse yet b) located in China, which means if they want their files Monday, 9 AM Beijing time, I have to mail them in before Sunday 2 AM my time and spend my precious Sundays proofreading the most boring software manuals known to mankind.


In awesome news, I am getting a roomate on Tuesday \o/ I never managed to get around to cleaning up my apartment, making space and actively looking for a roomate but we're getting a new Project Manager/intern IDEK on Tuesday who has less than a week to prepare her move to Hamburg and was urgently looking for a cheap room. I made the offer spontaneously because that's the kind of kick in the ass I need to actually get things done. Now I'm planning to do some major cleaning and rearranging today, possibly some IKEA shopping for more shelves and I'm finally going to put up some freaking curtains. Since I'm moving into what is now the living room, my window will be in direct line of sight of the bus stop in front of my house and DNW creepy drunk bus station dudes staring at me in my pajamas.

I'm pretty sure I could get this all done in 1-2 days. Of course I predict I will still be frantically dusting/rearraning/doing dishes Tuesday morning since that's what I always do. There are after all more than 100,000 words of new fic I actually want to be reading right now. (And I love how for once that number is totes not an exaggeration. BBB time is the best time. Also new fandoms are the best thing ever :D)

But first things first. I'm off to the fleamarket again. I went to one last Saturday and bought the most amazing vintage lamp for my bathroom. Apparently the market is a weekly thing and I just know there's a kitchen and bedroom lamp with my name on it there as well. And maybe some more curtains. And a frame for my Panic! autograph/art which I still haven't scanned. And maybe a small table for the hall... Possibly I should be taking my car there and/or not take too much cash :D:

My author was the lovely gelbwax, who very kindly stepped in as a pinchhitter. I wanted the fic to be a suprise so I'll edit in the link and title once she has her own masterpost up.

Fic: I Will Hold The Morning For You by gelbwax - filled with awesome BAMFs being badass, everyone go read it :D


Art:
PG-13 for some blood, safe for work
( Almost Dawn )

OMFG, I managed to get Panic Meet & Greet tickets!

I had pretty much given up hope because I was so late accessing the presale (stupid FBR store and their slowness) but the Hamburg show still had the VIP tickets (which were actually cheaper than the regular ones, wtf?) and now one is mine :D

Aaaand, it's already time to get back to work. Why so short, lunch breaks? ;__;

Happy birthday aredblush!!!

I hope you had an amazing birthday, bb and I wish you all the best ♥

My snail mail gift might take a few days to get there, so how about you give me a prompt in the meantime? Any fandom goes for the birthday girl :)

Taking a break from the major cleaning spree I went on this morning. I have a week and a half of dishes and laundry to catch up on and couchsurfers coming at 1:30.

I just made fun of the horrible orange jumpsuits in this upcoming collection from H&M on twitter, but I want to have all of the dressier things on that page. The belt and braces combo is fantastic, I love both versions of the white shirt and the vest thing gives me hearteyes like you wouldn't believe. And the jumpsuits would probably make really amazing pajamas, but I will deny saying that to my deathbed.

I also like their approach to the unisex idea, where the clothes look the same, but have slightly different cuts that take different body types into account. My biggest fashion lament has always been that all the pretty menswear I would totes wear looks horrible on me because I'm pretty hourglass shaped and short and most mens' shirts and pants are just not cut for that kind of figure.

Not that I will be doing much shopping in April since I picked up my car yesterday and will most certainly still be paying that off but still. Those braces *____*

Only two more days until Panic in Dortmund! I'm so excited I keep flailing inside and grinning at nothing. I've even discovered that this trip might not ruin me financially quite as bad as expected since I found someone for a ride share on part of the trip.

Unfortunately I've remembered that the deadline for the Inception Reverse Bang is also in less than a week and I'm feeling less than inspired. Or actually, I feel lots inspired, only in the wrong fandom. My bandom love has been rekindled like crazy and I want to draw a million things based on Nearly Witches and the Mona Lisa video *____*

I also planned to catch up on my flist during lunch but sadly everyone else decided to stay in as well so I can only surf lj with images turned off. That doesn't really lend itself well to commenting on art :(

Story:This Ain't A Song For The Broken Hearted
by paracaerouvoar

art is safe for work

( Tomorrow's getting harder )

I'm super stoked to have big bang and this fic to take my first steps into the inception fandom. paracaerouvoar, I hope you like it and again I'm sorry I made you wait until literally the last possible minute!

My week in numbers:

Christmas cards started: 3
Christmas cards finished: 0

Bags of chocolate chips purchased to make christmas cookies: 1
Bags of chocolate chips eaten while watching TV: 1
Christmas cookies made: 0

Rooms of my apartment cleaned: 1 out of 4

In conclusion: OMG I fail so hard at life /o\

Instead of being productive I watched 500 Days of Summer (hated the story but *__* JGL), 13 going on 30 and the entire first season of community because of this vid which makes me grin with glee even after the 50th rewatch.

Speaking of vids, that super awesome HP vid set to Marchin' on? Makes me want to read so much epic Trio fic. Does anyone happen to have recs? It was never a pairing I was into when HP was my big fandom so I'm a little lost on where to even start looking.

It's that time of the year again, HOLIDAY CARDS!

If you'd like a card from me, comment with you address (comments are screened) and you'll be getting a holiday card from me.*

I just renewed my paid account so I can give you a shiny poll to fill out too :D

Poll #1649857 Holiday cards poll
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 12

Fandom of choice?

I prefer:

ETA: I'm pretty good at spotting UK and US addresses, but I usually end up sending cards all over the world so to be safe, please put down your country as well!


*I'm probably going to be short on cash in december, as usual, so if I absolutely can't send something in time for christmas you might be getting a happy new year card in january instead. ♥

I think I'm in a food coma. Or maybe a 'dreading to do the dishes' coma. As I've mentioned on twitter, I've been reading Julie Powell's old blog, the one that half of the movie Julie & Julia is based on. The problem is that I'm very impressionable when it comes to food and reading about delicious cooking for two days is about as much as I can take before I go crazy in the kitchen. So in the last two days I made Garlic mashed potatoes with brussel sprouts and sauce bernaise, chocolate hazelnut cake and sole meuniere with glazed carrots and parsley potatoes.

( pictures and recipes, you know the drill )

Of course I can never cook from recipes without at least a minor disaster. In this case, I almost set my oven on fire /o\

I figured I'd put the sole on a sheet of baking paper to make it easier to flip. So I put everything in the oven and after I minute I look down to check and it's already sizzling and A SECOND LATER IS SEE FLAMES.

I calmly opened the oven and waited for the flames to die out promptly lost my shit and flapped my hands a lot and tried to remember what to do in case of an oil fire since you can't put water on it (I thought the butter had caught on fire somehow). Once the flames died out on their own a couple of seconds later I realised it was actually the baking paper that had caught on fire.

I rescued the fish by rinsing off the charred paper flakes and starting over with the recipe. It looked a little worse for wear because the meat was already a little flaky at that point because broiling stuff is fast but it turned out mighty tasty after all \o/

In other good news, my mom called to tell me that the family is coming to visit me in Hamburg for christmas instead of the other way round. I asked them about this because christmas eve is a workday this year and driving or taking the train down there after work would suck and be super stressful and it's so terribly expensive and I'm already going to be broke from presents and such. Plus, I finally have an apartment that's big enough to really host guests I think it'll be nice to play host for the holidays like an actualfax adult for once.

Mom didn't like the idea at all, but for some reason my dad did and finally convinced her. The compromise is that since I do only have one fold-out sofa my parents will sleep at a hotel while my brother and the dog stay with me.

For a while there I wasn't watching much of anything because I usually only get into shows through fandom osmosis and everything people liked, I didn't. (I'm not a big fan of comedies or crime dramas and that seems to be most of what's out there currently). But then I followed a link on twitter to my new favorite, which is my favorite because femslash *___*

Lost Girl is maybe not objectively the best show ever, but I love it for all its ridiculousness. I'm bad at pimping new fandoms, so have some primers written by more articulate people than me:

http://marina.dreamwidth.org/983525.html

http://havocthecat.dreamwidth.org/1032890.html

There's also this interview with the show's creator, which is pretty awesome and and this one with Anna Silk, who plays the lead.

And for the pretty there's http://fuckyeahlostgirl.tumblr.com because fuck yeah, they're an attractive cast!

I heard it's a yuletide fandom this year and zomg I hope we get so much fic! Also, Team Lauren FTW!

I think I need to get used to the fact that work will never stop being insanely busy and that I need to make time for lj if I don't want to become a giant hermit. Or more of one anyway.

In the meantime MCR SHENANIGANS! Despite some fail on their part and my bandom interest slowing down somewhat I am so excited that they're out there doing things and playing new music. Even more so because in two weeks I have tickets to their Hamburg show :DDD

Last week I saw The Like in the tiniest venue ever. It was so tiny they had to walk through the crowd (I use that word very loosely since there were maybe a hundred people there, tops) to get to the stage which was barely big enough to hold them and their instruments. They are so amazing live! I'm sad I didn't have a camera and couldn't take pictures because hello pretty ladies *____* Not to mention they are so nice! I talked to everyone but Laena after the show had asked them to sign my booklet. Z was amazed I even had one since apparently the CD isn't out in Germany (way to out myself as a creeper fan who imports shit /o\). And when I tried to buy a button set Tennessee gave them to me for free.

I also had tickets for Black Cards in Berlin this weekend but that was canceled for bullshit reasons. (Label committments is not a good excuse when, presumably, the label is owned by a freaking band member >:( )

Anyway, lunch break's over again.

Yeah, that was two weeks ago. How so busy, life?! Since then I spent an entire week off work due to excruciating backpain, had a couchsurfer from Australia stay with me for two nights, almost missed the MCR show because of my back, went anyway and had a blast, met khana for said show and finally went back to work today.

Oh and watched Inception about three times and read 38109231092 words of Arthur/Eames fic. Hello shiny new fandom *___*