Things I've ephanised this week...

• Things can and do happen unexpectedly while I'm not even looking; as cliche as it sounds, it's true.
• My inner fangirl/geek did not appear from nowhere. It has origin.
• I'm not ashamed of my past more than ever, it blessed me with this miraculous family half.
• Things are worth fighting for, even if they go against all comfort zones, and even if both time and distance have joined forces against you.
• I worry too much. WAY too much.
• It is in fact, possible, to live without shame.
• I'm not alone. No way. And I'm not going to be paranoid about being alone.
• Genuine family love lasts for a lifetime. As opposed to material wealth that evaporates.
• That part of me I always felt was missing? ...it was right here, all along.

The moment.

The heat.
The touch.
The scent.
The gasp.
The sigh.
The stroke.
The heartbeats.
The inhale.
The exhale.
The squeeze.
The conscience.
The fear.
The end.

It's incidents like these that I wished I could vlog.

Ever have such a wonderful surrealistic moment?
One that made you wonder if you were dreaming?
And in the centre of it all, somebody entirely unexpected?

So yesterday my aunty and I went on an outing to Melbourne's inner city, previous location of my lone wanderings. Had a peek through Crown casino and stroll through Southbank. The latter made me realise that while my first attempt to write a book was negligible, the idea of Southbank as a setting to bring my fictional characters together was - and still is - a wonderful idea.

And then we proceded to a certain bookshop.
And it was there I died and went to fangirl heaven.
Quite almost literally.

This shop, Minotaur. Well first of all, look at this design.

You kind of get a sense of the name's inspiration once you step inside. Lucky I had a considerable collection of funds.

It's not only a bookshop.
It's a fangirl's DREAM.
More specifically, one that offers show merchandise. The types of merchandise I've only seen avaliable online. Smallville, True Blood, Supernatural, Doctor Who. And that was only a little itty bitty corner that I managed to exploe fully compared to the rest of the place. The was a Pride and Prejudice and Zombies CALENDAR. And Beatles' MONOPOLY. Fake Tru Blood. There was an entire wall devoted to Doctor Who, but stacks and stacks of merchandise.

And POSTERS. Oh my Castiel, each section had corresponding, official POSTERS.

I'll show you what I ended up with.

This True Blood tee.
A Jared Padalecki POSTER. (Nicola, if you're reading this, I got you one too. SURPRISE!)
And a travel mug that was on sale at the convention that I didn't buy and regretted not buying ever since then.

I recommend, if you're a fan of ANYTHING, you go there and bring lots and lots of lots of money.
It's been an amazing week so far.

Living without shame. For once.

Hey, I'm updating after all. Yay.

So hanging out in Melbourne with family. I think only a list of words can cover the past couple of days. Because it's kinda personal for me.

• SUPERNATURAL MARATHON
• More relatives.
• Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Blaaaaaaaaaaaah.
• Awkwardness...then realising we share the same level of awkward and use it advantageously.
• Confusion over who gets shotgun
• Absent minded poking.
• Slippers. (Don't ask)
• Bonding over cravings of brains. Braaaaiiins.
   

So yes. That's all really.

Oh, and I fangirled.

...stop staring at me like that.

She says that love is for fools that fall behind.

High-Tops vs Low-Cuts?

Ended up getting a black pair of each. Yay.

I must say, it's nicely odd to wear low cuts when you've been wearing high tops for ages.
Though it feels strangely odd to have exposed ankles.

(Yeah, I've been trying to vocabulate {is that even a word?!} more. Been using words like "vaguely" and "somewhat", like "vaguely hungry" and "somewhat happy". Meh.)

One thing to add to my things I find awesome list is the Tinkerbell effect.

Oh! and I actually waited for Glee S1 to come out entirely and for cheaper. Ended up getting it last night for cheaper than buying the two halves together. Yay for good decisions.

And I'm leaving tomorrow! No idea if I'll be able to update this blog. But hey, I've been fairly regular until now.

So if you're particularly bored, browse though the fanfiction under the links to the right, or else explore the archives of this blog.

PS: We had tacos twice last month. You can imagine how I reacted.

All we know is distance, we're close and then we run.

I'm not a leisurely shopper. I do what I have to and leave.
Probably why boxing day sales were so nightmarish for me.

For any Harry Potter fans out there who are not aware of this, J.K. Rowling wrote a prequel short story.

I have been reading/watching/doing lately...

• Dawn of the Dreadfuls by Steve Hockensmith (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies prequel!)
• Been plowing through The Southern Vampire Mysteries series by Charlaine Harris. Currently up to All Together Dead. I recommend reading these if you're a True-Blood-show-watcher. It's only when you read these books that you really understand how much originality the True Blood guys put into the show and mix it up rather than take everything from the books. Of course, if I'd read the books before watching the show, I'd be complaining about the changes rather than appreciating.
• Episodes of The Gruen Transfer. I'm still determined not to vegetate.
• Thinking about re-reading my copy of Euripides' plays (Medea, Hecabe, Electra, Heracles). Kind of nostalgic about Lit.
• Haven't stepped beyond Chuck S1 because I hear the rest is really bad. Not unlike the whole Supernatural ordeal.
• STILL working on Christmas presents for friends. Finished one of two just yesterday, and the other has about a week or so to go. Yes, I will blog more specifically later, but I am well aware that both of these friends read my blog. Wish I thought of this Great Idea around the end of exams, these would have been finished on time. Well worth it guys, HOME MADE.
• Crossing my fingers for new pairs of Chucks sometime soon. My wonderful purple plaids are aging, sadly.

• Enjoying the aftermath of the new years' eve party. Leftover food and drinks galore. Not to mention Nicola's awesome rainbow cupcakes and cookies.

I also love to pack for trips. 

The worst part of packing for me would be packing to go home. 

And unpacking when I get home.

The word doesn't sound real any more. Packpackpackpackpackpackpackpackpackpackpack.

But YAY. I'm actually doing something these holidays.

Quiet, but I'm sure, there is something here...

Hey.
Um.
What are you doing here?
Stop reading.
Stop it.
You stalker.
...just kidding. Please stalk my blog.
And openly. By following.
Thank you.

So this is probably not a very big deal, but...

...look at the tab in your browser!

You can find out how to do this here.

Staying with relatives next week. 

Something I've been eagerly awaiting for how long? 

YAY.

The power of love or self respect? Hmmmm.

And how can these two NOT be related? 

When you put them side by side there's an obvious resemblance, I think.

See you around, I guess?

Happy New Year!

So the NYE party was small but fantastically so.

It was perfect. Wouldn't have changed a thing.

FAIRY BREAD.

SPARKLERS.

Rainbow cupcakes!

We stood in the driveway with party poppers and let them off when we saw the fireworks.

The year's started off so positively (a rare thing for me). Here's hoping this year is even better than last year.

New Years' resolution?

Be the best that I can be and be happy with what I have.

Anonymous post.

I'm taking a cue from 667's Anonymous thread. Feel free to ignore this post. It's nothing, really.

1. You're tacky and I hate you. No, I did not intend that as a School of Rock reference.
2. Life is difficult. And I know that it all seems too much. But who do you think is going to be left with all that if you decide to throw in the towel? Exactly. It doesn't go away. It just transfers. Dealing with it is life.
3. Maybe you want her, maybe you need her, maybe you had her, maybe you lost her to to another.
4. I care too much. That's the problem. You're so far up my priority list and it took me practically forever to realise that I'm all the way down near the bottom on yours. Don't come running if you suddenly remember I exist. Maybe, maybe I'll give you the time of day, which is more that what you've ever done. I never want to see you again.
5. I wish we talked more often. Your overall amazingness is awesome and blinds everyone. You're going to rule the iTunes countdown one day. Hope I see you soon (and live!). And that my lost package eventually arrives.
6. Maybe?! If that's the case, maybe I won't bother.
7. I love you. Can't wait to spend a week with you. See you soon.
8. It was time for me to move on. I did enjoy writing loads but I'm no longer that angry teenager. I'm something entirely different now. Sorry. It was a great five years .Plus most of the great people left.
9. You're so helpful and honest and fantastic. I hope you know that. Thank you. You've given me more than you know.
10. Yes. I tend to be paranoid and get obsessed. Don't say you never knew that about me. It's not like you've never made those kinds of mistakes, because this is all I know. 
11. Up until I was 25, I thought the only response to "I love you" was "Oh, crap".
12. You mean well. But I'm not happy. Not really. You got off easy I reckon.
13. Shut up. It's like having a crying and screaming baby. I'm getting migranes from you. Don't you roll your eyes at me.
14. I miss you. It's a joy to read your blog. Your randomness inspires.
15. We live too far away from each other. Hope to see you soon. Thanks for putting up with my fangirlism in May.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Dexter 1x12

Don't you just hate it when you're driving around peacefully listening to classical music, and all of a sudden your hostage ruins the moment by screaming, to the point where you have to get out and replace the strip of duct tape over her mouth?

Boxing day and RANDOM DANCING. Phew. I need to sit.

Oh my Castiel, today was INSANE.

I was hanging around for a few hours because the few moments I chose to enter a shop it really WAS insane. I almost fell asleep because that's how tired I got. The queues were spectacularly long and it was all SALE SALE SALE and BUY BUY BUY everywhere. It can get that tad bit overwhelming.

So I'm going to talk about the lunch I had in order to avoid thinking about it.

Homemade by yours truly and it was fantastically successful. Heated gravy instead of butter and roast lamb slices left over from Christmas with smears of gravy in between.

It is worth selling your soul for one of those. ommmmmnommmmmmm.

Oh. Something else awesome? Chuck. Wanted to see it for a while and I couldn't find the DVDs anywhere today. Then I slapped myself upside the head for thinking obsoletely

(...um, figure of speech guys)

and iTunes-ed. S1 just happens to be cheaper than I expected. Wooooo.

Drank three glasses of Coke today and thought nothing of it...until I put on a certain track and started dancing and jumping around the room with timed headbashing and lame air guitar.

...which I almost never do.

For A Pessimist, I'm Pretty Optimistic (while high on Coke!). Provided for your convenience on the right.

PS: I LOVE early - almost crack of dawn - hashbrown runs. They're amazing.

Merry Christmas.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World sucks.

...kidding. It's totally awesome. Got it for Christmas.

There's this one amazing moment I loved that I couldn't find the animated gif for so I had to try making one via youtube/gifsoup. Wish the quality was better and there was less promotionality, but it gets the job done.

That's one BAMF character.

Going on a solo trip tomorrow to check out boxing day sales. Should be fun.

And having a party on New Years' Eve. Superhero costume theme.

...I've already chosen who to be and have most of the costume elements together.

I'm the hero of the story, don't need to be saved.

Letting my expectations align with reality was ALL I ever used to do.

But not any more.

Whoever invented italiacs, I want to marry them.

Check out the playlist to your right. Video-gamey version of Paramore's Careful, as well as Brand New Colony by The Postal Service (the song I originally wanted for my music video but was unable to get the rights for it). Enjoy.

Add amazing tee designs to the list.

It's a guy's shirt, but as soon as I saw it, no question, I bought it.

And book trailers that do an exceptional job of selling their books.

And if Glee did this, I would die and go to geek heaven.

I am not afraid to keep on living, I am not afraid to walk this world alone...

It's been an amazing year with amazing people.
And though I didn't get the score I wanted, I'm not letting it stop me.
I'm working around it.
And I'm learning to appreciate the smaller but important things in life.

LIST TIME.

• The cold side of my pillow.
• A cat or kitten racing over for me to pat.
• Unread, purchased books just waiting to be read (so you can imagine how I'm feeling when I walk into a bookstore).
• Likewise, unwatched, purchased movies or tv shows. And as soon as I get home I rush to my little crowded room to watch with undiluted excitement.
• Come to think of it.... my little crowded room. It's been called a shoe box by my friend Jewels, but I know now that it would be heaps messier if I had room to spread out. Having lived for two years in this room, the decorating mania had only really started late last year. 

It's had a desk moved in before exams and out after, and a week ago I (admittedly foolishly) tried to rearrange my room to fit everything in. Had to put everything back. I found a bunch of random things in the process including socks I'd never seen before in my life, my CD stash before I'd made the leap to current technology, and my water gun from muck up day.

I'm going to find it hard to say goodbye to this room.

On with the list.

• New posters.
• Fresh, crisp new book smell. Sometimes old book smell, but mostly new.
• The smell of lens polish.
• Listening to new music.
• Rhyming dictionaries.
• ...the fact that I have two dictionaries in my room. I know, I'm a freak!
• Falling autumn leaves. 
• Facebook notifications from awesome people. Sounds lame, I know.
• Rain. Only thing better is...
• Thunderstorms.
• Hot chocolate. Especially while listening to rain or a thunderstorm.

• Oddity gigs! Combine awesome music and awesome people. It's probably the only setting that I've abandoned myself and gone crazy. Definite highlights of this year and it's certainly illustrated my change. The first time I went to see these guys, this random hit on me... and I was freaked out. Now I just shrug it off and don't care. Especially when Oddity play "The Middle" for me and I get up on stage for a little bit. I'm really going to miss these guys and going to their gigs.
• A reheated dinner and pecan pie after an amazing night out.
• Frozen yogurt. Raspberry and blueberry flavours particularly.

I think that's it... there's probably more that I can't think of right now. 

And I invite you to collate your favourite things into a list.

Shiver/Linger review

I've chosen to review these on different days.

Wednesday, 8th of December:

At this point I've only read Shiver with Linger just bought and on my bedside table.

Shiver? AMAZING. Five out of five. Stiefvater builds the characters into investments that the reader can benefit from. I actually cared about the characters, more so than I normally would have. The suspense is built beautifully between Grace and Sam, so you could actually feel the intensity of this storyline. The storyline is packed to almost breaking point, but it doesn't feel that way while reading it; you actually crave for more when you put the book down. The narrative shifts from Grace and Sam's perspectives, including the temperature of the scene, a wonderfully unique touch (in Celsius, thank goodness, converting them to Fahrenheit the entire time would have driven me crazy!). I recommend you read this immediately.

Thursday, 16th of December

I'd reread Shiver before starting on Linger.

Linger? Admittedly, not as amazing. Not as grabbing as Shiver. Graces's parents just seem an annoyance in the plot, as their emotional absence from Grace was established in Shiver and they get the entirely wrong idea after they finds them together in her room. It just escalates and illustrates their control issues, really. After you read the prologue and see the cover, the reader gets the general gist of the story and it's ruined the element of the surprise ending; which is what makes Shiver so powerful. There are new perspectives in the story; Isabel and a new wolf Cole. The temperatures are gone, but this is understandable as the suspense of Sam shifting ends with in Shiver and rendering the temperatures useless.

One thing that grabbed me about both books were - well, the covers, yes - but also sometimes the stream of consciousness between characters. Grace's perspective was straightforward and logical, and Sam's consisted of some song lyrics of his creation entwined with the happenings of the story.

"You're like a song I heard when I was a little kid but forgot I knew until I heard it again."

Forever will be released July 2011.

Off you go Checkers, or whatever you're called. [insert instant creep factor here]

Dexter S4 is like OH MY CASTIEL.

Over the past couple of years, I think either my peripheral vision or my insanity has increased.

But I tend to rely on my peripheral vision too much. So insanity it is.

No more Supernatural until the 28th of January. After seeing 6x11 I was just yelling "Cliffhanger, much?!"

The locusts are really bad here at the moment, you can't so much as walk through a blade of grass without feeling like this. Shopping for books or dvds can be surprisingly theraputic. Just make sure you have enough money depending on how low you're feeling. Otherwise it makes you feel worse to have to choose something over another.

Shiver/Linger review coming soon.

All I know is falling.

She was all alone. The deserted landscape began to spin around her ominiously. 


She couldn't breathe. She couldn't move. 


She was paralysed as the landscape revolved faster and faster, threatening to turn into a whirlpool of despair and swallow her whole.


...and she was all alone.

Crazy.

So I've noticed that most visitors have viewed the "Obssessive Love Songs" post I made a while ago. Which is odd, because it was made a while ago. So I Googled the phrase, and guess what?

It's the sixth result.

Wow.

Of course my reaction is not that huge because I've already had something Google-able. My Quiglet (Violet/Quigley, A Series of Unfortunate Events) songfic(tion) epicness. And I found that out about four years ago.

Over 300 stories, about two years of work, mainly AU/OOC as well as within the ASOUE universe.

...avaliable via Google.

That reaction was huge. I can remember my friends running around the school screaming "MICHELLE MADE GOOGLE!!!!"

...I've definitely changed since then. I can remember feeling so isolated from everyone and just having such strong emotion that I expressed through these characters.

My fanfiction's avaliable to read in the links section in the side bar (above the music video); Post-Euphoria/Pre-Dysphoria, Exhaustion, and A Series of Quiglet Events.

Reading requests?

So there's two books I'm eager to read; I'm a sucker for cover art. And from what I can tell from reviews, the first one is amazing.

Have any other titles to recommend? 

...I really don't want to vegetate, but I think it might be too late.

As for Supernatural season 6...

*insert dramatic score here*

If you make no improvement whatsoever, I'm breaking up with you. It's been a wonderful, one sided affair for about five years now, but you've changed. Way too much. Yes, sometimes change is good, but this rate of change too quickly is disturbing and scary. Out of the last ten episodes, only two are any good. TWO. 

This may be overeacting, but there were streaks of episodes that were AMAZING in seasons 1-5 and anything below would only last for an episode or two. There were weeks when by the start of the credits I'd be staring at the screen with my jaw dropped. And there was that fangirl incident that shall remain unsaid.

No lulls. 

This season so far has just been one huge lull with the exception of 6x04 (the FIRST episode to be shot, by the way) and to some extent even 6x06 and a LITTLE of 6x10. But it's inconsistent.

I shall only watch out of habit now. But I don't love you the same way. Not any more.

PS: MISHA COLLINS ON NCIS. AS A BAD GUY.
...well I knew this a while ago, but I figure it's time for a fangirl moment.

"See through the disguise. See me."

6x10. Um... spoilers. I'll make them highlightable to you if you want to see them.

Let's just say that I'm not alone in my disappointment.

Season 6 of Supernatural is flushing the last five years down the toilet, in my opinion. BAMF Castiel was a definite highlight, as were quotes such as (Sam threatening to kill Cas and Cas remaining BAMF in saying "And how will you do that, boy?"), (Cas trying to understand porn; "If the pizza man truly loves this babysitter, why dies he keep slapping her rear? Perhaps she's done something wrong.") and this one quote from a demon that I think sums up Dean's behaviour the entire season.


"I'm sorry, I know you're speaking, I see your lips moving, but I can't understand what you're saying cause I don't speak LITTLE BITCH."


SLAAAAAAM.

But these was the only highlights.

It was physically painful to watch. As I may have said, it's like bad fan fiction. BAMF Castiel is the only thing I'll be watching this show for now.

I MISS ERIC KRIPKE'S AWESOMENESS.

Random. Boredom.

According to this, Rowena Ravenclaw created Hogwarts' moving staircases.

...how awesome is that?!

So cue the fangirl screaming. I'm aiming to get a VIP ticket this time; the last time I bought early and was stuck in the very last row, while there were those who had bought the week before practically up front. So very annoying.

So these "Keep Calm" parody fanatics began when the admin of You Know You're Obssessed With Supernatural When... posted these two on the feed.

Needless to say, they were printed and added to my room immediately.

And this one is great background on what 6x09 is about.

And after extensive searching, I found a few other awesome ones that were un-Supernatural related.

 

I'm like THIS close to giving up on season 6 of Supernatural. THIS MUCH. I'm hoping 6x10 is anything close to good.

I've also had this unusual craving for tacos lately. Strange.

All We Know Is Falling/Riot! review

 

And I can't pretend that I don't see this...

I put my faith in you, so much faith...

And you do your best to show real love, but you don't know what love is...

This is how we'll dance when, when they try to take us down...

We'll always know that you shine brighter than anyone else...

So here's a delayed review of All We Know Is Falling and Riot!. Putting them side by side like this allows to be seen how different - and yet still totally awesome - they are.

All We Know Is Falling's generally more known as the darker album, but it's not to say that Riot! doesn't have the dark undertones that establish a clear continuity within Paramore's work. The tracks "Emergency" and "Misery Business", while from two different albums and succeed in creating two contrasting tones, both reflect an almost awe-inspiring honesty that we could all learn from.

The thing about Paramore's music is that it's emotionally grounded and relatable. You feel it rather than process it normally. You can understand seeing somebody and thinking how extraordinary they are, and feeling like you're the only other person who'll ever see them like that ("Brighter"), or furious because you were let down by somebody you had so much faith in ("For A Pessimist, I'm Pretty Optimistic"). Or seeing somebody who "deserves to be alive" completely give up on themselves and throw in the towel while you stand by, completely helpless, but "[you] can't pretend that [you] can't see this" ("Emergency").

And the music itself is amazing. The band succeeds in creating melodies that can stay in your head for days or weeks at a time. I know I've gone around for weeks with that guitar riff from "That's What You Get" and pretty much all of "Brighter" in my head at the same time.

So I recommend. Highly.