I’m grateful for WoW, it makes me happy 🙂
I’m happy we got cake at work, it was tasty!
I’m annoyed that the cat peed in my shopping basket. It got a good soak so I threw it out instead of trying to clean it.
I learned I need to seriously get better with my time management :S
- I started Working at KPN
- We had a very severe winter, which resulted in public transport being down frequently, which is very! annoying
- Had a tea party with friends at Mellien’s place, it was very fun
I’ve got nothing for this month. For some reason I only took 3 pictures in the whole of February… And I didn’t blog that month either. Sadness. Here, have all three February pics to cheer you up from this huge, huge let down 😀
March- Spring was on its way! Not that enthusiastically yet, but I saw the first real flowers peeking their heads above ground
- Finally found a good design starting point for my future tattoo
- Chocolate fondue with Eva & Ingrid, yum!
- Bought new plants for my back yard
- Found an awesome stick to turn into a staff. So far it’s still standing unused in my mudroom, but this year I strive to actually make something out of it 🙂
- Went balfolking for the first time (no, it’s probably not a proper verb, and yes, I’ll tell you what it is; it’s dancing old ball and folk dances on medieval-and-slightly-later type music)
April- With Eva, Ingrid and Nienke to Lauwersoog, which was hilarious since we got stuck in the parking lot for two hours due to no traffic regulators being present
- This was also the month mom turned 60, Happy Birthday!
- Nienke and I added a garden door to our shared backyard to keep the neighbourhood kids from using our space as a shortcut path
May- Went to see the Men’s Choir of Warffum (of which my uncle is a member) perform at the museum estate Verhildersum
- Spent Liberation Day in Parentville, where the whole street came together to decorate it for the festivities, great sense of community then, it should be like that more often
- Ingrid came by, time for scrabble in the sun. Eva & Mellien dropped by a little later, on horseback.
- Saw a hedgehog in the yard, awesome little critters
- Joined the LifeLines research project about long term health
June- Dad’s birthday, 67 for him. Happy Birthday!
- With the summer in full swing, Nienke and I tried outdoor computing
- It was also the time for the yearly full family visit to my aunt and uncle in Harderwijk
- Went to visit Soestdijk Palace with Mom and a friend of hers, it was awesome! I’m very glad I got to see the place before they closed it down
July- Celtic Midsummer Fest! Need I say more? An awesome weekend in which I went re-enacting for the first time. Great friends, great environment, great things to see and do, in short, a great time!
- Also, aforementioned festival will (for me) henceforth always be connected to ‘that time I banged my toes into oblivion on a tent peg’ 😀
- It got so warm I regularly spent my free time lounging outside with my feet in water. At first in two buckets (one for each foot) and later in a giant tub-like thing. Monkey approved of this, always enough water to drink nearby
- I bought my binder this month, which turned out to be a huge step on the road of self-discovery and gender identity
August- Castlefest! Again, need I say more! Another awesome weekend! I’d not been able to go to Castlefest for some years, so it felt great to be back here. I love the atmosphere at this particular fest, plus being able to see Omnia live again for the first time in a couple of years as well was great, too.
- Nienke had a BBQ in honour of her birthday, it was tasty!
- Mom started knitting socks, after a conversation about how the warm socks we had were not getting any better.
- Went out for a sudden and unexpected pizza with Eva & Nienke
- Dad, on request, cut off the hedge in my front yard
- Monkey got weird spots on his back leg, he ended up with a salve treatment and antibiotics and return appointments at the vet three times in a row. Fortunately, they have cleared up completely
- And finally, this was the month I decided to continue blogging here, instead of trying to maintain both this blog and a LifeJournal
September- I burned my arm a wee bit by splashing hot olive oil on it. Fortunately I washed it off right away, so it didn’t go much further than some light second degree burning one one spot and some intenser first degree burning on the others. The second degree spot left a scar, it’s pretty 🙂
- Had Tessa over to dog-sit, and got both her and Monkey in the same room without Tessa trying to eat Monkey, and without Monkey trying his best to hide as far away as possible
- Had my own birthday, turned 26. Happy Birthday me!
- Got the flu right after the birthday parties, ended up having to stay home for about a week, and had noticeably less energy the weeks after that while I was recovering further, not fun 🙁
October- Became obsessed with Glee 😀
- Got my iPhone
- Mom started knitting gloves, nice and warm for the winter
- Went out to wok with Eva & Ingrid, yum!
- Attended Julius’ birthday, which was a sort of High Tea type thing with a whole bunch of cakes he and his mom made, it was awesome (and very, very tasty!)
- Bought two awesome pumpkins for Halloween and carved them; one a face, the other a sort of cheese with holes kinda idea with mice in the holes
November- Was a bit down for a good part of this month, a combination of Daylight Savings Time ending, winter coming up and some other random shit. Took a while before I saw the colours of the world in full shine again, instead of dulled
- Mom knit me a pretty hat to match the gloves she made, my mom rocks 🙂
- Discovered the Instagram iPhone app (among many, many other apps; I <3 apps 😀 ) which is fun to play with
December- Had a St. Nicholasmas (a combination of St. Nicholas and Christmas) party with Nienke, Eva, Mellien and Ingrid. It was fun and very nice to have a group get together again.
- CATACLYSM! W00t!
- The snow really hit. It looks awesome, but just like last year, it’s wreaking havoc on the public transport system. Which is kinda ridiculous as they spent the whole year winterproofing their systems and all, and they were sure it would be better this year… And then the first few days we have heavy snowfall, everything falls apart, again.
- December was good, even though in the beginning of the month I wasn’t sure about that (residual gloominess from November)
Oh my, I have way too many things to post about to all fit in one post. Not just because it would be a mega Too Long; Don’t Read kinda thing, but also because some things are intro-type posts that work best on their own. So I’m spreading them out a bit, posting some of it now, and the rest tomorrow.
I mentioned my Christmas Day shenanigans, which were few and low-key, and the second day of Christmas wasn’t much different. I spent the day with my parents, just hanging out. Played a lot of Warcraft, and had a lovely dinner. Spent the night at theirs too, and went to work the next day from there.
On Old Year’s Day (as we Dutchies call it), I had to work till about six, and went over to the parents again after that. I’m not too fond of New Year’s Eve, I dislike fireworks and can’t stand the incessant noises they make. Plus, for me the new year, seasonally speaking, starts at Yule. I’d brought my laptop to Parentville so I spent the evening backing up my files (which was way overdue, thank Gods there were no crashes or whatnots in between), and installing the Humble Indie Bundle I bought the other day. At midnight there was the standard well wishing and then I went on to play Warcraft, while keeping the dog calm as the neighbours went nuts with fireworks.
Tessa behaved quite nicely. She was still terrified, but there was less of the hiding in corners and such as she did last year. I think some of the things I picked up from watching Cesar Milan, in staying calm and assertive and getting her out of her heightened state when it was nearing the overboard level, worked quite well.
Hit the sack not too late and slept in this morning, absolute heaven! I don’t get to sleep in a lot at home. During the week I usually have to get up early for work, and on my days off, or when I have a late shift, the cat tends to wake me up. After hanging around the house, stopping by at home to feed and check up on Monkey, and having lunch, I finally showered. Shortly after ‘t was time for the traditional New Year’s Day meet up of my mom’s side of the family at my uncle’s house. We were there for most of the day, and it was great fun 🙂
I don’t do resolutions, but I do have my big 101 list, so I’ll be posting an update on that in a bit, along with the things on that list that are planned for this year. (note to self: comma’s are your friends, but don’t ignore periods…)
Other posts to come along shortly: final booklist, book club intro post thingy (I might combine those, probably easier), a little 2010 overview thing, the weekly four tomorrow and an intro for my 2011 Picture-a-Day thing.
I’ve got a song stuck in my head since yesterday. Not that I care much for the lyrics, but the melody is quite catching. It started last night while Nienke and I were watching A Christmas Carol (1999 version with Patrick Stewart as Scrooge). Near the end of the movie, after Scrooge has had his change of heart, he goes to church, and they sing this hymn. I have this song in the version sung by the Glee Cast on my iPhone, so the moment I heard it in the movie it became an earworm, and I’ve not been able to get rid of it. Not that I mind terribly, but it gets tedious after a couple times, especially if you don’t know much more than half or two-thirds of a verse 😀
Other than that, Christmas was quite enjoyable yesterday. Slept in late, then finished the book I was reading. After that I decided it might be good to get out of bed. The rest of the afternoon I hung on the sofa, enjoying the winter sun peeking through the trees, brightening the snowy field in front of my house. Sent out my thanks to the Gods for the past year, looking forward to the next.
In the evening Nienke and I went fondueing at her place. The idea was some cheese fondue at first, and some chocolate to finish it off, however the cheese was rather mighty, and we didn’t like it the taste of it all that much. Different kind of cheese next time. We decided to forgo the chocolate, we were stuffed.
We watched A Christmas Carol during this, followed by other mushy Christmas time movies like Enchanted, and parts of Ever After, Ella Enchanted and How the Grinch Stole Christmas (I really dislike that last one). We also exchanged a few fun gifts. I got two duck key chains, which I added to the duck key chain already attached to my WoW authenticator, and a cute pair of scissors. For Nienke I got her a new box for her tea and scented stuff to burn. The cats got a present as well, Murphy a toy, and Monkey cat candy.
Went home around 23:30 and ended up playing Warcraft in bed for an hour and a half or so. Had Asra drop by Greatfather Winter in Ironforge to open his presents. Mostly food stuffs, but also a Minizep Remote, and a Snowman Kit. Put that one up for auction since he already has all the Winter Veil pets, and at the moment I’d rather have the gold than give it to one of my alts; I’m stockpiling my gold.
It’s the second day of Christmas now, and I’m spending this day in Parentville. Don’t know yet what I’ll do, but there’s definitely some more WoW involved 😀
In the meantime:
I’m grateful for central heating. It’s nice to sit around a fire, but central heating makes everything easier.
I’m happy DADT got repealed And also with WoW, I’m loving Cataclysm so very much!
I’m annoyed that snow again manages to grind our country to a standstill where on time public transport is apparently impossible.
I learned I forgot to do this last week, bad me 🙂
Pain… Agony…
My hatred burns through the cavernous deeps.
The World heaves with my torment.
Its wretched kingdoms quake beneath my rage.
But at last, the whole of Azeroth will break.
And all will burn beneath the shadow of my wings.
~Deathwing
The Shattering has been a week now, so I figured I jot down my thoughts so far. I’ve been questing with Asraelion (80) as well as Yathra (47) and both are enjoying the new 1-60 questlines/zones. Asra, obviously, is racing through it what with his level, but unlike when I was doing Loremaster and scrounging for those last quests, I’m taking the time to read the quests and really enjoy the stories. With a lot of those random kill x of that, collect y of that quests removed, every thing you do in a quest line feels relevant to the story.
Asra has been questing in Stranglethorn, Westfall, Redridge and Duskwood. In Stranglethorn I’m really fond of the quests that basically serve as an intro to Zul’Gurub. Very nicely done how you find an egg along the way which hatches a little t-rex who runs along with you as you keep questing until it suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, finds something and such leading to another quest. It feels very natural. Plus the epic conclusion of that particular quest line! Trying to escape Zul’Gurub as the t-rex, it was heart-stopping on occasion, I got pulled in that much. It also took some good thinking and patience, very nice to not be done with a quest in 5 minutes 😀
In Westfall, the whole CSI: Miami quest line. One word: Awesome! Assisting Lieutenant Horatio Laine (with trademark sun glasses and bad puns) solving the murder of Blanchy the Cow and uncovering the identity of the Shadowy Figure who’s trying to resurrect the Defias.
Redridge, while the questing experience is much improved, and following a story line, felt less epic to me though, although that is probably because I did it with Asra, and some of the assistance provided by the quest objects was unneeded for him so he raced through it. I did love the tank ride though 😀
Duskwood feels much, much better. There’s some real Worgen story going on there, so it’s nice to get a preview of Worgen background before next week. By now I’m already honored with Gilneas and the faction isn’t even fully in play yet 😀
Yathra, on the other hand, since I’m kinda trying to level her pretty quick, is doing stuff her level. She’s not done a whole lot of quests, but she has been running around for flight paths. I love (although maybe slightly overdone) the myriad of flight paths in Eastern Plaguelands. She has been questing in Western Plaguelands, and the quests and stories do a very nice job of showing how the Alliance reclaims the land from the Scourge. Andorhal is partly reclaimed, and it, plus Sorrow Hill, look great and green again.
The Badlands, where she has also done questing, is awesome. It’s kinda tricky getting there as Deathwing left a huge gash between Loch Modan and the Badlands, but if you look closely, there’s a path across. In the middle of the Badlands is a gash where Deathwing burned and tore through the earth. The canyon-like feature is filled with Earth Elementals, and an unlikely threesome of friends in the middle.
Three quest givers stand on a peak in the middle and each of them tells you about the day Deathwing came, and how they killed him… It’s part cinematic, part quest where you play the part of the quest giver. And since all three tell rather tall tales, the quests are hilarious! Plus in the foreseeable future this will be the only way you’ll ever get to kill dear Deathwing 😀
There’s only one week left until Cataclysm (and I so hope Bol will actually deliver my pre-ordered Collector’s Edition on the day itself) and then my Worgen will be created. I’m not sure yet what he or she will be in terms of class, but I’m looking forward to it very much. And in the mean time I amuse myself with thinking up potential names and seeing if they’re taken (which, unfortunately, most I like already are 🙁 ).
I’m grateful for cheesecake, I <3 it.
I’m happy I managed to get to revered with Zandalar Tribe. I might even make it to Exalted if the Shattering doesn’t happen coming week. #WoW
I’m annoyed with the cold that decided to attack all my soft squishy bits and cause and excessive mucus production.
I learned showing the hairdresser two images and explaining what you want of each image doesn’t always lead to the desired effect. Not that the cut I ended up getting was bad, I do like it, it just wasn’t what I had in mind. In the end it doesn’t matter, that’s the beauty of hair, it’ll grow back 😀 And in the mean time I wait eagerly for April next year when I’ll be going peroxide blond for my Spike dress-up for the Elf Fantasy Fair.
I’m grateful for Glee, it’s making me so insanely happy!
I’m happy about a great many things this week; the Glee DVD box set I ordered is already dispatched, the WoW Cataclysm cinematic was released, BlizzCon is coming weekend (yay for virtual tickets) and I love infecting friends with Glee fever 😀
I’m annoyed the clip on my Internet cable broke and now I have to duct tape it to my laptop to stop it from slipping out all the time. I want wireless Internet.
I learned blogging on the iPhone can be very convenient 😀
Besides those <-, I’m working on more reputation things. Spent some time in Zul’Gurub grinding Zandalar rep. Together with a couple extra coins and bijous bought on the AH that got me to halfway through friendly in a few hours. Should be able to get that to exalted over the next two months I’d think 😀
Als grinding Kurenai, not just for the individual achievement, but also for the Diplomat title that comes with getting Timbermaw, Sporeggar and Kurenai exalted. Should also be done in the next week or so, together with Oracles as I’m halfway through revered with both of them. And pocketing those two reps will also get me to 20 reputations at Exalted.
