Ok, I'm officially having a fever. 37,8 and counting. Scary. I hardly ever get a fever. Meep.

Fevered Dreams

Ok, I feel bad enough to whine about it.

Somehow I've caught a cold or it may be something similar. Thing is, I haven't slept all night, used up more than 200 tissues and had some fevered dream where one of my coughs was secretly female and all my other coughs supported it... her, whatever.

By noon I managed to dry myself out enough to catch a few hours of sleep in quarter hour bits and pieces.

Now I'm sitting in a big heap of tissues, having drank numerous liters of thyme tea with way too much lemon juice in them and ponder when I will ever be able to fall asleep.

Would it be morbid if I said: happy anniversary?

If you're American, it's better if you don't read this. I don't need rants for exercising my right of free speech.

Actually, I remember 9/11. I also remember the day after, when my school was asked, as actually everybody in the country to stand for a silent minute to mourn those poor widdle Americans.

I remember vividly that some picked their nose, a friend of mine yawned and another ate an apple, chewing thoughtfully. I snickered and looked out onto the street through the window my seat was next to and stared at the lucky buggers out on the street who didn't have to give a shit.

Then our teacher asked us, who didn't stand there with a mourning face: why? We told her. America never gave a shit about any other country. (The Americans elected a monkey as president. Seriously, what more is there to say?) Did they stand up in silence to mourn the people of Nagasaki? Nope. Did they ever say sorry that they sold our country to Russia? Hell no. Then why should we pay them any respect and mourn people we never even knew? Why do we have to mourn a country that brought this retaliation upon itself? I'm sorry to say, but I do believe they had something coming. I'm not saying it's exactly what they deserved, no. But they did deserve to get punched in the face.

However, I do feel sorry for the people who got killed. I feel sorry, because they had to live in such a country, because that was the only reason they got killed in those two towers. Had they lived elsewhere, in a country with a conscience... well, who knows.

Lucid dreams with a touch of fanservice

Weird dream again. Very weird.

The dream mixed together a lot of stuff, like NCIS, Heroes, The 4400 and Darker than Black.

The city we were in was a mix of lots of cities, I mean I recognized parts, or at lest it looked like some... but it wasn't. Felt a bit like the dream of the cities in Sandman.

It all started with Tony (DiNozzo) going undercover and joining a gang of young, rich kids. One day some strange wound appeared on his stomach, which turned out to be writing sliced into his flesh. Don't remember what it was, but I saw it...

Then, when one of the guys he was investigating got into his cabrio car, a boat fell on it all of a sudden. With an old man inside. Who grabbed this young guy and shook him and begged him not to freeze. In front of our eyes the boat and both men froze solid in about 5 seconds.

And then all hell broke loose. Some black dome appeared over this part of the city and we all got enveloped in black slime that looked like tar. Most people froze in place and died, some shattered, some just disappeared. I walked out of the slime without any problems and wandered about scared shitless.

I got out of the dome, but those who did get out like me were changed. We had powers now. I somehow ended up in a group with Peter Petrelli and Jordan Collier. And when people started hunting us, because they were scared of us and hated us, we had to flee.

There was only the dome they didn't hunt for us so we had to go back inside the black dome. But since the normal humans scheduled a hunt with lots of armed force to enter the dome (in protective clothing) next day, we had to do our best to find the cause and find a safe haven.

I didn't want to go back inside the dome because it was eerie and creepy and plain scary as hell. It was a deserted wasteland with ruins and frozen dead bodies and smelled strangely like tar. But we had no choice, so we went. And we went down to Level 5 to find something, anything.

The cells were either broken or empty or filled with tar. The one in the corner had light in it. I told the group there was someone who had to be alive and I had to save him. So I ran to the cell in the corner, looked in and Adam stared back at me, surprised and delighted. I breathed on the glass, trying to spell out "gonna get you out", but Peter broke the door. I was rather annoyed with him that I wasn't the hero.

So I ran in, grabbed him, dragged him out and told him I came to save him. Peter appeared like they have never met before, so I didn't tell him about Adam's past. Collier stared asking questions about safe secret passages and if the Company knew about this. Adam zoomed about the place, offering us papers that hinted that the answer was in the Cathedral, and then started walking out of the lower parts of the Company through some underground tunnel.

So we left through the tunnel and I grabbed Adam's hand, telling him that I knew him and if he let go of my hand and ran off I'd cut his head off. He seemed to be amused by this and took it in stride, the annoying git.

We emerged from a cellar in an alley and into a busy marketplace, way outside the black dome. We waded through the booths, buying some roasted chestnuts and fruit to eat and spotted the green dome of the Cathedral towering over the city in the distance. I was surprised that the people haven't spotted us as not normal humans, but I didn't dare mention this fact. We left in a hurry towards the Cathedral...

...and then someone's frikkin lawnmower woke me up.

Humanity is doooooooomed!

We have cable. This doesn't mean humanity's doom.

But something I just saw on TV did.
So, I've recently seen the advertising for the newest season of The Tudors. Well, newest for Hungary.

...and it said: Who will get the axe and who will live? Watch the newest season of The Tudors to find out!

This seriously scares me.

Why? Well, why should you wait biting your nails to know what happens next? You seriously don't know why you don't have to?

Answer (for those who still don't have a clue): because it's a historical drama, godsdamnit! You obviously forgot your history lessons. You apparently have no brain. Words fail me.

My mom told me I'm to get a job at McDonalds tomorrow, since I couldn't get a job anywhere else.

It might sound conceited and spoiled, but it feels like it's the end of my life. Am I being too prideful for thinking that applying for a job at McDonalds with a diploma... hold on, my tourist guiding one makes it two, so with two diplomas degrading?

I mean I didn't learn foreign languages and slave away at university to end up working in McDonalds, washing toilets and frying fries. I could have gone to arts school! I could have studied the things I wanted to, after all, worst case: I would still end up in McDonalds.

I know it's just McDonalds. But... it's McDonalds! I'm scared and repulsed by the whole idea, and I can't help but wonder if I'm too prideful and conceited or if I have any right to be offended by the whole thing.

After all, I speak and write English better than some of the native English and Americans I know, which doesn't mean I'm perfect, but still, I speak some German too, and I'm decent enough with computers. I'm also intelligent enough not to have to fry food for a living. So why is it that I have to apply for work in a fast food joint to make a living where imbeciles could do the work?

I know. Jobs are scarce these days, and I should be happy if they hired me, because then I'll have the money to move and finally have my own life. But I'm not. The idea of McDonalds scares me.

And also, I would have to cancel all my English teaching gigs, something I actually enjoy.

I hate this. I don't wanna. It's degrading.

Am I spoiled rotten or just sane?

Gemstone convention yet again

So I went.

It was cold and busy. There were some horribly expensive stuff, some less expensive stuff and stuff I could buy. I mean you could find minerals you were looking for for a reasonable price, and for prices you'd have to sell your house, car, mother, your body and immortal soul too to be able to afford.

Since I knew the layout already and had a pretty good idea about who sold things you could actually afford, I did buy me the things I wanted, and some I didn't know I wanted, but once I laid eyes on them... well, I just had to buy some.

I actually went to buy apatite. Possible a pendant, a stone with a hole in it, but only two booths had apatite. One was horribly pricey, the other was pretty cheap.

This second booth had boxes with price tags on them and thrown in was a huge mix of stuff. I was digging around in the box that contained necklaces made of all sorts of gemstones... and found apatite. So I dug around more and actually found another! And then I found a matching bracelet too! But since the necklace was a bit too short, I bought two to link together and look like a proper necklace. So I bought two apatite necklaces and a bracelet. The woman who was selling them told me this was the first time they had them for sale. I suspect this was the reason why they didn't ask for a higher price. They didn't know it was so sought-after. Oh well. It was one of the cheapest booths, so I didn't complain. Two necklaces cost me less than one necklace of the cheapest stone from other booths.

Then I bought some stones with holes in them. As it turns out, they became trendy, so they make them in bulk now and sell them cheaper. Not that I'd mind. There was a booth that only sold egg/oval shaped stones with holes in them, and most of them for the same price. So I picked a fluorite for my mom (she is very happy because for some reason she skipped that booth and didn't even see it) and a mokait jasper for myself, because I love that stone. (The patchwork-looking purplish-cream one on the right. It is untreated and natural. ^^ )

The honey opal took me completely by surprise. I thought: wow, what a cool name, and opal to boot, I want one! Also, it wasn't too expensive. So I took about 20+ minutes to dig around and consider all of them. Most of them were bright yellow and looked like someone dropped them and they have sort of shattered. They did look interesting, but I wanted something special and more to my taste. So I picked 3 ones, a pale, a yellow with some black spots and a dark one.

I bought the yellow, because both my mom and the guy running the booth told me that was the prettiest of the three. I went back 5 minutes later to change it back to the darkest, because after all, I liked that one best. ^^; It looks like pine honey, or honeyed tea with a drop of lemon. Yum. (The honey coloured stone on the right, obviously. Showing back and front.)

I also bought 4 little ruby beads, because I already had one bigger ruby bead and some quartz ones, and using 2 silver spacers of last year's convention I made a ring. (In picture). The smaller beads weren't that expensive, which is a plus.

And that's all I bought. I drooled over the moldavite pendants as usual and some tourmaline stick pendants with silver, but didn't buy any. Those are some seriously pricey stuff. Especially moldavite. :( Pity. (Althogh I was tempted to buy a small piece and attach the hook-thingy on top at home. But no, not this time. Maybe in november I shall buy a small moldavite piece, if I still crave it so much. It's not like they'll be any cheaper. *sigh*

Anyway, when I got home I took out my silk chords, and since I had lots of leftover colours, I used them for the pendants. Also, I made a button knot over the stones to give them a special look. It looks way better than just pulling a chord through, no?

Oh and I also bought some spacers and jump rings and other stuff. Before you ask, not silver. I'd be broke if they were. They are cheap metals for beaded jewelry. But hey, they were much cheaper than in the shop, thus I bought some in bulk. I always run out of these, so the cheaper the price, the happier I am. :P

So... these are my treasures!

First cold of the fall, check

I seem to have caught a cold, and yesterday was pure hell. I've used up 200+ tissues and felt like dying every other second. Correction, I wished I would die.

Not the best way to start my autumn and my September. But hey, I'm through my first cold of the fall. Yay?

I had to dry myself out before dropping into sleep, but after 9 glorious hours of sleep with weird dreams, I have gotten through the sneezing and runny-nosed part of it. Yay indeed.

Also, I started today with a bunch of grapes (a controlled way of slowly re-hydrating my body) and some comfort music. I just can't stay miserable and grouchy when Trent Reznor purrs in my ear that he needs my discipline. ^^

So I guess I'm still alive. And I hope my cold will be over by the weekend, because... I have great plans!

Magic Study

I finally finished the book. Not because lack of interest, more like lack of time.

I liked it. Again, it wasn't as perfect as any of Pratchett's, Gaiman's or Butcher's writings, but it was loads better than the usual fantasy crap I encounter.

The bad:

• The characters were too amateurish and sometimes too idiotic. I mean you have an all-powerful master magician and she's a sweet, delicate thing who hugs people on their first meeting. Yikes. That kinda hurt, but that was the worst.
  
  
• Also, some of the characters were mean and turned out to be mean, some were pink and fluffy and happy and turned out to be... *gasp* pink and fluffy and happy, and some were bad-good-bad again. Their niceness turned into evilness at the drop of a hat, but that was one guy... well, ok, two.... (And you had some who were mean and turned out to be big hurt puppies...)
  
  
• Jade is still at 6.5-7.0 hardness and does NOT require diamonds to carve it. Tsk, what a stupid big mistake.
  
  
• Some of the horse portrayal was very silly. It started great when she started describing the mind of the horse... and then she had to ruin it with making it speak like a wise old guy with bad English.
  
  
• Actually, it was the Mary Sue stuff I complained about last time. The writer is clearly inexperienced, but trying... sometimes a little bit too much and thus ruins the impact. But over all, I still couldn't stop reading.

The good:

• The initial horse portrayal, as we slipped into its mind was awesome. The first few lines, first scene was very good. It was awesome. I mean I could imagine that the horse was wondering why there were two people sitting on it and not only one. That was good. The writer should have left it at that.
  
  
• Colours. The description of colours was wonderful. It was new and very welcomed. I loved the descriptions with all the vivid colours, although the descriptions were still not enough.
  
  
• Valek. Once he appeared he stole the show again. He was, as usual, very good. A nice, lived-in character, finally. Neither good nor evil, it showed that the writer worked on him. I wouldn't be surprised if he was modeled after someone the writer knows and holds dear.
  
  
• The story is still interesting, and the background story of two cities, twin cities in fact, one south the other north living in a precarious balance, the delicate peace brought by treaties is marvelously done. The military dictatorship of the north and the somewhat failing democracy of the 11 clans of the south (think bribes and magic influences) felt lifelike and just perfect.
  
  
• Another interesting story with plotlines that actually surprised me. Yay!
  

So, while the writer obviously lacks in her character portrayal and needs to wipe her Mary Sue henchmen clean and write some realness into them, the background was perfect. At least the main protagonist isn't a Mary Sue... half the city wants her dead. :D

Over all: I liked it, although it wasn't perfect.