If you start soon enough, you won't have to run to catch up.*

[bending_sickle]

Photographs! Because I promised phantmgreeneyes and seschat is all a-squee. And because I've been absolute shite at posting any for months and months, despite having wanted to. (They're just so much work! The choosing! The uploading! The coding! The fixing of code!)

The Netherlands! Includes Amsterdam, Leiden, The Hague, Scheveningen and the Keukenhof tulip park!

Amsteradam:


Iguana statue!


Garden onna boat inna canal!


Dam plaza with fair for Queen's Day celebrations! And tram!


Boat-shaped building at sea!


Buildings seen from the boat!

Leiden:


None shall pass!


The Burcht! A tiny round circular wall on an artificial hill!


Mollen de Valk!


The shoes in the mill!


The view from the mill!


More view!


OMGWTFrozen!


Surprise Buddah! With Mini-Ganesh!


Mah nest, let me show you it!


Flooded construction site! On purpose, or do we just not care?

Scheveningen, Den Haag's Beach:



Keukenhof:












Only slightly disturbing!


Mass production!


I'm a wee elephant!


We're dancing bears!


I'm a plant and I'm throwing up flowers!


I'm a green flower, motherlover!


We've been dusted in gold!


For every occasion!


I'm an amazing maze!


I'm a turkey!

Spain! Barcelona, Cubelles and Hair!

Burgos:


I used to cook chestnuts on the street before the White Witch got me!


Eeeeeee!


I'm the view from the bodega! I'm also flooded!


I'm the city wall!


I'm the cathedral!


I'm not a faun!


I'm not really here! I'm an optical illusion! I'm really a box of slanted and painted wooden panels!

Barcelona:


Giraffe in Barcelona!


Where we had out Sunday lunch! With Cubelles in the distance!


Artsy shit!


More artsy shit!


The beach! With finger!


The sea!

Hair:


Haircut! With the curls completely dominated by the hair dryer and flat iron!


So short! So exposed!


The previous hair-cut!


No exposure!

Rome:


Easter Mass! With Pope!


People!


Umbrellas!


Easter egg!
















Behold!






Giraffe in Rome!


Volcanic lake!


Volcanic trash!





Risoul! The ski trip!




Damn snow!


Double-damned!


I'm an utterly terrifying Green Piste! And behind me is the Black and Red Piste mountain! Where Sickle almost had a heart attack!


See the tip of that mountain? I was there! And went down! On Skis!


The view from the top!


For emergencies! A friend who twisted her leg had to take it, and ye gods, the video was lovely!


Bet your ass that's a Heineken!


Jenga! For hours!


Raclette!


I was the last day and my weather sucked!


Totally sucked!


Asterix et Obelix comics under the table's glass! Win!

Meme - 30 Days - Day 27 → This month, in great detail:

The month started with my fourth day of official residence in Rome. There was a lot of - but not enough - upacking and organizing. Three little Ikea photos were hung up at some point, but little else happened in the way of decoration. I started an intesive Italian course, which proved to be not at all intensive and was a great source of boredom and frustration, but at least it's over now and I can study the rest of the book on my own. I took up going with mom to the French institute on Wednesdays for their free movie showings. Unluckily, most of the ones we've seen so far are dramas, or involve deaths, or are otherwise depressing. I had a job interview way far, far away for a job that didn't particularly strike up my spark of joy, but at least I got the experience. I, obviously, haven't heard back from them. I went to Barcelona for five days, where I saw the opthalmologist (my retina's fine), failed to get my European health insurance card (I'm not employed in Spain), bought sandals (blisters ahoy), cut my hair (very, very short), went to the beach (augh, my skin!) and ate a lot whilst staying with my uncle, aunt and cousin (Zachary Quinto look-alike, only even better looking - no, seriously, and before y'all squick yourselves out, he's cousin only through marriage, so there's no gene-pool sharing). Then once back in Rome I continued puttering about, taking Italian courses and making friends (omg, I can has! I think!). I had my Italian exam, so that's over and done with. Throughout the month, I watched a lot of season finales (except Lost, so spoil me and die!) which meant there were a lot of teary-eyed late nights. There was also much strife because I'm living with my parents again, but let's just handwave that all away. Next month, the job hunting and creative projects will commence.

Previously:

Day 01 → Your favorite song
Day 02 → Your favorite movie
Day 03 → Your favorite television program
Day 04 → Your favorite book
Day 05 → Your favorite quote
Day 06 → Whatever tickles your fancy - GIFs
Day 07 → A photo that makes you happy
Day 08 → A photo that makes you angry/sad
Day 09 → A photo you took
Day 10 → A photo of you taken over ten years ago
Day 11 → A photo of you taken recently
Day 12 → Whatever tickles your fancy - Nature is awesome!
Day 13 → A fictional book
Day 14 → A non-fictional book
Day 15 → A fanfic
Day 16 → A song that makes you cry (or nearly)
Day 17 → An art piece (painting, drawing, sculpture, etc.)
Day 18 → Whatever tickles your fancy - My irrational fears, let me show you them.
Day 19 → A talent of yours
Day 20 → A hobby of yours
Day 21 → A recipe
Day 22 → A website
Day 23 → A YouTube video
Day 24 → Whatever tickles your fancy - My view on religion, in crack metaphor form.
Day 25 → Your day, in great detail
Day 26 → Your week, in great detail

Coming Soon

Day 28 → This year, in great detail
Day 29 → Hopes, dreams and plans for the next 365 days
Day 30 → Whatever tickles your fancy

3 Memes via marika_kailaya:

1. Anyone who looks at this entry has to post this meme and their current wallpaper at their Livejournal.
2. Explain in five sentences why you're using that wallpaper!
3. Don't change your wallpaper before doing this! The point is to see what you had on!

1. I found this whilst googling for a clean fandom-related wallpaper once I got tired of the (albeit gorgeous) wallper I'd been using until then, featuring the Winchesters.
2. The busy bit is on the left, which works great because then the icons on my desktop don't get in the way of the view.
3. TARDIS!
4. Beach! I'm assuming Welsh.
5. It annoys me - when I notice - that the door to the TARDIS is open but you don't see the inside of the tardis, just the murky inside of the Police Box and it's grimy window.

When you see this, post a snippet from your works-in-progress.

I have so, so many works in progress and so many more works that should be started on. Here are just a few. The first two I've actively worked on recently, whilst the others are a few of those I will not let die.

Real Heroes Give Up: On Personal Sacrifice for the Cause (Multifandom Meta): John Winchester and his boys had the fire, and later Missouri’s instruction. Sarah Connor had the bounty on her head and the Terminator on her tail. Hiro Nakamura had his powers. The Buffyverse characters had vampires throw themselves at them. Simon Tam had his sister’s letters.

The Balloonist's Wife (Lost Fic): Then her mind turned to what had led her to be standing there, and she cursed herself, and Henry, the unexpected funds from Henry’s company, he buyer, Henry’s company itself, the ground itself for having minerals worth mining... There was no end, it seemed, to Jennifer’s litany of hate for all the things that brought her here, for all the things that went wrong.

A Tricky Business (Firefly Fic, Posted 8 Chapters): Hunted men took on a certain look, Prodigal Sons all the more, and Floyd had a keen eye. That said, it wouldn’t take his training to pick out the man at his door as muscle for hire. Once Floyd had picked that up, adding just how long the man'd been away and a few old rumours were enough for him to pick up a scent. Floyd had always prided himself on being able to put two and two together faster than most. 

Land-Locked (Firefly Fic): “It’s no longer serviceable,” she said with a shrug, “but its parts can be put to use.” River looked down, brushing her greasy hands clean on the overalls. The sleeves were a bit short and the fit was a touch on the baggy side, but otherwise Kaylee’s favourite overalls suited her.

Degrees of Freedom (Planet of the Apes (2001) Fic, Posted 3 Chapters): A few didn’t so much sleep as fade into a much-needed state of unconsciousness. Most, however, tended to their brands and whispered to each other across the bars. No one smiled anymore.

Heroes Manual (Original Fic, Posted 24 Chapters): "Yeah, okay," he muttered. "No need to bleat." He followed Frank through the crowd, dragging Vicky behind him, with Hero and Gwen trailing behind. The Astrophelians watched them go in terror. Quasi knew it was only a matter of seconds before they came back to their senses and started chasing them again. The Goat of Doom can only buy you so much time.

Servants of the Dark (Original Fiction, Snippets Posted): “We do not write on scrolls. They burn too easily, or are lost. They break. This, this is where we write our promises, keep our word—” She drew back her sleeves and exposed her belly to him. “You may break the pact, but the words, these scars, cannot be taken back.”

1. Reply to this post, and I will pick six/seven 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 squee. Whoo!

, obsessive: Because I make posts entirely expressingly muself in icon form, make giant lists of absolutely everything, make (often massive) Links of the Day, and have even (twice!) gone through ack_attack's Ongoing Lost posts and compiled the comments by subject (e.g. 6x01-02, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3). ...yeah. I save this icon for such moments of crazy.

, rorschach: Mainly kept because of the arms, which make me happy. I don't use it much, but when I do, it's because, damn, do I feel awesome cool.

, puppy: I wanted a generic, non-fandom icon I could stare at all day and not get annoyed with to use as my default. It's a puppy with floppy ears! With earphones! What's not to love?

, OMG: One of the first icons I made, off the comic Creatures in My Head. I've never taken it off my userpicks (like the Penguin Love), although sometimes cringe at it and wish I'd get around to fixing the text a bit. However, it is such a wonderful expression that I just can't bear to part with it. And it's looking up, too1 Perfect for comments!

, awesome: I used to have The Master with his rubbish!beard macro of Awesome, but felt like I needed a change (although boy, do I miss that icon). The next best thing I found was JEH totally not swearing over how awesome something is. I like it for the squee.

, invisible?: My obligatory Supernatural icon (or is that the LJ drama one?). I don't quite know what I use this one for - nor do I use it all that often - but I like the frustrated little "Look at me!" feel behind it.

, snark is love: Because it's true. And because I found myself snarking and complaining and breaking down the crazy plot holes in many a fandom of mine, even though I loved them to bits. Also, I love snark.

Links of the Day:
Lost:
ack_attack's Finale Party Photos ; Submit your questions for the Lost Encuclopedia Authors ; E!'s Watch With Kristin gave some answers ; The Lost Finale: And these visions of Johanna are now all that remain. ; The End Finale Discussion Post ; Finale Afterparty ; Finale Ongoing Post ; This week in unnecessary censorship: Lost Edition ; What They Died For Recap, Greatest Hits ; Ode to Lost ; Nerve.com ranks Lost characters by sexiness ; Damon and Cartlon's Top Ten Lost Spoilers for the Finale
cleolinda's Finale-Day-After Discussion Post ; Finale Discussion Post ; Ongoing Comments Post ; On the "Glass of Water" metaphor
henrygalelovers' Finale Discussion Post ; Crazy Ben Interpretation
aurorawest's Fic I'll Take to Throwing All the Pennies I Stole - Finale spoilers
mer_moonchild's Wallpapers
alltuesday's Picspam and GIFs Finale: Sawyer/Juliet
keitmi's Picspam Kate/Jack
polar_ice_cubes's Picspam A Picspam of Lost Deaths
forgethetime's Picspam Don't You Remember? Lost Finale Picspam
marylou_gr's Picspam Where Are We?
_veronique's Icons - Includes Spirited Away
Benry Knows Best's Very Special Comic for the Finale, Hurt Locke and Just Desserts, Man of Constant Sorrow, Je T'aime

Supernatural:
su_darklily's Meta Swan Song
aesc's Meta The Casifesto: Or, Why Castiel Is Not Your Grandmother's Angel - Updated until 5x22
missjack's Meta What We Write - With pie charts!
amonitrate's Meta In Which I Apparently Come Out on the Side of Evil
destina's Meta Season 6: Thoughts and Stuff
ramblin_rosie's Meta 5x22: A Bit of Theological Meta
bardicvoice's Meta Swan Song: I Got Something To Say (Part 2)
metallidean_grl's Meta The End vs. Swan Song
anastdean's Picspam The Cast of SPN
mizra's Picspam Warrior, Comrade, Brother, Friend: A Castiel Picspam
contritition's Picspam Dark Side of the Moon: Memories
murron's Fanmix Swan Songs
wicky_onlj's The Messengers crossover Fanvid Closest Things to God
devilsduplicity's Fanvid Drove Through Ghosts to Get Here
pbfate's Fanvid Feeling Good
reliand's Fanvid Sex on Fire
malfana's Fanvid Nothing Else Matters
ILoveThesePeople's Fanvid Rude Supernatural Boys
cylune9's Fanvid Trickster
bad__faith's Fanvid Cut (Lucifer's Cage)
bunnymaccool's Fanvid The Road...So Far to the End
bad_faith's Fanvid Hurt (Lucifer's Cage, Part 2)
victoria_king's Fanvid No Happy Ending
kjcharmed's Fanvid God Will Take Care of You
lovestar's Fanvid Trailer: The Winchester Gospel
shiroi_yami's Fanvid Beat the Devil's Tattoo
wandersfound's Fanmix All That Love, All Those Mistakes (Dean/Castiel)
w0lfpeople's Fanmix I'll Be Your Loaded Gun (Dean/Ruby)
justanerdyangel's Fanmix Tell Me When You Hear My Heart Stop: The Soundtrack to the Fic
morgentau's Mark and Misha Catchphrases List
tracy_loo_who's Fic Three Months Later ; Fic Hard-Loving Loser
leonidaslion's Fic Fumbling in the Dark: Picturesque (Dead Man's Blood), Curmudgeon (Provenance), Quagmire (Hellhouse), Tumble (Something Wicked), Angle (Devil's Trap) ; Fic In the Deafening Silence (5/6)
ala_tariel's RPFic Mother Knows Best
haruslex's Watchmen Crossover Fic Dry Your Eyes and Let's Go Home
exp0se's Icons
blaqheartedstar's Season 5 Icons
secretlytodream's Icons, Wallpapers and Headers
hsapiens's Icons
abendiboo's Icons
morgentau's Icons - Includes Bones and Leverage
anastdean's Picpsam Crazy: The Many Faces of Misha Collins
wiccaqueen's Soundfiles
crystal_line's scans Beginning's End #5
Season 1 Eric Kripke Intro Pod
dean_sam's flocked Castiel/Crowly Recommendations ; Downloads compilation
Io9's Supernatural's showrunner Sera Gamble talks about God and endings
Nimloth87's Fanart Comic God is Totally a Cas-Boy
IGN's Season 5 Review: A Devil of a Season
Mark Pellegrino Interview
Supernatural, Salt and Fans - \o/

True Blood:
kalibreeze's Picspam Season 3
tru_search's Newbie Guide to True Blood
sourpony's Picspam Dream a Little Dream of Me (Jessica/Hoyt)
Bill Minisode
Season 3 "Welcome Home" Promo
Small Screen Scoop's Charlaine Harris describes her vampire mythology

Ashes to Ashes:
qthewetsprocket's Wishful Thinking, Initial Finale Reaction, A2A and Lost Finale Comparisons
redscharlach's Finale Prediction Poll, Review Finale Review
Guardian's Co-Creator Matthew Graham Says Goodbye to Gene Hunt
SFX's AShes Exclusive

Other Fandom:
nami86's Icons - Big Bang Theory, Community, Twilight, Glee, Modern Family, Supernatural, Lost
radiocakes' Dollhouse, Chuck Icons
_vampastica_'s Icons - Supernatural, Words of Wisdom, Equality
watchfic_dir's Watchmen/Firefly Fic Untitled
redscharlach's Doctor Who "The Hungry Earth"
knownaskate's Legend of the Seeker Picspam Bloodrage (A Tears Picspam)
versaphile's Life on Mars/Blackpool Fic Southport
mediocrechick's GIF Post - Mostly Twilight Related
kalibreeze's Picspam Buffy/Angel
who_daily's Hungry Earth Reaction Posts
made_of_fail_pc's Episode 30: Whatever You Do...Don't. Fall. Asleep.
Anon's Watchmen Fic Clockwork Eden
Scifirwire's Firefly's Original writers Revewal What Happens Next - On the Still Flying short-story collection.

Random:
ursulav's Dreamlands
theweaselking's The Platypus of Doom and Other Nihilists ; What Disney Teaches Men About Attracting Women and Vice Versa ; Anti-Facebook Note ; Revenge ; Van Canto doing an a capella (except with drums) Metallica
marika_kailaya's Fic Lap Dog: Prologue, Lap Dog: 1 - Lost and Found ; Rant ARGH. in my LIBRARY - On extremists and libraries. ; Last Page Barricade: 44 - Held Me at the Barricade
obsessive24's Three professional music videos that have had a big influence on you as a vidder
Heartless Bitches' Why "Nice Guys" Are Often Such Losers (see also XKCD's Friends)
How Is It That a Movie That Doesn't Exist Has Such Awesome Trailers? - "Nazi's on the moon!"
Audies Awards for Audiobooks
Comic: Oglaf - NSFW
What the fuck should I make for dinner?
The Cabinet of Curiosities by James Jenry - Novel available on his blog.
Chole Neill's Twice Bitten Novel, Chapter 2

* Anon. or uncredited

Comments

[poisoned-sleep.livejournal.com]

LOL that was a lot of post. XD

I adore your hair. It really suits you- you look like a very trendy European lady.

Great pictures!!

xxx
Kit-Kat

[bending-sickle.livejournal.com]

Yeah, writing all that nearly killed me. Glad you like the hair! It really works when it's in its crazy curl stage :)

♥!

[seschat.livejournal.com]

I hereby proclaim this post fabulous!

I love all the pictures and the memes and I absolutely agree with poisoned_sleep -- your hair suits you perfectly, and have I mentioned that I find you gorgeous? If I haven't, I'm doing so now. You, lady. Gorgeous.

ALSO, I missed you!

[(Anonymous)]

Aw, thank you! You are fabulous!

MISSED YOU TOO, damnit!

[bending-sickle.livejournal.com]

Double-commenting because 1) LJ's stupid and 2) you deserve penguin!snuggles.

[bending-sickle.livejournal.com]

PS: *memes at you, because she can*

Your icons: train, they see us rollin' they hatin', cage, too much, smiling doctor
Your mission, should you choose to accept it: discuss

[seschat.livejournal.com]

I am gladly accepting this glorious mission!

This is one is my default icon because it's pretty, but first and foremost because it mirrors my never-ending desire to get out of here, to see the world, to go places. On my own. With a friend, maybe. In the end, it doesn't really matter. This is my dream of freedom and independency!

My crack icon! :D I actually sporfled out loud when I discovered it. It references CHAMILLIONAIRE'S "RIDIN' DIRTY".

and are used in situations where either school or personal matters get too oppressive and I need to blow off some steam. The 'cage' one also means the opposite of 'train.'

I don't know whether you have notice but I tend to change my icons quite a lot (out of boredom on the one hand and out of the desire to find the perfect ones for every occassion on the other, damn the limited icon space!) - this one, however, is one of my oldest icons. Also, pretty self-explanatory, I believe, because - David! Smiling like that! Looking all pretty! No? :D

[bending-sickle.livejournal.com]

The Dalek icon will never not make me sporfle, and David Tennant is perfect for all occasions \o/ As for the cage and its twin, *hugs*

AND WE WILL TRAVEL TOGETHER AND IT WILL BE GLORIOUS

...ahem.

♥

[seschat.livejournal.com]

THAT WOULD BE BEYOND EPIC

which is why it's impossible SINCE IT'S TOO FANTASTIC

Gotta love them Daleks!

ALSO. What the hell? David Tennant/Jake Gyllenhaal/Milo Ventimiglia ... love child? *iz confused*

(I originally wanted to spam you with David Tennant goodness, but *points at DT/JG/MV double* overthrew my plans!)

♥

[bending-sickle.livejournal.com]

I love that Everyman's Young Tennant kid! Lookit at the adorable! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtHO7W4IGUA)

REJOICE! REJOICE! /Dalek voice

[seschat.livejournal.com]

ALSO ALSO ALSO

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR WONDERFUL CARD! I JUST FOUND IT LYING ON MY DESK WHEN I GOT HOME AND EEEP!

HAPPY ♥

THANK YOU, SWEETS! *twirls you around*

[bending-sickle.livejournal.com]

*TWIIIIIIIIRLS* *BEAMS*

♥

[seschat.livejournal.com]

♥♥♥

Right back at ya, Missy! I glued the card over my exam schedule :D