kangeiko | Entries tagged with squee

Pictures of my South Sudan trip, and the last part of the round-up, will be coming at some point soon, I promise. here's a teaser: work! trekking! food poisoning! plus bonus getting lost in a landmine area after dark! Never a dull moment, eh.

BUT before then, I want to squee SO HARD your eardrums may suffer. For I am going back to Italy this summer, this time for 2 weeks. And in those two weeks I will be doing:

- 1 week Italian study at Scuola di Leonardo da Vinci in Rome
- Visiting the Uffizi in Florence (& other things too, I presume!)
- candlelight tour of the Vatican & Sistine Chapel (*fingers crossed* I need to book tickets for this, hopefully I can snag some)
- MONZA GP!!!!!!!!!!! I am parking myself at the apex of Parabolica and even brute force will not move me!!!!!
- Ballet at Teatro alla Scala in Milan (including formal wear, because there is a dress code o.O)
- a day at Ostia Antica, plus (hopefully) visiting the Decorated Houses

I will doubtless do other things while I am there, for I have several days in Florence, Rome and Milan. Sadly, I doubt I'll have enough time to visit The Last Supper in Milan. But the above is enough to be getting on with, don't you think??

I am so excited about it all, and, plus, booking things on the Italian sites rather than via the UK option has meant that I've got the above rather cheap, plus have excercised my bad Italian a little.

Now, the only things I have left to actually book are -
2 nights' accommodation in Rome
- tour of the Vatican (tickets are not on sale yet)
- tickets to the Uffizi (we've been told to book ahead for this to skip the queues)
- tour of the Decorated Houses at Ostia. The only way I can book this is by phoning, so I'm hoping they can either understand English, or I can make myself understood somehow...

ANYWAY. Work has been dreadful, so it's really nice to have this to look forward to.

Crossposts: http://kangeiko.livejournal.com/457151.html

I somehow managed to turn on the TV at EXACTLY the right time last night to watch 3 gold medals in a row. OMFG.

Full of patriotic fervour (& some really lovely persian-style rice) I then bought tickets to the Paralympics Athletics. BECAUSE #GOTEAMGB!!!

(Yes, I'm late to the party. WHAT OF IT.)

Also, today, OMFG MURRAY OMFG. There are really NO WORDS WHATSOEVER, other than flailing and falling over. And possibly sniffling a bit, but I'm not admitting to that and you can't make me.

(Also I'm reading The Death of Ayrton Senna which is completing my sporting focus and making me cry like a small child.)

...

I need to get some sporting icons. And some Avengers ones. *goes back to watch the rest of the athletics*

Crossposts: http://kangeiko.livejournal.com/447905.html

CAPSLOCK CANNOT CONTAIN MY SQUEEE, FOR I HAVE ACQUIRED THE COMPLETE XENA BOXSET!!

*cough*

There's a 2nd hand store near us that appears to be just as psychic as our library (srsly, it's uncanny), and I popped in today to see whether my careful hint a week ago ("so, if you ever get the complete series of Xena... just sayin') had borne fruit. Lo and behold, there sat the boxset, in the original presentation boxset! Sadly, as this is region 2, there are no special features (I would have had to order the american version for that, a feat apparently beyond Amazon's capabilities at the moment), but as I have only seen about 3 seasons of the show, I anticipate much squeeing over the next few weeks/months.

On my way out, I spotted Sex, Lies and Videotape, and then my glee knew no bounds. James Spader AND the entire run of the Xena/Gabrielle show? HA! Now I know what I am taking with me on my next trip! *squees* Now I just have to get a Xena icon for the rewatch...

I had a fab day today. I don't really post much, and when I do it's generally depression-filled, so I imagine my shock - nay, astonishment! - when I had three good days in a row. Impossible, I swear.

The weekend was blissfully quiet.

athena25 was away for LARPing shenanigans, so I took the opportunity to be domestic. And by 'domestic', I don't mean that I sat at home, which seems to have been the pattern of my winter. I was at home for some of it, but I was primarily cooking.

( My food joy, let me tell you it. )

So after I finished eating the local Sainsbury's out of their fresh produce section, I decided to do some housework-type things. Not the 'I am depressed, see me polish' type of work, but opening up all the windows, doing fresh loads of washing, doing a little weeding, even - gasp! - leaving the back door open to air out the place.

I even found the time and energy to go to the gym for a truly punishing two hour session that left me unable to walk this morning. It was fabulous. A month's worth of lazing about, made up for in one morning's worth of pain and exertion. It was wonderful, I tell you.

I also had a mini clear-out, shifting loads of books and DVDs that were cluttering up the place.

Today I woke up and had a comedy morning, where I was convinced it was a Sunday because it was sunny. D'oh! Once I finally figured out that I should shift my arse out of bed, I got up... and nearly fell flat on my face, due to the afore-mentioned overly enthusiastic exertions yesterday. Got to work, things Not On Fire (tm) - knock on wood - and I am out tonight with my gay boyfriend.

So, anyway. Now that I am feeling vaguely human (due almost entirely to the fact that it has been sunny for a few days in a row, which basically means that whole bout of lethargy was due to a vitamin D deficiency), I am all-aglow about spring. I am even considering writing again. Imagine it! Me, back with a pen in my hand! Don't all fall down with shock.

Safe to say at this point: I'm officially off hiatus.

So what did I miss?

Following my earlier post, I've decided I'm going to run the test, both the original version and the race-Bechdel (raw data and percentages for comparison) on as many shows as hold my interest, but starting with Star Trek (TNG, and DSN), simply because I'm currently rewatching them following my bout of bed-riddenness earlier.

If people want to run this for various other shows, pls let me know so I can link it in from this post for easy navigation! Of interest is characterscount @ DW, where a more general project is going on.

rheanna27 also very helpfully linked me to

dsudis, who is conducting a similar test on SG1 here.

Anyway, this is the master post for each season's tables, along with the overall stats for the season.

One caveat for ST and other fandoms with painted people masquerading as aliens: as I'm running a race-Bechdel test, this can get a little, hmmm, tricky, shall we say. So I'm currently going on the following (very broad) criteria:

- for aliens that look mostly human, e.g. Vulcans, Bajorans, Minbari, Centauri, misc ST forehead alieans, we're going with whether or not the actor is a POC.
- for aliens that are completely covered, e.g. Cardassians, Bolians, Orions, Narn, Ferengi, they don't count as a POC.
- for Klingons, they tend to just have forehead make-up and the majority are played by actors of colour. They will therefore count as COC, unless I know that they are not played by a POC (e.g. Ambassador K'Ehleyr).
- for aliens where we don't know what sex/race they are, I'll include detailed notes as why I've counted them or not.

I'll generally include notes in the cases where I think that one of the tests has been passed, and people are welcome to correct me if I've got it wrong.

***

Star Trek: The Next Generation
( Read more... )
***

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
( Read more... )
***

Links to other shows:

- SG1

I got a little slip of paper today that invited me to sign on the dotted line and have my contract become permanent. *does dance of BIG FUCKING JOY*

Does this make me ridiculously, stupidly, helplessly happy? HELL YEAH. I was gonna try for nonchalance but given the current economic climate (a phrase that seems to precede every. single. fucking. opinion I issue), I am ready to celebrate being employed by spending some of my hard-earned cash on helping the economy recover. Through the purchase of shoes. ~~And sex toys.~~

*

Because there was a big 'yay', there has to be a little 'boo'. My wisdom teeth have attempted to emerge from their corral once again. Previously kept at bay by a small amount of space made available through root canal (yes, it was in the middle of my finals, why do you ask?), they have staged a rebellion and are attempting to emerge. Slight issue: there is no room. None. Prior X-rays showed that they are too close to several rather crucial nerves, and so surgical removal is also not so hot an option. I have a dentist's appointment on Monday to see if the situation has changed at all in the last few years.

*

Meanwhile, I ate my weight in food that is either sugary, fatty or otherwise bad for me. This has to stop, seriously. I tried to be good at work today - had cereal for breakfast, hard-boiled egg for lunch, soy yoghurt for a snack. This was somewhat ruined by the fact that I apparently looked pale enough for a ghost, or for someone nursing wisdom tooth pain. My colleagues were lovely, and responded by getting me: chocolate, pastries, and an orange balloon. (The balloon was lovely, and non-fattening.) I also made wounded faces and rubbed my head a lot (not consciously, you understand, but I do have Work!Mummy and Work!Daddy hovering like concerned Work!Parents), and was sent home like a sleepy child to have a nap. I apparently aimed for 'professional', but hit 'endearing' instead.

For the moment, permanent contract in hand... it'll do.

Ian Wylie - I'm Happy, Hope You're Happy Too

hat-tip:

duckyone

( spoilery reaction )

In conclusion, it's ace.

Current Mood: excited

I just got the news - I passed my MSc WITH MERIT!!!!!!!!!! I am so happy I could explode. Come 14 December, I'm going to be a MA MSc - with bells on!

*squeeees*

ETA: Erm. I told my dad. He burst into tears. In, um, a good way. I guess I'm not the only one who's happy&relieved! *grin*