Annika's LJ

It's the annual Brussels student festival tonight. Basically, this consists of my street being turned into an outdoor club (complete with party busses) full of drunken revellers. I am currently thanking my lucky stars that a) I have double glazing and my bedroom faces away from the street, so I will actually be able to sleep tonight, b) that, as drunk as they are, the students usually manage to maintain some sense of decorum and not do ~~any~~ much permanent damage, and c) that the cleanup is usually very well organised, so by the time I leave the house tomorrow morning, the streets will be largely free of vomit and broken glass (I hope).

Also, I don't know whether to laugh or cry. I just found out that the guy who served me at the bakery today (whom I haven't seen in a while), made me a gift of a couple of chouquettes. For those of you who don't know what a chouquette is, it's basically an empty profiterole, dotted with pearls of sugar. They are divine and the worst part is that, because they're so small and light, you could potentially eat dozens of them without feeling even remotely full. It's awful. And I had just managed to successfully break my addiction to them, and now there's a little bag of them taunting me from the kitchen. >_

I realise I'm about two years late with this, but I just discovered it and OMG so cool!

You might have guessed that from my last post, but still, I wanted to be explicit about it. XD Brighton was a lot of fun. We had great weather, saw my grandmother and went shopping. What more could you ask for? There were one or two little snags (we misread the departure time on Monday morning and got harrassed by a couple of 12 year old chavs-in-the-making on Tuesday), but everything worked out fine. I also picked up a bunch of MJ pins and a little chibi Thriller toy while we were there, so yay!

I got back on Thursday night, lazed around on Friday, and then on Saturday got up early(ish) to meet

eiko82 for our trip to Artfair 21 in Cologne. Why were we going to Artfair 21? To see Enchanted Dolls in person, of course! We got there just past noon after a two and a bit hour train ride, had lunch at Burger King and then got a taxi to the exhibition hall. Or tried to, anyway. I'm not sure if it was my handwriting or the driver's comprehension skills, but somehow, instead of Gladbacher Wall, we ended up at Gladbacher Strasse. Except that we didn't notice until the taxi had departed and we'd walked up and down and found nothing resembling the hall. Fortunately, we asked a very nice German guy for directions, and even though he didn't know where it was, he walked with us over to the map of the city next to the metro station, gave us detailed instructions and even drew us a little map. So after a 15-20 minutes walk (probably not a bad thing after Burger King), we found the place. Thank you, mystery German guy! We found the booth, had a nice long chat with the artist (who had the flu, poor girl), looked around the rest of the show and then made our way back to the station for Pizza Hut (kinda gross) and Starbucks (much more yummy!). And now, somehow, I have this enchanting creature:

Just got back from watching This Is It. It's really amazing to see him on the big screen like that. O_O Nothing to say that hasn't already been said, but I would highly recommend it to everyone who doesn't "get" all the fuss about Michael, or who thinks he was just another manufactured, overhyped pop star. After watching this movie, you might not like him any better, but I promise that you will get it.

Off to Brighton tomorrow for my first holiday in over a year. See you when I get back! :D

Flatmate problem solved - sort of. As of last night, a friend/former colleague of mine will be moving into the empty room. I was kind of hesitant at first to lease it to someone I know already, but on the other hand, I've tried renting it to random strangers three times now, and I feel like a change. She and I both have very laid back, sensible attitudes to life, and I'm confident that, if for whatever reason it doesn't work, we'll be able to end the contract without any hard feelings. I'm kind of excited, actually. ^^

The only problem is that she'll be moving in as of January 1, whereas X will be leaving mid November. That means that I'm stuck paying almost two months rent on my own. I'm prepared to do it, since honestly I'd rather do it this way that rent to another stranger, but still, it's not going to be fun financially. I'm going to see if I can manage it without my savings account taking a hit, so watch this space for sales!

Flatmate just told me he is moving out to get a place with his gf. Not unexpected, but still annoying. Now I have to find someone new. It's at times like this I feel like finding a smaller place I could rent by myself, but realistically I know that won't happen. I need more space than I can afford alone.

I wish he had waited until next month, though. Cash is not exactly readily available at this point. >_>

There has been quite a lot of rehearsal footage popping up lately, but this is my favourite so far. If you skip to 0.59, you see him rehearsing his dancers, but wearing his usual get-up. It's amazing how he looks completely like you used to see him when the media would call him "frail" and "ill", but at still completely able to lead dancers half his age.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8301187.stm

*sigh* I had a crush on this guy between the ages of 12 and 13. I haven't even though about him in years, but it still makes me sad.

All I can say that if my third childhood crush, Leonardo DiCaprio, doesn't make it to 2010, I am going to be royally pissed and demand to see the manager. >_>

Can I just say that I really, really (really really) HATE bidders who bid on the first day of an auction to kill the BIN, then think about whether they want to buy it and finally end up retracting the bid a day before it ends? I HATE YOU! Seriously, someone else could have used that BIN by now, but nooooo. And now, apparently, there's no way of seeing who cancelled their bid, so I can't even block them for the future. /tantrum

It has been brought to my attention that I've been somewhat AWOL for a little while, and I'm shocked to note that my last journal post was waaaay back in August! *blush* As you can see, I'm still alive and well. The only reason I haven't been around is that I got sucked back into WoW and MJ fan fiction simultaneously, and have entered a state of being known as Submersion.

Nothing in particular has happened around here. Job is still fine, apartment still enjoyable, cats still fluffy. I do have a shiny new toy, and since I have nothing interesting to report, I shall leave you with a picture of him instead:

As in life, sometimes in World of Warcraft, you just get lucky and find an Emerald Whelpling in the AH for 100g. I think I'm in shock.

Why is it that these things only start to surface now? Here we have a lovely, fifteen minute interview with MJ looking natural, relaxed, talking intelligently and candidly about his art and explaining the controversial bits of it (part 3). I wonder how much more footage like that is out there, which would have made him seem so much more human if only it had been aired?

Towards the end of part 2 (go to Youtube) you can see him do a couple of little bits of the Thriller dance in his chair. It's amazing how he seems to change into a totally different person as he does them, even for a few seconds.

I don't know why most people think he had a kid's speaking voice all his life.

And those pants really leave nothing to the imagination...

Jack still cries day and night
Jack's not happy with his life
He want to do this, he want to do that
You want to be kind, but ends up flat for love
For love

He tries so hard to give a lot
He wants to be what he is not
Love's not harsh and love's not bad
And what he's doing for love is so sad
(He wants to be so bad)
(He wants to be so bad)

All the time getting in
Things he can't get out
Something deep inside of him
Eating up the pride of him
That makes him buy things for the girls
(That's what you get for being polite)
(For being polite)

Jack still sits all alone
He lives the world that is his own
He's lost in thought of who to be
I wish to God that he would see just love
Give him love

(Jack still) Tryin' to make you happy, but...
(Jack still) Tryin' to make you happy, but...
(Jack still) Tryin' to make you happy, but he's not, but he's not

(Jack still) Tryin' to make you, but don't you know he cries
(Jack still) Don't you know he's scared
(Jack still) It's often for his love, it's for his love
Don't you know he often cries about you
He cries about me
He cries about you (You) and me (And me)
And every little thing that's in his way
He cries about me
He cries about you (You) and me (And me)
Know that he deserves to cry

- That's What You Get For Being Polite (Michael & Randy Jackson, 1978)

Some of those old lyrics are horribly prophetic. :(

Robert Baratheon

I sit on the damn iron seat when I must. Does that mean I don't have the hungers as other men?

Your are Robert Baratheon.

While you are not afraid to take on serious responsibilites, the fact remains that you'd rather not. Who wants to worry his or her life away when there's food to be eaten, alcohol to drink, and people to have fun with (and in so many ways, too)? You like to have as much fun as possible, regardless of the consequences. Though you're generally high-spirited, you are prone to react to bad situations with anger. You are lazy, confident, and jovial.

You are also similar to Theon Greyjoy and Edd Tollett. Your polar opposite is Daenerys Targaryen.

Robert Baratheon

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