Blergh. My throat hurts and I feel like I'm coming down with something. I've been sipping tea all morning. Yay for random weather changes! I really don't feel like studying but it can't be helped...exam's in four weeks! OMG.

Anyway, because watching this video always makes me feel better (and I watch it approximately once a day) I bring you "a drop of golden sun". :-)



If this video doesn't put a smile on your face, I don't know what will :-)

This is my favourite song by Michael Jackson, and also one of my favourite music videos. It still moves me as much as when I first saw it years ago.


Man in the Mirror - Michael Jackson

Because Neil Gaiman says it so much better than I can...

...I hope you will have a wonderful year, that you'll dream dangerously and outrageously, that you'll make something that didn't exist before you made it, that you will be loved and that you will be liked, and that you will have people to love and to like in return. And, most importantly (because I think there should be more kindness and more wisdom in the world right now), that you will, when you need to be, be wise, and that you will always be kind.

[Source]

I'd been sworn to secrecy but now that the cat's out of the bag, I'm posting here, too :-)

Yesterday I received a very unexpected email telling me that I have been invited as the first ever "Footloose Filker" for the upcoming 20th British Filk Convention (2T0nic) to be held in Lincolnshire, February 2008.

Oh my God - yes, I was in squee and I still am. It's all better explained here but the short version would be that the UK Filk Convention Management Fund have decided to grant one or two "new" filkers to come to the British Filk Convention (as I understand it, this will be a yearly thing?), and experience filk in an environment that is different from their home convention. The UK Filk Convention Management Fund will cover my travel and most of my accomodation costs, and the convention organising committe have thrown in a free membership for next year's convention, too.

Which means. I am going to the 20th British Filk Convention !!!

(On top of that, I'll do a short performance on my own that kinda goes along with being a Footloose Filker. I am already panicking about that one, but I'll be fine, I'll be fine...)

When the email reached me yesterday, which started with "sit down and take a deep breath", and I wrote my reply my hands were shaking. I am so, so excited about this because I would never have thought that this could happen to me, of all people.

Especially since a couple of weeks ago, ohiblather and I were discussing about how much we'd love to go to that convention, and I mentioned I would probably not be able to afford it until 2010. And just two days ago, I looked up membership prices at the convention's website and realised with a sigh that I would really not be able to afford it...

A huge, heartfelt Thank You to everybody involved in this...!

"Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absence of fear."
Mark Twain

Gefunden dank lisande:

Das Holiday Inn Dresden schreibt einen Brief an die NPD-Landtagsfraktion.

Respekt.

An elderly guy just rang at the doorbell and when I opened he said:

"Good Day. I'm from organisation XY and we're looking for supporters. Our organisation is directed against "trash literature" to protect the helpless, women and children."

I must have maded a dumbfounded face because the next thing he said was (in quite an aggressive tone): "You're not interested, are you?"

I told him I wasn't. He told me he'd just note down that he'd been here then. In that kind of manner that makes you feel like you're a lost case who doesn't realise how important their fight is.

I probably would have listened to what he had to say and how he defines "trash literature" (from his look my first thought was "Oh, another crusade against Harry Potter, is it?") but that "to protect women" bit truly disturbed me. I don't need protection from any kind of literature, thankyouverymuch. Maybe I'm doing their case wrong and they just want to get rid of porn mags, but I didn't like his choice of words. "Trash literature" combined with "protect women and children" I instantly equal with "censorship+literature = never a good thing" and also, we're not the Puritans.

I should have told him I was a student of literature. I wonder what he would have said to that.

I'm going back to reading Northanger Abbey now. I wonder whether that is trash literature, too.

I've never been particularly good with reports, and for full ones please see other filkers' journals - they had a day more, and probably saw more of the con in general, too.

I kept alternating between my bed and the music hall mostly, missing some great performances from Dave Weingart for example. But what can you do when you're ill, and you don't want to be a complete wreck by Sunday when you've got your own set to play.

Still, I managed to see and hear many things and take some photos :-)

( This Way Please... )

I must be a weird person, because instead of getting more confident about myself as far as singing in public is concerned, I think I might be getting even more nervous and quiet.

For the last year or so, I've felt far more comfortable just sitting and listning in a circle or housefilk instead of performing myself. Including being incredibly anxious about being asked to sing something - this goes as far as me considering not attending a circle at all.

It's not that I don't like singing - I love it. And I love my guitar. But when I'm in a group of so many talented people with their wonderful voices and great songs I deeply feel that my songs are really unnecessary. And that the other people are far more a pleasure to listen to. This is not a bitter "please say you like me" statement, its more of an explanation as to why I rarely push myself into the front and present my songs.

I guess the only reason why I actually get on stage is because I've been told that the songs are neat and because they have been beautifully arranged (not by me ;-) ).

When I was at the housefilk in London at some point I was asked to sing another song, but I just couldn't pick one. The ones I write are, in all honesty, not that good. (Sometimes, when I do sing one I find myself thinking by the second verse that this must be so terribly boring for everybody and I ponder whether I should just stop and say "The rest of the song is pretty much like this.") And I didn't want to butcher someone else's song. So I kind of let the request fall into oblivion. It's not nice, but I honestly did not know what to sing.

So, hee. Maybe I'll just sneak into the cicles at this year's FilkCONtinental where no one will find me :-p

Looking at the Due South DVDs I realised one thing: I want the Canadian edition, because it's about twelve times prettier. And about twelve times more expensive. So pretty muchy out of reach for the next two years. Except perhaps for season one which is pretty cheap on axelmusic.com.

I want to be rich.

Also? It's hot over here. HOT. I can't stand it. I want to crawl into my bed and not come out until it's cooled down to 20°C or less.

I mastered Photoshop after all. :-)

I'm not very good at writing reports, so just have tons of photos instead. I always think photos capture atmosphere better than any report I could ever write :-)

Let's just say I had a very good yet exhausting weekend, and I'm so happy I was there.

(I apologise in advance for typos, I'm really tired.)

( MORE PHOTOS & RANDOM COMMENTS )

In completely unrelated news, the tv channel Arte's themed the evening "Ol' Man River - Mississippi" tonight. I'd meant to go to bed round 10pm, but made the mistake of switching the tv on one last time. Zapped right into Mississippi Burning, a film I'd meant to see for ages. And it was brilliant. Truly brilliant. Fantastic movie. (And when the movie was over I wasn't tired anymore and decided to post photos)

I've been a little bit obsessed with the Mississippi since I first read about Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn when I was little - I guess I know almost every movie and television adaption. For some reason I'm drawn to that river and the Southern States of the US... for a very long time, my big dream was to ride on a Mississippi steamer once. My dream came true in Disneyland Paris, but I still want to ride on an actual one. On the Mississippi.

Actually trustygeek and I realised the other day we can never do a road trip through the US together - we could agree on starting in New York and finishing in San Francisco, but that was about it. While she wants to see the Northern States I'm dying to see places like Memphis, New Orleans and St. Louis. It's the home of Blues, Jazz and Rock'n'Roll!

(I'm currently watching a documentary on the Mississippi, and they just played some blues pieces....ooooh, I love blues so much. I actually get chills down my spine because it just... as Jamie Bell says in Billy Elliot about dancing, "It's like electricity!")

Finished season one of Arrested Development yesterday - took me ages, sorry mariloli, but oh my God, so funny. *laughs* I need those DVDs as well. That's tv comedy at its best.

And then... *drumroll* ... wait for it - I finally started watching The 10th Kingdom. That's right, I've never seen it before, because I always, always miss it when it's on tv. I quite liked the first part, very funny, even though the trolls remind me of Klingons rather than of trolls :-p And whenever I see Scott Cohen my initial reaction is "Oh, Mr. Medina!" but still, it's really entertaining. Diane West is awesome in it :-)

Right - time to tidy room and house, my cousin Laura is coming over later the day.

Last night I dreamed I watched Dark Angel - with Logan sitting next to me. And he didn't know the episodes. He wasn't in the episodes, but it was Logan.

That makes so no sense at all.


...


5 days til my birthday.

5 days till I see my tia_thereal

6 days til FilkCon

Last night "Cracker" was on but I was too tired and only caught twenty minutes or so. But my, it was really good. I think I'm going to buy the DVD one of these days.

Any my, Christopher Eccleston! Looking like in Shallow Grave which was kind of creepy...

Someone remind me to email my professor okay?

mariloli lent me the first season of Arrested Development. OMG that show is so funny. *wipes tears of laughter away* Buster!

And speaking of tv shows, I heard Torchwood premiers October 2nd?

Silke's coming over for practise later. Less than three weeks til FilkCONtinental. *tries to breathe in and out*
One sugar plum fairy, two sugar plum fairy...

Hey glorfinniel, fancy another Skype chat some time? .-)

After I finally got my new student ID card today (which means I can finally pay my semester fee...*cough*) I stopped by the mall. Unfortunately for me, there's also a CD/DVD store which seems to performing mind control on me cause I have to drop by and see what's new every time.

This time the Angels & Airwaves CD caught my attention. I'd heard lyxzen praise it and seen some ads so I decided to give it a chance. But the headphones at the store were crap so I couldn't listen properly and I really wasn't sure whether I'd like this CD or not. My brother who was with me convinced me to buy the CD nonetheless and so I did. :-)

First things first - this is the Blink 182's dude new band?

And second: I love this album. It's beautiful. Wonderful. Awesome. ♥ I'm so happy I bought it.

Right when I'd convinced myself email notification is a nifty thing after all, yahoo decides to die on me. For some reason I can't log in anymore. Tells me password is wrong but it's 100% correct. Yay.

But I watched lots of Stargate SG-1 this evening (needed to distract myself from The Pretteh) Am almost through with season 9 (love Mitchell. Am rather tempted to watch Farscape now) and rewatched a season 1 episode. Och, Daniel. You're the nerd of my heart.

Does anyone still remember that song?

I used to love it so much. Actually I still do. *listens to her Hanson CD which she hasn't done in like, ten years*

I remember having that word written somewhere in my textbook as a random doodle. One day my teacher spotted it and declared rather outragedly that "This isn't even a proper word!" *lol*

Anyway.

I started reading "The Colour Of Magic" by Terry Pratchett yesterday. So... Discworld is carried by four elephants, which are carried by a giant turtle? O_o

I finally have a completely new LJ layout!

Man, I sure love the new "customise your LJ" thingie. Shiny! LJ still needs refining here and there but for now I like it as it is :-)

Am rather fond of my new top graphic... to quote Dean: "It's home made."

I just loved the caps from the CW advert too much not to use them :-)

legoline legoline legoline