{ I would have stayed up with you all night. }

[delga]

So, I'm here. I was travelling from 9.30am until 2.20pm which is a ridiculous amount of time considering the journey home took just over three hours. The morning started in a panic as I realised I couldn't find the keys to the house in Soton. I couldn't understand it: I keep both sets of keys in my handbag. After much rummaging, I finally texted T. and asked her to get the Landlord to unlock my door for me. By this point it was past 9 (which was when I was going to catch the bus) so The Rents dropped me off at the station. Thus began my travelling woe.

As ever: no seats on a GNER train, so I was in the vestibule with a girl who was on the phone the whole journey, and four guys who were headed to London for Grand national shenanigans. They were fun enough to listen to, if not for the sexist and racist jibes. Anyway, I don't mind not having a seat on that train because it's direct and cuts my journey time by 45 minutes, except the train was late so I lost 15 minutes there.

At King's Cross I had the usual trouble trying to navigate the steps down to the tubes. Northern Line? BANE OF MY EXISTENCE. It's the easiest route to anywhere and it's always fucking closed. So I ended up walking around King's X underground for what felt like forever as I took the Piccadilly Line to Oxford Circus (where there were yet more steps) where I took the Bakerloo line to Waterloo. Got to Waterloo, found that there were no trains heading to Soton. ?! So, got on the 11.30 train to somewhere else, got off at Woking at midday then had to wait for the 12.30 to Bournemouth which does stop at Soton. Delays, PLATFORM CHANGES (ARGH), high temperatures (I was in three layers for reasons we won't go into) and finally I got on the train and could relax. South West Trains always have seats, thank fuck, and lots of luggage room. Got to Soton at 2pm, hopped straight onto a unilink bus (was abused by the doors at every damn stop), got to the house 20 minutes later. T, N and The Flatmate were all here already so as soon as I got in, I felt much better about being back. This is when I found out that I'd LEFT MY KEYS IN SOTON. So. Haven't lost them, then.

Since then I've unpacked, cleaned up, sorted out the wonky closet in the hallway, written an email, posted a letter and bought food to eat tonight. I've also bought The Subtle Knife which I'm going to start tonight. I've just got to write some emails and make a to do list for tomorrow. I am KNACKERED.

--

Internet speed here is awful, which I always forget when I return. AND NOW I AM IN THE DEATH HOURS, GODDAMMIT. *sporks*

--

Two new postcards on my wall: Audrey Hepburn (from the_muppet) and one I picked up from the cinema ages ago. "Either he's dead, or my watch has stopped!" &loves; Also, my fugly funny animal poster fell down whilst I was away (kabutar, I told you, it's a total conspiracy!) and I've decided that whilst I love it, it doesn't go with the rest of the room. So! Send me stuff to put on my wall! You know you want to. I mean, look how ugly the wall is without stuff on it:

So. Help a girl out, yeah? If you don't have my address and want to play, email me. In return I will send you a card or a postcard.

--

WHERE ARE MY DUCKS?! :(

--

Hartley is open from 9am tomorrow so I'm going to hide out in the library. I'm taking the laptop (yay, hotspots!) so I'll likely spam you all with how bored I am, but like I said, I have a better idea of what I want to do for my dissertation so I can do what needs doing, huzzah. It's going to take forever, though, because woe, I actually have to read the stuff I'm citing. Not in full, and I'm pretty good at the skim read, but still. Aie.

--

Since being home, The Sister has got me enthused (once more) on The Fray. I'm glad, though, because I've had this album for a year and it's still so good. Also on the list of good things: I have a good idea of what my dissertation is going to be on, and - BUBBLEGUM. Yay.

Also: isn't The Departed Tango one of the best pieces of music ever? Also on that list is the one I'm playing now. (Hi,twincy!)

--

OK. More emails, the to do list, possibly Doctor Who and CSI. I'd still rather being in D. than in Soton, but I just have to get over it. At least there won't be any more panic attacks now that I'm faced with the reality of being here. Also: I live with nice people. Who may or may not go to see Sunshine with me!

Comments

[tigertrapped.livejournal.com]

Your poor bare wall! I shall dig out some stuff for it right now. Can you email the address?

[delgaserasca.livejournal.com]

Of course, darling, and thank you! You know, I still have all the other lovely things that you sent me including the woman in front of the Taj Mahal, the lucky black cats and, heh, the winking eye.

[twincy.livejournal.com]

'Your Rocky Spine' = brilliant. Though obv. Al Paul Simon has now taken me hostage. !

*hugs* Glad you made it in one piece. Hope things settle down for you soon.

[delgaserasca.livejournal.com]

*nods*

*hugs* Me too :) And you? Has the migraine lifted yet?

[twincy.livejournal.com]

I've dug out my mom's copy of his greatest hits album because 'You Can Call Me Al' was, and still is, taking over my brain. Sigh!

Mostly, yeah. Though I can't tell whether it went away on its own, or whether it was food/medication/my decision to stop freaking myself out. Hate, body.

[delgaserasca.livejournal.com]

Well, I spork it. The migraine, that is.

Did you get far with the 5 things thing?

[twincy.livejournal.com]

The song makes very little sense to me, and thus, so does that statement. Still: hee. David Gray's 'Debauchery' reminds me of Gibbs, but that one's fairly obvious. (Today I watched the episode wherein Gibbs hooks up with the woman who maybe murdered the marine who hacked a hospital computer system, and wherein Gibbs kisses her after he tells her he hopes she didn't do it, which is fucked up on so many levels and yet, so Gibbs. I'd also seen it on television at some point, apparently. The making out against the boat was ungodly hot.) (Attack of the run-on sentence!)

*snorts*

I have four out of five worked out, but I'm having issues with my prose, again. It's annoying because I know exactly what I want to write, but it all comes out lame and awkward.

[delgaserasca.livejournal.com]

Aw. OK: I didn't mean to be pushy; it was more of a casual enquiry. *hugs* Your prose is not lame. It walks just fine if you let it, as evidenced by the two (?) betas I did for you in which you quite obviously were not lame. This is not to be patronising: I get being frustrated with your writing. But 'lame' isn't a word you get to use *sticky-out-y tongue smiley*

[twincy.livejournal.com]

I totally get the blushing; I was all...suddenly and unexpectedly aroused, and with the flaily hands because hot damn. That boat. That man!

You didn't come across as pushy. :) And, thank you. I'm making it difficult for myself (as always) by developing an irrational hatred for the style in which most fanfic is written, but okay, yes. Not lame. Shutting up and writing this. ... later, because I leave in half an hour. Hee.

[delgaserasca.livejournal.com]

I'm glad. And I'm not really one to talk - I deleted my last two attempts at writing. Heh.

Ok. Well. Have fun! And I will spam you later/tomorrow :)

[delgaserasca.livejournal.com]

I came back, opened the door and lo! It wasn't on the wall. Who knows. Maybe they don't like the wall? *shrugs* Hee!

[emmademarais.livejournal.com]

You're reading Pullman's HDM series? How did I miss that? Those are books I would love to discuss with you. Fair warning: the books are in order from first to last in terms of quality and enjoyability so if you loved the first one lower your expectations a bit for the second then lower them drastically for the third. Trust me, you will enjoy them more if you cut them some slack. Like Harry Potter or Abarat, the first book of a fantasy series can't be compared to those following it because nothing will reach the levels of excitement at discovering a new universe for the first time. Lyra's world is so magical (Talking!Armored!Polar Bears!) that what follows is a bit of a let down. Still, her world juxtaposed against the real one (i.e. ours) is interesting. Okay, will now try to hold my tongue until you've read TSK...

Ugh about the Tube and trains and such. Though I had better luck with trains at Waterloo the stairs throughout the Underground just about killed me. The Tube is so not friendly for the disabled. I am glad you arrived safe and sound though. I wish you fast Internet and relaxing times with people you care about...

[delgaserasca.livejournal.com]

I read these ages a go, actually, just re-reading them for my children's lit course. I'm not a Harry Potter fan, but I love Pullman's HDM, all three books. I think the third book is possibly the most adventurous and doesn't quite hit all the targets, but-- you know how people queue up for the HP books? I was like that for The Amber Spyglass. Very excited. And re-reading them is a blast, too :D

I think the trains will kill me one day. The steps, oiskie. Thank you, darling, and le me add that it's so nice to hear from you! I have been slacking re: N3_100, and with comments, so I'm so pleased you commented! *hugs*

[emmademarais.livejournal.com]

Ahh... I see. Then you know what I am talking about. TSK is about the smashing of worlds together and as such held my interest even though the newness had worn off. It did a decent job of getting me to care about Will, but it felt like he spent too much time setting up the third book instead of immersing the reader fully in that book's story. The third book was IMHO a mess. Hardly cohesive at all and blasphemy aside, I really didn't enjoy it that much. The ending as well... /shrugs/ I should have seen it coming, but us naive Americans assume authors write happy endings to all stories to increase potential book sales. ;-) Still, one of the more inventive YA series I've read. I own them and will reread them again in the future, but not as often as I reread say The Incarnations of Immortality series. Now *that* was engaging fantasy to the bitter end.

Okay, the second to last book was better than the last, but at least the last book tied up every loose end very nicely thank you very much. /grins/

In regards to N3, you're so not a slacker. Slick and I know you by know. You're like the Spanish Inquisition - we never know when you're going to show up, but when you do you bring loads of ficcy presents. Hehehe

I've been offline tons lately, well pretty much all year, but lately have had almost no Internet access at home and laptop troubles so I consider it a good week if I manage to get my N100 drabble posted on time and keep my inbox at least read if not all responded to. (I am deathly behind in responding to comments. Bad author! No biscuit!)

/sigh/

Normal life, how I miss thee...

About HP and why people queue up for it? Some thoughts on that...

Imagine you have never had chips. I know, it's hard but perhaps you are from a country that doesn't have them and you move to England or even the US. Your new friends take you to McDonalds three or four times and order you their chips. You like them very much, as many people do. You start going on your own and ordering them. A few weeks later someone takes you to a different fast food place and you order their chips. You might like them, but by this point you *know* McDonald's and these ones are *different*. It could be that these are actually better chips, but since you already know McDonald's the next time you have a craving for chips you are likely going to go back there and not to the new place. To me, Harry Potter is like that. Just like people queue up for chips at McDonald's because they are familiar and comforting they do so for HP books. Once JKR sucked them in with the first book they were invested and now expect her to fill their minds with more Harry because they know him and like him. They might read Abarat and like Candy, but Harry is the McDonald's of YA fantasy and Candy is just the fish and chips shop down the road that they drive by on the way to McDonald's. Sad, really what creatures of habit we humans are, but I am at least grateful to JKR because her series got a ton of kids back into reading books which is rather an accomplishment in this age of digital entertainment.

Bah, I need to stop now else risk putting you to sleep...

Which might not be a bad thing if you read this just before bed. /snicker/

[melliyna.livejournal.com]

Sampson is currently sitting on top of a an envelope and is about to be sent off as soon as I work out which friend is going to actually be reliable enough to report back and send her on (also I do promise that the photo's will be sent to you soon).

[delgaserasca.livejournal.com]

Aw, thanks for letting me know! I'm pdating today - it'll be the second week in a row where there is no change to the details, so I'm beginning to flip a little, heh.

Also: read the zombie!fic! You? Made of awesome. &hearts

[melliyna.livejournal.com]

Glad I could update you as to the whereabouts of at least one of the ducks.

And ohmygod you are reading the zombie fic *loves* I'm just having so much fracking fun writing this thing and it's good to know that people are reading and enjoying it.

I'd love to send you a postcard - would you like one from me in Tasmania or me in the US?

[delgaserasca.livejournal.com]

Me too, hee.

It's so much fun! I really love the idea of Toby brandishing a sword. It's really too perfect.

Ooh, from either! When are you headed back down under?

!!! Doctor Who is on. I must leave you for a little while - you understand, surely? :)

[melliyna.livejournal.com]

Of course I understand *g* I'll be back in Australia in mid Mayish. And I'm glad you liked the sword because somehow I just couldn't picture Toby holding a gun.

[delgaserasca.livejournal.com]

I think it works for its intended readership - I was, what, 12 when I was reading the series? I'm excited about re-reading the second book (I don't need to re-read the third for class, but I own it, so I will *g*) because I'm excited about seeing how my response to it changes? I think that one of the reasons I dislike HP is because I came to it after the fact - I read all six books whilst studying for my A-levels, for a bet. In my opinion, Pullman is much more mentally stimulating, but that might change after the re-read. I enjoy fantasy, but I don't read a lot of it, mostly because I'm probably chomping down a crime novel, or a bildungsroman, or something brand new (like you, I've got a fetish for stylistic experimentation), or something for class (aie). Re-reading Northern Lights was a wonderful experience because I noticed details I hadn't noticed the first time and I found that I still enjoyed Pullman's prose. I'll make a post once I've re-read TSK :)

re:N3 *giggles* Well, I've never heard it put like that, but thank you!

Oh no, I completely understand why people queue up for new literary treats. I get excited when there's a new PD James on the shelf, so I relate and I'm not judging people who enjoy the HP books. I feel better able to comment on them than some critics because I've read them, but whatever, you know? It's good to see people excited. I sort of wish it was more for the prose than for anything else, but I'll make do with what's there.

As for you! Yes, I suspected that you were having internet difficulties, and I know that you're busy, too. I hope things resolve themselves soon. *hugs*

[the-muppet.livejournal.com]

So! Send me stuff to put on my wall! You know you want to.

I'm already on it.... got something today :)