Psapphirical

It's that time in the school holidays when I can't help but start counting down the days before work starts again. :/ So let me tell you about what I've been doing.

Recently, I spent two days reading through thirteen years of paper journal entries (oh god the emo, so much emo) in an attempt to figure out my brain and patterns of behaviour. I like to think I've come away from it wiser, and maybe I have. Time will tell.

Last night I tried to watch the USA vs. France semifinal but only lasted until 3:30am at which point I started falling asleep intermittently. Even close ups of Hope Solo could not keep me awake. Clearly, I fail at lesbianism.

This afternoon has been spent reading The Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson, which is a 13th century compilation of Scandinavian literature from which we get most of our information on Norse mythology. I'm only up to the bit about the Primeval Cow because I'm a nerd and spent too long underlining bits of the 35 page long introduction. Also, I bet you didn't know that, according to the Vikings, the clouds are made up of a giant's BRAINS. So typical. I love it. Many thanks to quew who technically gave me the book since I bought it with her gift card.

I've been trying to get back into WoW. But I honestly think my WoW playing days are behind me. I can't even muster up the enthusiasm to level Lish to 85 even though I'm ALMOST THERE. Guess I'll try again tomorrow. One effect of reading through thirteen years of my life has been that I've been thinking a lot about what makes up the value of a life: what makes one year better than another, and what makes life worthwhile. There are years like 2003 during which so many things happened - I grabbed life by both hands, or life grabbed me (lots of grabbing, either way) - and I met people who I'd count as some of the most important people in my life. And then there are years like 2009 which... well, the only redeeming feature of 2009 is that I read some great books. I remember the Prince in the final chapters of The Leopard where he's tallying up his life, counting all the moments that were actually worth something and finding that the pile is actually rather small. I want to find/create as many of those moments as possible, so that I don't look back on my life and find big swathes of pointlessness. Anyway, my point in all of this is that all this introspection and "I want to grab life by the tittehs" sentiment isn't conducive to playing WoW.

Did you know there's a tumblr for ridiculous pictures of Celine Dion? Me neither.

Today feels ~full of possibility~.  So full of possibility that it even has ~tilde wings~. 

This morning, selina_ taught me how to play Carcassonne which is a ridiculously fun board game involving strategy and ruthlessness. Anything that involves making castles and conquering kingdoms is totally my type of game. There is a free online version of the game, so if anybody wants to play with me...  *hopeful look*

Red Dead Redemption also arrived, so later I will be cowboying it up in the Wild West.  Unf.

I was sad to hear that Brazil beat Norway rather resoundingly in their recent World Cup game.  Norway wouldn't have lost if Gro had been their captain, I'm sure.  (She used to play soccer, too.)

Here, have a picture of Gro:

This morning I dreamt about 3 things:

1) Gro Hammerseng
2) Shooting at a shooting range, and meeting a guy there who was possessed by the Devil, who I almost had a gun duel with, Old West style, but he backed off.
3) Kitteh falling into our fish pond and almost drowning, and I kept trying to compress her little fluffy chest to try and pump the water out but she still looked kind of stunned and unresponsive, so I googled "How to give a cat CPR".

I know the last one is probably inspired by my anxiety about leaving Kitteh in Dad's care for four days when I go to Queensland tomorrow. Who knows if he'll feed her properly, or make sure her water mug is filled, or bring her in at the right time? :-/

The second dream about shooting is likely from the Star Trek episode "A Fistful of Datas", which was an episode set in the holodeck Old West.

The dream about Gro is obviously because yesterday I watched the downloaded Semi-Final and Final of the Women's EHF Euro 2010. Gro won the award for Player of the Match in both of them. WHAT. UP.

I'm kind of unexcited about going to Queensland. I originally envisioned it as a small family holiday with Mum and Rianna - low stress, low key, just the three of us. But we're now going with Mum's friend and her family, including two 16 year old boys. I deal with enough immature teenage boys in my work life; I don't need them on holiday with me too. -.- Really, I'd rather just continue being at home watching Star Trek, replaying Dragon Age, and hanging out with Kitteh.

In other news, my face has finally stopped peeling from the sunburn I got at Midsumma, but now my shoulders have started. Dead skin falling off is gross.