That's a spirit - one part brave, three parts fool

Yay! I have a whole blue-dragon squad! And Valentines as well and even Happy New Year wishes! :blush: Can you tell it's been a (very long) while since I logged in LJ? But as usual, stopping by makes me smile big time :) A big hug to everyone who thought of me, even though I was mostly missing :D Spring is tentatively in the air now, snow mostly gone and -gasp!- miracle of miracles, I've began writing. :g: We'll see. Hopefully it keeps.

Thank you all, once again :*

(Have you seen there is a new chapter of Captive Prince? Do you follow that?)

Does anyone have any idea where my icon is from? I'm sure it sounds too ridiculous to be true to ask that, but the image just spoke so much to me when I picked it ages and ages ago, and I never really cared of its origins. I mean, I'm vaguely aware it's a manga(I think?) character, and that's all. But now I'm looking into tattoos and I'd really like to be able to do some research about the character... So, clues? :)

Okay, so super excited doesn't even begin to cover my state of mind right now! And the reason is, I'm going to DiaCon Alley!!! Who would have thought! Not me, that's for sure, but there you go. SO! All you, dear flisters who are also going! How are you travelling, when, are you going to the ball and all that lovely data! I want to knoooow!!! Also, I will be spending a full week in London after that, and would LOVELOVELOVE to meet up with anyone who'll be in the area! So speak up! :D

I am horribly behind on my internal medicine reading, my exam is next Wednesday, I am going to bollix it up so badly it's not even real, and the worst part is I can't make myself care enough to stop the slide of self-sabotage. I feel brittle, all shiny facade, like something's hovering just above my skin and no one looks hard enough to recognise it, and I look up to realise I've just spent five hours re-writing one page only to delete it. It's kinda curious that you can write heat and want treating it like an abstract idea but not warmth. At least I can't. Does the inability to fake make you a better person or a less functioning one? Strangely, the paper's even harder to lie to, lately. It doesn't feel like an improvement.

I've been for weeks now, really, checking my flist and reading everything, and not commenting... I don't know why, frankly. A little, maybe, because right along with feeling like a well-known and loved safe place, it's not the same, and I am afraid that I won't, *don't* belong any more. And that's stupid, so stupid, being scared of not having something before you made properly sure you don't, right? Right. Right. It's surprising how thoroughly I've missed actively being here, behind this journal. It being me. It's shameful and absolutely horrible of me how many people I've left hanging, messages and emails and letters unanswered, despite replies often having been written and saved and then just left there, waiting, simply because I'm afraid. Of God knows exactly what. So yeah. I read your email last week, and the week before that, and no, don't throw me out because I'm such a baby for some reason. *klings*

I'd love pointers where people have moved and what's going on and yes, I am going to sit down and answer everything even if it kills me, and I'm going to post fic, so don't be shocked, the world will resolutely not end. Thank you for reading this far if you have, I'm going to take my exhausted, shaken self to bed now and take the two hours of sleep that I have before the alarm kicks in. I've missed you.

...and heaps of words and candles softly burning.

The great majority of these (unless otherwise marked) are books that sit on my shelves, waiting for me to read them. I've seen many people try this, sometimes it works, so there we go. I have no intention of deluding myself I won't buy any more books until these are finished, most probably the second I speak such words I'll find myself in a bookstore... :D

These are books I've still to open, or have began but abandoned for some reason, or have read and not liked and want to give another chance to, or simple watched the movie end never got around to the book. I'll delete the ones I've read and reviewed, and add any new ones at the bottom.

( Here There Be BooksCollapse )

Recommend me books! I am trying to widen my horizons a bit and dip into new stuff, so if there is a book you particularly liked, chances are, I want to hear about it!

Merry Christmas to all of you, lovely people, or else, Merry Weekend :) I hope you spend the end of 2010, a year that was both precious and a little unkind, with the people you love, encased in laughter and good vibes. I love you all! ♥

Dear flist, I need some help with wording! You know how in the Middle ages peace was sometimes ensured by the sides exchanging valuable people for a time, kin of the king or sometimes even the successor to the throne and such. What is this person called, the one being exchanged? We call it, quite literally, a guarantor for peace, but I can't for the life of me remember the exact English phrase, even though I am certain I have read it somewhere... :/ Thoughts?