IRL: Movie Marathon

Tomorrow I am planning a James Bond Movie Marathon! This is mainly to correct the fact that for some reason I have never watched a James Bond Movie. Preposterous, you might exclaim, but it's completely true! It even baffled me, when I got down to it. It also is a thinly veiled attempt at restoring some of my dignity after I horrifically realized that I had spent all night (and a good part of my morning) watching old 90's cartoons *hangs head in shame*. And the worst part is they amused me as much (if not more) as when I was a child. Goes to show how cultured and refined my sense of humor is.
In other (vaguely related) news, spring break is so nice! I have spent the majority of it reading, reading, reading! Not even my beloved public can keep me from reading, actually nothing short of the apocalypse could probably keep me from reading, and even then I wager that I would probably be the type to hole in somewhere with some candles, tea, and a shit-ton of books and just "wait for it to all blow over".

... a toilet would also be a pretty good idea. And a first-aid kit. Also a gun wouldn't be too shabby, probably should include some ammo, a few blunt weapons....  a retractable katana...  a chainsaw hand-extension... a lawn mower... my laptop... Minecraft...

IRL: Hospital Visits

First things first: it is now officially spring break, yay! No more blasted school trying to ruin my education!
Anyways... last Saturday I got my first operation/hospital thingie.  Not my first hospital visit, mind, just my first operation. My first hospital visit was actually really depressing and darkly ironic. You see, blog-that-no-one-visits, for months I had been begging my mum for a cat. To finally shut me up, she acquiesced. So of course, I being the responsible person that I am, immediately went out and bought everything that one needs when raising a cat. EVERYTHING. Food, litter, shampoo, scratching posts, an unhealthy amount of toys, etc. After wasting a ridiculous amount of money, I finally acquired my kitty [rest easy, I didn't go to an evil pet shop, instead I got him from my friend's rescued cat, which she later spayed/neutered (I can honestly never tell when to use which)]. So the first day with my kitty (whom I named Nikola Schrödinger) passed in absolute kawaii-ness. That is until little Nikola gave me a violent allergic reaction.  How violent? Well I had to go to the hospital because, well...I kind of... couldn't breathe. So yeah...how's that for irony?

Nikola being his absolutely shy and adorable self, minutes before almost killing me. <3

Now that was my 1st hospital visit. My second was much less ironic and much more druggy. So for reasons unknown to mankind, my doctor scheduled me for an endoscopy (the actually word is like a billion consonants, seriously). So yeah, did I mention I have a kind-of phobia not only of needles but generally of hospitals. To make a long story short, it was pretty terrifying. Also it was a bit freaky when the anesthesiologist kept on drugging me. Later on I learned that they had to use almost twice as much anesthesia that was normally used! And it didn't even knock my out! I was pretty much lucid throughout the whole thing, just a bit sleepy. But seriously it wore of little five minutes after the operation, which meant I had to spend like an hour bored out of my mind trying not to thing of the million of disgusting and incurable infections I was picking up.
And know, you guessed it, I have to eat? like a million pills, all about the size of my thumb. God I just hate hospitals. But at least I can now brag that it (probably) takes a heck-of a lot of drugs to take me out! :D
But worry not, my adoring (and completely made up) public, I am alright <3

Book Review: The Death of Ivan Ilych

The Death of Ivan Ilych by Leo Tolstoy
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Death of Ivan Ilych is what one would expect it to be. First it talks about the aftermath, then his life and finally his death. It's what one doesn't expect it to be that makes it glorious. One expects reminiscing about life, nostalgia, sadness, desperation, and granted, it's filled to the brim with it. What one doesn't expect is that, in the end, you wish you could escape with Ivan. Because all throughout his narrative we weave our own life, our own failures our own mediocrity until at last we are confronted with the harsh and harrowing truth of the worthlessness of our own existence, and unlike Ivan, we can't escape it.
The Death of Ivan Ilych is one of those books, those short unassuming little books that you can read in an hour and then spend your lifetime in it's numbing wake. The Death of Ivan Ilych is a book that probably should be read by everyone, but then again, the consequences would be disastrous.

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Book Review: Battle Royale

Battle Royale by Koushun Takami
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

In a totalitarian Japan (now called the Republic of Greater East Asia) every year, 50 3rd year middle school classes are selected to participate in a program designed to test their resourcefulness, strength, intelligence, but most of all, their ability to murder their classmates. You read that correctly, the program's sole objective is to survive, no matter the cost. Why? To control the population by instilling fear and paranoia, of course. Not because high ranking officials like to bet on the outcome, that would be cruel and barbaric, not to mention senseless murder. You should be ashamed for even suggesting that kind of thing!
As luck would have it, this year the students from Shiroiwa Junior High School were among the privileged 50. Masqueraded as a school trip, they are drugged and shipped off to an island, armed and instructed with their objective. Oh, and to ensure they don't try to escape, they are each outfitted with a neat collar that not only gives away their exact position, but is also built to explode if they enter a "forbidden zone" or try to escape. Cool, huh? Well not so much if you're one of the participants of course.
When the sole objective is to kill or be killed, who can you trust?
Battle Royale was (for me) an instant favorite. Equal parts thriller, dystopian, pulp, (inappropriate) comedy, it even had a bit of romance thrown in now and then. What makes Battle Royale stand out most though is it's ability to permeate itself into your reality. It expertly plays on your fears and paranoia, throwing you in a confusing stalemate. If you fall into suspicion, the government wins, but if you don't... well, let's just hope it will be relatively painless. While reading Battle Royale I guarantee you will find yourself "sizing up" your classmates, workmates, neighbors, etc. I know I did.
Not only is it thought provoking, it is also very emotionally compromising. You find yourself attached to most of the characters, despite the fact that most are not necessarily "good" (the biggest example of this for me was Misuko). You find it hard not to relate with them, and sometimes trying to justify their actions. This "bond" that you form with them makes their deaths all the more painful.
Battle Royale is a one of a kind novel that envelopes you completely, not only in it's premise but also in the characters, it plays with your emotions making you laugh, cry, hate, and hope, though it's always quick to return to it's pervading hopelessness. Battle Royale is everything you would want in a novel, between gory death scenes and tearful goodbyes, there's never a dull moment, that's for sure. This jewel of a novel culminates in a brilliant use of Springsteen's Born to Run, a moment that will forever enrich the song. I wholeheartedly recommend this novel, not just to dystopian/pulp/thriller lovers but to everyone.

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Prussia x Everyone

The other day, I was having some well deserved R&R (in this case, R&R stands for endlessly browsing through the kink-meme opening tabs left and right in my pajamas). After I few fics I came upon a rather interesting pair. It was a fem!SealandxPrussia fic. After finishing it, I was struck by the fact that I had just shipped Prussia with Sealand! Being a rather flexible shipper, I merely shrugged it off and continued onto my next fic, which coincidentally turned out to be a RuPru. After a most satisfying read, I switched to the next tab a PruAus. Curiously I ventured to the next tab, lo and behold a Frying Pangle, a Prumano, a Prucan, another RuPru, even a Prumerica. On and on, fic upon fic, the majority featuring Prussia with a growing list of partners. That was when it dawned on me. Slowly but surely I had started to ship Prussia with everyone. EVERYONE.

Mystified at my (in retrospect) rather obvious discovery I of course began to wonder why? Why did I ship Prussia with every character in Hetalia? I mean I am usually a pretty liberal shipper, I mean yeah I prefer a FrUk (please don't kill me) but I don't mind an UsUk every know and then (though out of those I prefer RusAme). The point is that yeah I'm pretty flexible with who I ship people with, but I mean I wouldn't ship America with say Cuba or Canada (no disrespect to people who really ship them) it just isn't my cup of tea. So why can I ship Prussia with basically everyone? What is it about this loud, arrogant, annoying (I kind of imagine him as a mix of Inuyasha, Kida and Izaya) person/nation that makes him great with everyone? Never in all my shipping years have I shipped someone with so many people.

I can't even try to justify myself by going, sure I ship Prussia w/ everyone but my otp is exclusively RuPru. I mean I love a good RuPru as much as I love a Prumano or Gemancest or PruAus... you get the picture. So what's the deal? Is it some sort of mind control, subliminal messaging, aliens, there's got to be a reasonable explanation, some brain parasite that makes us just want to clone Prussia and ship him with everyone. Hopefully I'm not the only one with this... condition.I mean I'm totally not the only one whoring Prussia out to everyone? Right? Right? I mean it's the internet, there's probably a support group out there for me. Hello my name is Alaizabel and I am a pimp-prussia-out-to-everyone-holic.

Reddit

Was going to post something longer but got distracted by Reddit. Damn. Will post tomorrow.

Book Review: The Sallee Rovers by M. Kei

The Sallee Rovers by M. Kei

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Lt. Peter Thorton, serving in His Majesty's Navy aboard the frigate Ajax, must not only serve under an overbearing captain who finds fault in all actions, but must also hide his homosexuality and crush on his best mate fellow Lt. Roger Perry. But, one stormy day at sea in the midst of helping a sinking Spanish galley Thorton finds himself in the precarious position of upholding orders or his integrity as a human being. Thus he finds himself under the command of Captain Tangle, former Captain of Corsairs. Thorton is smitten with the charming new captain and must choose between his duty and his heart.



The Sallee Rovers was expertly written and it's obvious that the author knows his bit about ships, that's for sure, although truthfully the descriptions can get quite overbearing to the point of generally being skimmed over. As for the characters, some left a little to be desired, but the majority were well written though the prize undoubtedly goes to Thorton. Thorton is a very uptight sensible man, which is why some of his actions puzzled me greatly, especially toward the end. I found it at some points very hard to believe that a man like Thorton would behave so irrationally, oftentimes to a very alarming degree. Other than this little flaw, I hold no complaints.



All in all Sallee Rovers is a remarkable, well written story that I would recommend to people who like ships, navies, pirates and such. This book is quite generously allowed to be read completely free of charge in its entirety at the author's blog. On said blog can be found excerpts to the series' continuations.



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Sherlock Fan!!!

Yesterday, totally out of the blue, I met another Sherlock fan!!! Big deal, you might say, Sherlock is a pretty popular series, especially among girls your age. Well, imaginary voice, the thing is where I live it's a really big rarity. You see, I live in a rather small town in a sort-of third world country. People don't just watch Sherlock, or anime, or listen to rock or classical music. It's actually sort of sad. People never seem to want to expand, to find new things, to discover, etc. And the absolute worst thing about that is that they hate the people that do. Seriously. When I transfered to middle school here (about 8th grade back home) I was a bit ostracized for well, being myself. I didn't actually ever get outright bullied (just passive-aggressive stuff) because of my character. My sister, who is a lot nicer and quieter, does get bullied. Frequently. For me the situation sort of improved when I went to my high school. It's actually a hard place to get into, and for some reason seems to attract all the misfits. Anyway, even in my more liberal high school, I was certain I was the only Sherlock fan out there. But happily I was mistaken.
So yeah. After the obligatory fangirling, and the omg-I-thought-I-was-the-only-person-that-liked-Sherlock-ing, we actually got to have a very nice intelligent conversation about Sherlock. Of course we discussed all the basics, like:

• Sherlock and Watson completely belong together
• First Season vs. Second Season
• Sherlock on Tumblr
• The waiting (for S. 2 and S. 3)
• And, of course the obligatory death theories

Sadly, our conversation was cut a bit short by my teachers arrival. Anyways, I'm still very excited about having someone to Sherlock with. Hopefully I didn't scare her off with my insane, overexcited self. 

In other news, my mom is sick :C

So now I'm making dinner, and I can already tell you the bathroom is going to be a hot commodity for the rest of the day. Hopefully there won't be any hospital visits this time. 

Alaiza, out.