Fanart, Fanfiction and Fangirling

I feel like I should write more, but I always get lazy. Things are awfully busy at work, with official visits and poor management decisions making things worse, so I don't really want to sit down in front of a computer in the evenings. But I've been working on something non fannish lately, hopefully I'll be able to finish it.

I could write about my holidays. I spent 10 days in Sicily and had a wonderful time. It was my first time visiting Sicily and I loved every minute. The food was delicious, the monuments and historical sites beautiful and the sea was so blue and clear it looked fake. I walked so much my feet hurt every evening, but it was worth it. I visited the Western part of the island, starting in Palermo and the surrounding area, with a day trip to Agrigento to see the Greek temples, then I moved to Trapani. The week before I arrived the temperatures had been extremely high (up to 45°C) and there were some pretty bad fires, but luckily by the time I got there things had gone back to normal.

Other than that, I've been following the women volley European Championship and writing some Nick/Greg drabbles I'll probably use for the advent calendar. Yes, I know it's still August, but I'm not going to turn down inspiration just because December is still almost 4 months away.

Oh, and Die Ärzte announced a small autumn tour out of the blue a few days ago! Of course I can't take any days off in September (our worst month) and not even in early October, which is usually a kind of dead period at work, but not this year. The Saturday shows are all in very inconvenent places, so no more DÄ for me this year. But they also announced 2 concerts at Tempelhof for next year, so I guess I'm going to see them there. Those silly old men, doing everything they can to inconvenience their fans...

I finally caved in and created a LinkedIn profile. Like it always happens with the things I put off and off and off, it ended up being not as bad as I initially thought. Now I just need to add contacts and keep my eyes open for potential opportunities.

But enough of that. Some time ago I was thinking of visiting Paris, since I've never been there. But of course the French decided to start a new revolution (and all because the Government wants to bring the minimum retirement age from 62 to 64? HAH! I'll have to work until I'm SEVENTY), so I had to change my plans. But that's not too bad, because I'm going to Stockholm to see Die Ärzte! I didn't get a ticket when the European mini-tour was announced, because I was waiting for the job announcement in our Cultural Office and I optimistically thought I had a chance, but since our HR office so graciously decided I didn't even meet the minimum requirements, I'm taking a week off and going to Sweden. There.

Flights are quite expensive, but I don't really care. Like a former colleague once said "I don't want to be the richest one in the cemetery, I'd rather use my money to enjoy life while I can".

I finally have some time to write about my Berlin weekend. I was there the last Friday, Saturday and Sunday of August, and I'm so happy I got a ticket for Saturday, because the Friday show was cancelled due to bad weather! If I had had a ticket for Friday, I would have been devastated. But it was raining so much and apparently there was a lightning warning too, and being an open-air concert, the risk was just too high. Almut had a ticket for all three shows, and since she had nothing else to do on Friday, we decided to visit the DDR Museum together, which was very nice.

Oh, wait! Friday's highlight was actually spotting a lorry with Bela, Farin and Rod's faces printed on the side! XD I caught a glimpse of it while I was on the S-Bahn train from the airport into the city, so I don't know if it was a concert truck or an ad or something else entirely, but it was such a surreal moment. XD Another highlight was going to the Turkish market on the Maybachufer and getting a Gözleme. Man, I'd been craving one for ages!

( More under the cut )

I did manage to go on holiday: in the end I went to Pesaro, in central Italy. From there I visited Urbino and Frasassi's Caves, plus I spent three lovely days on the beach doing nothing. Well, that's not true, I finally read Neil Gaiman's "Trigger Warning", which I bought last year in Edinburgh and hadn't read yet. He's definitely one of my favourite authors.

I ate a lot (oh, how I love hotel breakfasts), walked a lot and relaxed. I also realised that, for the third year in a row, I visited UNESCO World Heritage Sites totally by chance. This could become my own personal tradition: visiting a new UNESCO site each year. It shouldn't be too difficult, given the amount of sites in Italy alone.

I also had some time to draw and write! I was inspired by the lovely DTIYS by MartinaH. over on Instagram. First I drew some fanart, then I wrote a short ficlet to go with it. They're both posted on AO3.

Anyway. Holidays are over, I've been back at work for a week. Thankfully things are still quiet, as most offices are still closed for summer holidays. We'll see how things go in the next couple of weeks.

I'll never be able to write a proper Japan report, I did too many things, saw too many places. I had a travel journal in which I wrote every day (well, every night), but writing even half of those things here would be too much.

So, just a few highlights:
( Behind a cut because it's gonna be LONG )

I could go on and on and on, but I'd better stop here. It was one of the best trips of my life, probably THE best trip of my life. And, to be honest, I thought I would spend much more! Some things were indeed very expensive, but most of the things I was interested in were average-priced, so it wasn't too bad. But then again, I live in one of the most expensive cities in Italy, so I may be a little biased.

Anyway, it was an amazing trip and I already want to go back!

Oops, I forgot to post again. I'll take advantage of the day off (today's a holiday in Italy) and write a quick update on my mobile. I've neglected LJ mainly because I've been going to the gym a lot lately and working on a couple of Good Omens ficlets (*GASP*). Hopefully I'll be able to post at least one before I go on holiday at the end of the month, it's almost done.

Did I mention I'm going to Edinburgh? It was a bit of a last-minute decision, the big plan is still to go to Japan in October (and I should really start booking things for that), but I'm going to need a break before the usual September madness at work, so I took an additional week off at the end of August. And the fact that I've been a little bit obsessed with David Tennant lately made me realise I've never been to Scotland and a colleague who worked in Edinburgh was always talking about what a beautiful place it is, so I thought "Why not?"

I just hope I'll understand the accent... XD

I've just finished watching Good Omens and I'm SO glad I didn't re-read the book before watching the series, I had completely forgotten a certain twist at the end and, boy, was it good. The relationship between Aziraphale and Crowley is just so, so slashy, and the Queen songs were spot on (and slashy too).

So, yeah, I'm all fangirly about Good Omens right now (I even remembered I actually wrote a short Aziraphale/Crowley ficlet fourteen (FOURTEEN!) years ago, but then I checked the DÄ Tourtagebuch and found THIS PICTURE:

( ASDFGHJKL )

How am I able to function like a normal human being when I'm overwhelmed by fandoms?

Anyway, I'm not going to fall asleep any time soon, so I might as well type up my Brussels report.

- The flight went smoothly and I had a lovely view of the Alps, still covered in snow and very pretty.

- At the venue I met eryka_59, whom I hadn't seen in years. I was lovely meeting again, even if we kinda got lost inside.

- I ended up in the second row in front of Bela again. It wasn't as crowded as Milan (the venue was smaller), but it was still quite intense. On a couple of occasions I thought Bela was looking directly at me and smiling, but it could've been my imagination.

- Farin started talking to a woman on one of the balconies and told her "You're the most beautiful person in the world. Apart from Bela, of course."

- Laola time: Farin made it start from the balconies, then the pit should do it. Then, without being instructed, the "tribune" did it, and Farin was very impressed.

- Monsterparty! My God, I love that song. They even forgot the words, which made it even more hilarious.

- Farin asked "Did anyone here travel more than 20 Km to be here tonight?" Of course the whole venue shouted and Farin reacted like he often does: grinning and covering his eyes with his hand. Then Rod asked "Is anyone of you from here?" A few people cheered. Rod pointed around the audience and said "Remember: I love you!"

- After a girl crowdsurfed to the front, Farin shook her hand and wanted Bela to do the same with a guy who crowdsurfed right afterwards.

- Bela asking a girl who had just been lifted out of the crowd by one of their security guys: "Did you like it, with those big, strong men?" And the girl being totally oblivious what he was talking about. XD

- Rod's amazing guitar solo during one of his songs (can't remember which one).

- Somehow Bela thought Farin had said "Meow" during the "Deine Schuld" intro, so they started making (and asking the audience to make) random animal sounds. XD

- Bela saying there might be another tour and a new album in the near future!!!

- All three of them standing at Rod's mic at the end and saying "Remember: I/we love you!"

After the concert I also saw Eline (whom I had last seen in Berlin three years ago). I decided to stay to see if I could catch a glimpse of the band (I was too excited to go to sleep anyway), but no luck.

- Also, apparently a few fans rented an actual tourbus to follow the band around! That's dedication (and a bit of craziness XD).

And that was it. The next morning I had a delicious breakfast with croissant and crepes, met Almut and spent a ridiculous amount of time getting into comic shops. Who knew there are SO MANY in Brussels. But I was good and only bought two comic books about a sweet and destructive black cat called "Crapule", which I can understand even with my very limited French, and a Platform 9 and 3/4 coaster. Because I'm a nerd. Then we checked into our new hotel and explored the city centre, had chips (because what else are you gonna eat in Brussles) and headed to the Atomium and the Mini-Europe park, which we both enjoyed very much. That evening I had a delicious potato waffle with salmon, ricotta and dried fruit for dinner, and a Kriek (cherry-flavoured beer. Sounds odd, tastes fantastic.) We did some more walking and I ended the night with a Blanche. Because there are not many beers I like, and most of them seem to be from Belgium, so I wanted to take advantage of the moment.

The next morning we had breakfast and I went to the train station with Almut, then visited a few churches, as I had a few more hours to kill and I just LOVE gothic churches, then it was time to go home.

It was such a great weekend, I'm so happy I decided to go in the end. And this Saturday I'm off to Florence to see The Cure! The concert is actually on Sunday, but I've found out there's a photographic exhibition dedicated to David Bowie in Florence these days, plus Easy Cure are playing on Saturday night, so I'm not going to get bored.

And now I really ought to be going to bed, I'll never wake up in the morning...

I wanted to write something earlier, but, as usual, I got lazy.

I was in London with my parents from 27th April to 4th May, it was my wedding anniversary present for them, as they'd never been there and mentioned they would like to visit it. We had a brilliant time, walked A LOT and even found decent weather. The focus of the trip was showing the city to my parents, of course, but I still managed to get my hands on "In between days", a photographic book on The Cure that recently came out.

( A few pictures under the cut )

My mum's favourite parts was the Changing of the Guard and the afternoon tea, while my dad loved the Churchill War Rooms (as I was sure he would). I always have a great time in London and I'm happy my parents liked it too.

My next trip is going to be Brussels at the end of May. Yes, I'm going to see the last DÄ concert of the tour on top of seeing them in Milan, because hell, why not! And after that it's going to be Florence to see The Cure in June. Which I've just realised I still need to buy train tickets and book a hotel for. Oops.

Oops, I still haven't written anything about my trip to Liguria to see The Dead Lovers on the 15th. It was a lovely weekend, even if on Sunday the weather was miserable and I had to give up on my original idea of visiting Genoa (I did try, but it was rainy and cold, so I just took the first train back home after wandering around the area of the port for less than an hour). On Saturday, though, the weather was nice and sunny and I got to walk around Santa Margherita, which is a lovely little seaside town. The only thing I couldn't understand was why they decided to have '90s disco hits playing all around the city centre, with a few Christmas songs thrown into the mix just for the sake of the season.

The concert itself was great. I only knew a few songs, but Wayne and Lula do know how to entertain. Too bad the venue was half empty. But the audience was quite loud and everyone seemed to enjoy the show. I chatted a bit with Wayne before the concert (he was so surprised to see me, even if I'd written to him I would be there) and I stayed afterwards as well, I left with them after they dismantled their instruments and we walked together for a bit, then I went back to my bed and breakfast. I also got to speak some German with Lula's sister, even if I'm terribly rusty.

Funny detail: I actually saw their van drive past while I was walking to my bed and breakfast on Saturday afternoon! (Of course I would instantly spot a van with a Berlin plate.)

All in all, it was a very good weekend, and just what I needed after the early December chaos at work.

I haven't posted anything about my holidays yet. Shame on me.

( Holiday report - With pictures! )