yesterday and today i had a two day refresher course in executory law, it was to be the last course i needed to meet all the requirements for becoming a fully fledged lawyer. behind arnhem, near zutphen, which is about 160 km from the hague, where i live. and of course it starts at 9:30 so that means you have to get up early to join in line in congestion

but, the trip went fairly well, congestion wasn't too bad (and a whole lot less worse than the people going in the other direction, heh

until just before arnhem, about twenty minutes drive from my destination, i am "mosying" along in the left lane (three lane highway) at a sedate 130 km (yes, i admit, the limit was 120 km) when i suddenly heard a BANG and my car starts violently veering from left to right

believe you me, having a tire blow out is not a pleasant experience at 130 km/h, in the left lane, with busy busy traffic

i can't quite remember what went through my mind other than wtf?help!take your foot off the gas, ntamara!

fortunately i think everybody behind me noticed (well, duh! with how i was all over the place) that something was quite wrong) and they quickly left me a lot of room to move through two lanes to the right to the side of the road. after i'd pulled to a stop, cralwed over the hand brake and out of the car with my mobile phone, climbed over the divider into the grass on the side of the high way and started dialing Route Mobiel, well, that's when the shaking and the hysterics kind of started, so it took me a while to make the operator understand where i was, what had happened, and what my registration number was

*deep breath*

not a fun experience, at all

the road service came after about 45 minutes, put my car on the back of the truck and took it to a nearby garage to put the spare on. the tire that had blown out was the left back wheel; later when i stopped at a garage to have a new tire put on the one that blew out, they told me i'd been really lucky it wasn't one of the front tires 'cause then there'd've been a "good" chance i wouldn't have been able to tell the tale. let's say, on my way back to the hague this evening, every little shake of the car was received with suspicion and worry

they say bad things come in threes, so i hope, what with the new battery and exhaust i had to put on my car last week, this is it for car troubles *crosses fingers*

it took me about the rest of the day to kind of get my mindset off the car troubles, but the course was quite interesting, the company was good, and the accomodation and food fine, so that certainly helped.

now i'm just trying to spend an evening in denial about how much work i've got waiting for me tomorrow and the fact that i won't be able to enjoy the national holiday on Thursday (or likely, much of the coming weekend) due to said work load

oh well, busy busy busy the coming month, but after that things should settle down during the summer *looks forward to that muchly*

there! update done. pizza and sga slash now!

Tags: home, work, wtf
Current Location: home
Current Mood: determined
Current Music: Art of Fighting

apparently it is possible to make a criminal report to the dutch police via internet, which definitely saves the time and aggravation of having to go to your local police station (wouldn't even know where it is...)

nothing bad, other than extremely annoying. someone or some persons removed all the valves from all the bikes in my part of the street last night. funny. not. i really don't understand people who do that kind of thing, and i think it was a bit too "big" (they removed all the valves on all the bikes on a twenty meter stretch of street, and believe you me, in the netherlands, you can be sure that's a lot of bikes) for it to have been anybody younger than teenagers or so. nothing is broken, and at least they didn't slash my tires, but it's just such an unncessary bother and distraction.

i filed a report (via internet) with the police. not that i believe anything will come from it, but let's say, just doing my bit to keep the crime statistics up to date. that you could file a report via internet i found out from my parents who, after returning from a three week (fantastic and awesome) holiday in the us, found that somebody (in this case, likely the neighbours' kids) had taken a stapler to one of the tires of my mum's car. which is not only property damage but dangerous to boot.

it's been a week of transportation trouble: the battery of my car kept going flat, and when i brought the car to the garage it turned out that there was a hole in my exhaust as well. (the conversation went something like this: ma'am, did you know there's a hole in your exhaust? no. didn't you hear the racket? well, maybe, it did sound a bit noisy but i just turned up my music some more. *blank look from mechanic* *ntamara pulls out her purse*)

other than these minor aggravations, things are going fine. work's busy, but fun. my social life is... existent, for a change. i got my tax return last week and blew it on (car repairs and) a BIG flatscreen tv and a small (but oh so stylish) iPod Bose soundsystem. not only that, but I managed to hang the flatscreen to the wall all on my ownsome! it only took me four hours and left me with two large bruises, one on either shoulder, from throwing myself against the power drill to make the 9cm holes in the wall. *rules at being self-sufficient single*

my plans for the rest of the weekend consist of little more than drinking lots of tea, reading lots of SGA slash (as hot and explicit and rodney/i don't care as i can find in between rereading Penumbris' breathtaking, brilliant, big Rodney/Kolya masterpiece Planet of the Dinosaurs, seriousely, go read, non 1-Dimensional Kolya, great Rodney characterisation, and a consensual (budding) relationship that puts me in a v.v. happy place. oh, and lots of great (menacing but protective) kolya action), and making curry for dinner. oh, and avoiding thinking about all the work (and the journal article) i have to do come Monday...

now, let's see if i can manage picking up this journal again and resurface from lurkerdom. to all those of you who friended me back when i made an active contribution to HP-fandom, it's safe to say i've left the fandom (no hard feelings, looks back with fondness) and that other than consuming sga fanfic (and trying to be a good fb-er about it) spending all your working days reading and writing legal stuff kind of sucks away the creativity and energy to actually produce any of it youself. /sigh. perhaps sometime again in the future, but don't hold your breath. anyhoo.

eta: i spoke too soon. no sooner had i posted but my wireless internet connection died on me *headdesks* fortunately i still have a network cable. unfortunately, it's only 1,5 meters long. /sigh. oh well, at least i had the good foresight to save enough fic to harddrive for instances such as this ;)

Tags: home, sga
Current Mood: determined
Current Music: The Feeling - Rosé

Dutch tv has just (finally) started showing Stargate: Atlantis. I missed the first three episodes, was bored yesterday, and decided to rent the first dvd of season one. Oh wow, it's great (and is definitely a lot more fun than the current SG1).

You were entirely right, Bernice!

Anyhoo... I am now of course in search of (slash) fanfic to read, but where to start? I'd be happy to receive any and all SGA recommendations you'd be willing to share with me, keeping in mind I'm just getting to know this fandom :)

Tags: sga
Current Mood: excited

One of my colleagues is doing a case for an elderly Dutch lady living in Australia (and receiving a Dutch pension) and he asked me what the poverty line is in Australia. In my experience, living expenses in Australia are less than in Europe (Netherlands), but I don't really have an idea of how much (or in this case, how little) would really be considered poverty (in the sense that you can hardly get by, and is likely to be the minimum social benefit that you can get from the government.

Would AUS $ 14.000 a year be on the poverty line, a lot below (or still a bit above)? How much is social welfare?

Thanks in advance (on behalf of my colleague :)

Tags: work
Current Mood: curious
Current Music: MTV

I definitely killed the lamp I bought yesterday (no idea how or why, and too late to return the damn thing so I'll have to go through the warranty story and then you're really bummed about having bought the light at a store 3/4 hours away /headdesks)

but then, to add insult to injury:

idly browsing ikea.nl I discover that the light I really wanted for above my dining table, the light that costs 20% of the € 150 I paid for the one I bought, the light that mysteriously disappeared from ikea's selection

it's back and if the *(&%^ Ikea in Barendrecht (because of course there are none in stock at Delft) were open right now I'd go out and buy it

quick check to make sure Ikea Barendrecht isn't open this particular Sunday, nope, bummer

*deep calming breath*

the fact that I'd planned to go into work today so I'm not swamped this week and have not done so yet and do not see myself doing so either doesn't help with downing my frustration levels today

oh well, what I figure I'll do is this: next Saturday on my way to Utrecht (to help my parents fix up and fit out my little brother's dorm room) I'll swing by Sliedrecht with the light and see if they can't repair it/give me a new one on the spot (which I very much doubt they will). Next stop Ikea Utrecht to buy the light I wanted from the very beginning (ah, Ikea, how do I heart thee) *fingers crossed the darn thing is still in stock by that time* which I will then later affix to the ceiling and when/if I get the repaired light back I'll put it far back in storage and do my best to forget about it (and the € 150 I spent on it, not including petrol, at least I got my diningroom table at 2/3 of the price out of that trip).

and in the meantime I'll spend my Sunday eating chips and ice cream in my lovely wonderful loveseat with my sweet and dear laptop whilst reading Due South and Smallville porn until I finally work up the discipline (hah!) to start writing one of my getfraserlaid smut fics, all three of which have now been plotted out entirely in my head to the point thinking on them any more (as opposed to writing them) will up the pun percentage to an acceptable level*




It's good to have a plan.

Tags: home
Current Mood: frustrated
Current Music: Sarah McLachlan - Stupid

Last week I bought this great dining room table lamp for above my brand spanking new dining table, and although my dad's coming next weekend, today I thought... Hey, I've got a power drill, and a set of screw drivers, how hard can this be?

Three hours later the light is hanging, it's even all connected and powered up!

It just doesn't work though.

*headdesks*

It did! It has three light bulbs, and when I'd just gotten everything attached and hooked up I screwed one in and the light worked! But when I added a second there was "pop" and bye bye light. I hope I haven't killed it. I unscrewed the light, but couldn't find anything wrong with it, and by that time it was getting on nine pm and probably not the smartest time to be working on electricity. *wibbles*

I'm sure my dad will be able to revive it (and otherwise that things going back to the store, I've still got the receipt. somewhere).

*sigh of the thwarted self-empowered d i y grrl*

Tags: home
Current Mood: disappointed
Current Music: Don't tell mom the babsitter's dead on tv

I just finished watching Some Like It Red and Asylum (prep work and getting in the right frame of mind for my getfraserlaid fics) and was once again struck by what a brilliant show this was (and is) and how much I heart Fraser, the Rays and Turnbull.

love the dialogue and the characters, little things you only notice when re(re)watching the shows:

In SLIR, when Fraser and Ray are driving in the Riv, Fraser points out that E. Ness is engraved in the gun and Ray gets snippy, wants it back, Fraser pauses and then gets all obnoxious about Tuktoyaktuk and Runamukluk, so obviously on purpose.

And Asylum, what's not to love about this episode? Aside from all the RayK/Fraser goodness (and the opening RayK/Volpe pat down, oh yeah baby) there're the Fraser/Turnbull vibes! The two of them working red tape together, the broken bathroom conversation, Fraser concurring on Turnbull's admiration of a Beretta!

*silly happy grin*

Tags: ds
Current Mood: cheerful
Current Music: George - Fortunate Smile

When I first started reading it was comics all the way and in particular whichever Tin Tin and/or Asterix I could borrow from the library bus back in the little village we lived in Oz. Then we moved to Holland and I can honestly say I learn most of my Dutch reading weekly episodes of Donald Duck and all the Suske en Wiskes I could get my greedy little paws on. The Dutch comic scene is fertile and funny! De Familie Doorzon, everything by Hein de Kort, and of course there's the translations from the French/Belgian scene: De Kleine Robbe, Stefan, enzovoort, enzovoort... I (re)discovered the English comic scene. Far Side. And do I even need to mention the everlasting genius that is Calvin and Hobbes? I thought not.

Then of course I disocvered internet. So let me share some random recage of my daily/weekly dosis of webcomics

Over the Hedge
I started reading OTH sometime in 2001 (or maybe 2000) when it was still... funny. It's definitely jumped the shark since then (as probably evidenced by the fact that they haven't released anymore books since the third one, other than the movie, of course - and casting William Shatner was brilliant *g*) so I'm mainly reading this one out of nostalgia.

Get Fuzzy
How do I adore Get Fuzzy? Let me count the ways: one one thousand, two one thousand... I've got all the books and am eagerly awaiting the next one (hoping there will be a next one). Gotta love the Bucky.

Pearls before Swine
I only discovered this one in December last year, but have been reading it faithfully since (and have bought all the books). Bringing in the Crocs was comic genius, although my favourite character/story at the moment has to be Guard Duck.

Something Positive
Did I ever mention I love my humour dark and black as I can get it? I discovered SP sometime end 2003 I believe, one of you linked to an HP episode, and I spent the next day reading the entire archive. It's dark, it's funny, it's good, try it. Trust me.

Two Lumps
I followed a link from Something Positive. And I was hooked. So many favourites, but I do so love Eben and Snooch doing The Scream.

Bob the Angry Flower
Another webcomic discovered via Something Positive. What can I say about Bob? It's weird, it's absurd, it's bizarre. I like it. My absolute favourite has to be Crisis! which has been my desktop image for months until being replaced by a hot hot hot picture of Kowalski/Fraser goodness (well, nothing can beat that).

Lió
Pantomine comic that I stumbled on by accident and immediately added the lj feed to my friendslist. Just my type of humour.

Next two (very well known and popular) Dutch comics (that, very handy, also have English translations).

Sigmund
Sigmund is a misanthropic midget psychiatrist with one eye who graces the daily funny page of De Volkskrant. Hilarious. Try Sigmund in English.

Fokke en Sukke
or Duck and Birdie as they're called in English, are a canary and a duck with foul mouths and often equally coarse humour. This one definitely comes with a parental advisory warning. Not for those easily offended.

And finally, my latest discovery (via Fokke en Sukke), Seamour Sheep, which only has 6 episodes so far but does look promising.

---

What webcomics do you read? And why? Share the comic love (what better way to take two minute breaks at work or squander the last Holiday Saturday with, right?)

Tags: comics, recs
Current Mood: lazy
Current Music: Something for Kate - Kaplan/Thornhill

So... my bed. *grin*



My holiday in Sweden was fun. A good group (ten participants (6 women, 4 men, of which 2 couples and age range was begin twenty to halfway through thirty) and the walk was challenging (especially when walking with 10-14 kilos on your back) but very much doable. I was a bit worried they'd all be experienced walkers and I'd be left trailing behind, but far from it: I was walking about fifteen to thirty minutes ahead of nearly the entire group (am notoriously bad at modifying my speed to other people) with one of the guys and one of the other women. No running water or electricity, so in the evening we'd go swimming in Swedish lakes (cool!) or little brooks (cold!) near the stugor. I was very much reminded why I loath camping: midnight trips to the toilet. During the walk this was an outhouse about fifty meters away from the camping site/stuga along a narrow path and the stench! *shudders* But roughin' it is part of the game I suppose, and you really REALLY appreciate indoor plumbing and your kick-arse wonderful four poster bed when you get home, believe you me!

( the obligatory holiday photos )

---

I am currently at my parents (will be posting this when I get home this evening) to pick up the parakeet (Thor) because they're leaving for Portugal this weekend and with my Douglas (the no-hoper younger brother) finally moving out to go study in Utrecht, somebody has to take care of the birdie.

Works starts next Monday (eep, a little over four days holiday left, the time, it flies so fast!) and I've still got to get started writing my getfraserlaid fics. Today. This evening. At the very latest tomorrow we'll get a start on my "Some like it red" F/K smutfic. I haven't written in so long (nearly a year and a half now, I think) it's hard to get started. *but nods in determination that she will finish at least one of her three ficlets before next week's deadline.

---

In the meantime I've been reading fic again, and would like to share a few recs:

Invisible Man
aka_arduinna has posted a wonderful Masterlist of all and everything Invisible Man (yay!), which helped me stumble across a few more Darien/Bobby fics I hadn't found yet. In particular let me draw your attention to Blinding Lights by xanphibian which is an AU ending for Money for Nothing and so definitely hits all my buttons.

due South
I do so love good (and even the not so good) Turnbull/Kowalski fics. I love the fics that portray Renfield true to the show: quirky and weird and so very much a mountie; and fanon!Renfield is such a guilty pleasure. One for each:

An Unlikely Story by Elaine Walker
Renfield has a confession to make. Brilliant. Funny. Yay Renfield!

Close Encounters of the Third Kind by Marcella Pollman
Canada (and Fraser) didn't turn out what Ray'd hoped them to be. Frannie suggests he visit poor Turnbull in the hospital. One thing leads to another. A definite rereader.

---

Smallville

On a sidenote: anybody on my f-list into Smallville? Anybody have any idea what's up with the Smallville Slash Archive? A few months ago I read a fic there (the entire world's stuck in a timeloop and Clark's the only one who is aware of it, lovely long and (just) angsty (enough) fic) which I would dearly love to reread. If anybody's got a link or knows the title/author or something.... *ingratiating smile*)

ETA: thank youohevet_likro: it is now the Smallville Slash Archive.net
and muchos gracias to koneko_meow for revealing that the fic I was looking for is Smalville Day by ballisticliz

Tags: ds, holiday, home, im, lom, recs, sv
Current Mood: lethargic
Current Music: Keane - She has no time

my three week's holiday has begun (and been underway for a little over three days now) and i'm just now starting to get used to being at home and not having to go to work. i had to spend monday morning (only three hours, so not too much) at work still: finish off a high court advice and respond to an email my brazilian client sent me, and then it was home home home!

and i didn't do anything the rest of the day apart from snack and read dS fic and play settlers IV. /happy sigh

anyhoo, tomorrow morning i'm off for a ten-day group holiday to Sweden. I'll be going to the Dalarna region (west and slightly north of Uppsala) and go hiking for five days (90 km) through the woods and whatnot. I'm really looking forward to it. all my stuff is packed in the brand new backpack I bought on Tuesday: just under 14 kgs. It doesn't feel too heavy, but I'm sure that's gonna change after lugging it around on my back for a few hours....

the weather's got me a bit worried though... they're predicting just under 20 degrees celsius (which isn't too bad if you're hiking) but rainshowers too! eep! *goes off to spray her hiking boots waterproof and doublecheck that her raincoats packed*

i'm taking four books (two Dresden novels by Jim Butcher and parts two and three of Chaz Brenchley's Outremer trilogy), but more importantly: a writing pad to write the three getfraserlaid fics I've taken upon myself to write... 2 pairings, 3 povs, and lots of smut. i've got the f/v and the "some like it red" f/k all plotted out in my head, but need to watch asylum again this evening for inspiration on the asylum f/k.. it's a tough job, but somebody's gotta do it *nods*

(and i might even write some hp fic - unearthing my writing journal i discovered the start of a fic that i'd really love to finish, sort of my goodbye to hp fandom)

See y'all in 11 days!

(oh, and my big arse four poster bed? sleeps wonderfully! (horizontally, vertically, diagonally (?), all that space just for me! and the curtains yay! photos will be posted when i'm back from Sweden)

Tags: book, ds, holiday, home, hp
Current Mood: relaxed
Current Music: Tripod - Jizmo's Requiem