Where did May go? Didn't it just start? :o As usual I'm ambivalent about the recent summer weather. Part of me loves it, another part hates the heat, hates sweating, hates sunblock... But for now it's new so I'm mostly enjoying it. Remind me of that in August, when I'm just waiting for it to go away.
Books: This month I've technically read six books, but considering that four of them are part of a larger whole. I'll say it's really just two and a half books. My favourite this month is my second Alice Cooper biography. This one he was in on writing himself, and so it felt much more personal and earnest. Everything mentioned in the first biography was explained more in detail (which is funny because the first book is bigger). I've never been a fan of biographies before, but that's really starting to change.
Music: For May I loaded my iPod with music by bands/artists who are coming to Sweden Rock this year as a sort of preparation. Lordi is coming, and just like that I've rediscovered my love for them. But I've also been playing other things. Here's my top ten of songs in May (you'll see I've been looping Lordi):
• Lordi - "Monsters Keep Me Company" & "The Riff"
• Avril Lavigne - "Hello Heartache" & Sixx:A.M. - "Skin"
• Lordi - "It Snows in Hell" & "Beast Loose in Paradise"
• Lordi - "The Children of the Night" & Nightwish - "Last of the Wilds"
• Lordi - "Evilyn" & Sixx:A.M. - "Life is Beautiful"
Games: I don't know :P I completed the story of the DLCs in ESO this month and for now I'm feeling pretty done with it. But I'll probably pick it up soon again as the new DLC released today on PC and in two weeks on console. But I also completed my first major quest mod in Skyrim and I played the first Portal. I'll go with ESO again this month. I did play that the most anyway :)
Tv shows: This month has been mostly about X-Files and Buffy for me. I have this whole 20th century thing going on with TV shows, but it's mostly focused around the 90s xD Both of them are big time favourites!
Other things: There was ESC this month, which was awesome :D And I also enjoyed the work trip to the Royal Stables and Jamie's Italian. And today there was another work trip to another museum - The Nordic Museum, which was very interesting, but I don't have any pictures from that so I direct you to their website.
When I got back into ESO again three DLCs had been released since last time: Imperial City, Orsinium and Thieves Guild. While I haven't tried Imperial City (PvP based 4 person group dungeons with all the elements of ordinary group dungeons + the added danger of getting ganked by enemy players sounds like mayhem to me), I have basically completed the other two. I waited until I had completed the base game and gotten to max level before I started on any of the DLCs, due to the fact that post-game solo content is so rare and I wanted to have something to do once I hit max (besides group content and PvP). So here are my thoughts of Thieves Guild and Orsinium.
I started with Thieves Guild, the only reason for that was because I needed Rubedite ore/ingots to create my new max level armour and a guildie told me the best place to farm that was in Hew's Bane - the Thieves Guild DLC zone. So off I went to meet Quen on the Woodhearth docks. Quen gave me a proposition to steal a valuable item (trying to be vague here) from a nobleman. I went along with her and was immediately introduced to the rules of the DLC. 1). You should be sneaking all the time as long as your stamina allows. 2). Hiding places are heaven sent. 3). There are simply too many guards in this game. 4). Someone should make a law against guards carrying lanterns. When you sneak you see blue circles around the guards carrying lanterns, if you enter one of those circles you immediately lose your ability to sneak. No matter how accidental it may be. To me the beginning of this DLC was hell. I hadn't invested any skill points into the skills that would help me with sneaking, and so I was spotted several times before I actually managed to get inside the place where the item was. After a small prisonbreak mission I finally arrived at Hew's Bane, the peninsula of Hammerfell. And while the early quests were a bit troublesome for me without the correct skills, I soon caught on.
I loved the characters and the story quests. Walks-Softly quickly became my favourite out of all of them. I had a lot of fun running around trying to complete Kari's Hit List, and the daily heist quests are pure adrenaline. The tip board quests get a little repetitive seeing as there are only five of them that circle round. The daily requisition quests are worth going for, especially if you're a crafter. The requisition areas are usually around the world bosses, and these ones don't kid around like the ones in the base game - you can't defeat these ones on your own (unless you have an extremely OP build and can one-shot boss enemies of your own lvl). But the bosses almost always drop a part from the Outlaw crafting style. No need to worry, though, as there are plenty of people around in the DLC zones (it actually gets crowded, which rarely happens outside the starting zones in the base game - now I know where all veteran leveled players went). All you need to do is shout in the zone chat and people will show up. Maybe they have a requisition quest, or maybe they're just farming the crafting style or the XP. Doesn't matter, they'll get there.
The main quest proved to be both gut-wrenching and heart-warming and I really enjoyed it. The personal quests of the characters were also really amazing and I kept coming back to do tip board quests so that I could lvl up my Thieves Guild rep and help my new friends some more.
The only thing I haven't done in this DLC is the Maw of Lorkhaj, a new Trial, which is a 12-person group dungeon basically. I don't know enough people to fill a group and it's too much trouble to find 12 random people :P
But apart from a few hiccups in the beginning this DLC was amazing. I loved it, and I actually missed it when I finally moved on to Orsinium.
Orsinium needed a lot more time before I became invested in it. Even more so because the zone chat there is incredibly confusing unless someone explains it to you. It's all "+nyz", "+poa", "+ogre", "+edu" etc... Turns out those were all shorts for world bosses. There are two daily quests there that requires you to kill a world boss (+ some stuff around the area of the boss) and the rewards sometimes contains parts of the Malacath crafting style, and like in Hew's Bane you can't really do these bosses alone. There are only 2 daily quests per person, but people work around this by creating groups and the sharing the quest with the group. So you can actually do more than two a day. So all of those calls in the zone chat were basically people asking to be added to a group doing a world boss.
But back to the story, it wasn't until the second half of the main quest line that I started to become invested in it, and after that it was mostly because I completely adored the Bosmer part-time companion Eveli Sharp-Arrow :3 Towards the end of the quest line came a plot twist that I really didn't expect and that helped making me invested in the DLC. The accompaniment of Eveli and the final heartbreaking quest of the main quest line helped this DLC immensly.
Orsinium also has a thing like Kari's Hit List where you collect artifacts for the House of Orsimer Glories, and that was fun once again :P The DLC also includes daily delve quests, where you go inside a delve and complete it and bring a quest specific item back with you. Since I basically explored the whole map before I even found the daily delves, I didn't really bother with them. I'm not a fan of going through a place again that I've already been just recently.
You got to reencounter a few people from the previous base game zones in Orsinium, which was a lot of fun - like Kireth & Raynor Vanos and Rigurt the Brash who were all throughout the Ebonheart zones, and Skordo the Knife and Lady Laurent from the Daggerfall zones.
As of this post, the only things I haven't done in Wrothgar (the Orsinium DLC zone) are the two public dungeons and the Maelstrom Arena. I've gone halfway through the Arena and it went well enough (apart from my over-consumption of health potions), and I'm planning to do the pub. dungeons with a friend at some point or other so that will change.
I probably have a worse opinion on Orsinium because I never liked Orcs or the Forsworn, while I loved the Thieves Guild in both Oblivion and Skyrim. So my heart was in it from the beginning with Thieves Guild DLC, while my interest was really low for Orsinium.
After I had completed Skyrim two times and started a new game about six times in total, I decided that I was done with vanilla. Skyrim was still my go-to game when I don't feel like playing anything in particular, but still feel like playing, so I decided to mod it. Mostly I have graphic enhancers (after Witcher 3 Skyrim looks outdated T_T), but I also added a few things like ghosts in the Dwemer ruins since I kind of liked having ghosts there in Morrowind. But to get new content I decided to get some fanmade quests.
Following Mercer was the first quest mod I downloaded. It's a small thing that ties in nicely with the Thieves Guild quest line. It's just one quest but it's one hell of a ride! Basically, when you break into Mercer's house you find a note in the basement (easy to find, it's right next to your Thieves Guild objective) that gives a hint on where Mercer has hidden everything he stole from the guild. I decided to follow this quest before finishing the vanilla quest line. Throughout the quest you get 5 clues at different locations, and you also have a secondary objective to collect plans for each of the Holds. First off is Irknthamz, a Dwemer ruin with a few surprises. After comes two caves (one with an entrance to Mercer's cabin) and a fort. Most of them are pretty small locations except for the Dwemer ruin in the beginning. Due to the content of the locations I may recommend completing the Thieves Guild quest line before completing the mod - but if you already know how the Thieves Guild quest line ends and have played it before it doesn't really matter. Though the fluidity of the mod may work better if you follow Mercer after the showdown at Irkngthand. Anyway - lots and lots and lots of riches, good fights, and it's also very lore friendly.
Falskaar was one quest mod that I really looked forward to. It's in the top 5 of Top Rated (All Time) in quest mods on Steam Workshop, and it really lived up to my expectations. Fully voice acted, with 26 new quests, lots of new items (loved the recipes, and there's a new house!), several new bard songs (loved them), two new spells, and a new shout. All in all the mod promises 20-30 hours of gameplay and it delivered. The voice acting is semi-professional, but there were a few characters I just couldn't stand listening to xD The mod also included cut-scenes (which is rare to non-existant in vanilla Skyrim), its own soundtrack, and the ending video made me think of Fallout 3.
Spoiler warning on the last video
Falskaar is an island outside of Skyrim that's basically its own country. It has three Holds: Amber Hold, Falskaar Hold, and the impassable Northern Hold. Basically the story tells of a group of Nords who came to Falskaar many generations ago and settled there. Hjalmar was the one of founded the settlements and declared the island their new land, but the land was harsh until Olav discovered a way to make it liveable. Because of this Olav's family, the Borvaldurs, became the ruling family of Falskaar, which rubbed Hjalmar's family, the Unnvaldrs, the wrong way. This supposed injustice has been the issue for several civil wars throughout the island's history, and now it's time again. Yngvarr Unnvaldr is looking to overthrow Agnar Borvaldur and claim the mythical Heart of the Gods, and the Traveler (that's you) must help stop him. Along the way you help several of the inhabitants of the island, and there's also a semi-Deadric quest line involving dream shards originating from Vaermina.
The most memorable moment for me was when I entered a cave while exploring, thinking it would just be an ordinary small cave. I have never been so mistaken in a game. The small cave turned into a huge Nordic tomb, which in turn morphed into a Dwemer ruin. When I emerged into an ice cave at the end of the Nordic tomb I thought I was done in there - then I noticed the Dwemer architecture sticking up in the ice. The ice tunnel led to a Nordic tomb front with Dwemer elements, where draugr and automatrons where fighting on the steps (that was cool). After having passed the draugr and automatrons the tomb completely turned into a Dwemer ruin. It felt like it went on forever, so when I got out of there - finally - I felt so relieved xD
The side quests included a lot of fast-travelling back and forth, but the main quest line gave me heartache several times. Emotional reactions is always a good review! Falskaar was amazing and I definitely recommend it to anyone who plays.
Two days ago I was invited with work to do some things in Stockholm. First off was a private guided tour of the Royal Stables, which proved very interesting (and the information is potentially something I could use in my writing later). Secondly we went to Jamie Oliver's restaurant in the fancy part of Stockholm, where the food was so delicious I was so full I felt like dying when we left.
At the Royal Stables we started off in the - you guessed it - the stables. The stables have been around since the 16th century apparantly, but the buildings we have today were built in the 19th century. Before the introduction of cars the stables used to have over 200 horses, today there are 16. We were also told that Sweden is one of four states in Europe who still have their Royal Stables, the others have been disbanded in favour of cars. Kind of sad imo. The horses are only used during ceremonies. For everyday transport they have cars like everyone else. One of the horses liked to nibble at people, which he showed immediately by nibbling at the coat of a colleague and when she moved away tried to reach far enough to nibble at the guide.
Mr. Nibbles in the left picture.
One portion of the Stables is a garage today, and while we're not showed the modern cars (because they look like any car you see on the street), we were shown the only two old cars left. One from the 50s and one from the 60s.
Then we moved on to the horse carriages. I immediately recognised the centrepiece of the room :P And we were told stories of all of them. We were also shown an old carriage that are not used today because it has never had any brakes installed. The only brakes for that carriage were the poor horses. It was fairly obvious that it wasn't being used even before we knew the reason - the carriages used today had rubber on their wheels, while the ones who aren't still had the original iron.
After an amazing fika with delicious muffins we started moving towards the restaurant. But not before we realised that princess Estelle and crown princess Victoria were at the Stables riding. I felt really cool to see them IRL tbh. Since we were 50 minutes early to the restaurant we decided to go to a bar nearby and have a beer before going to the restaurant. When dinner started at 6pm we had no idea what to expect. It started off with a selection of antipasti, which really felt like tapas Italian style. Proscuitto, mortadella, salami, roasted vegetables, buffalo mozzarella, root vegetable salad with yoghurt and mint, and little crackers with cheese and chili marmalade. All of it absolutely amazing. We were then presented with three main courses: carbonara, a vegan pasta dish with tomato sauce and vegan cheese, and a truffle risotto with gorgonzola. The carbonara and the risotto were absolutely amazing. I wasn't a fan of the vegan dish though others liked it, and I forgot to take a picture of the risotto. Then there were a bunch of desserts to try: brownie with caramellised popcorn, cheesecake, triamisu, and another thing which name I've forgotten. All positively delicious. Loved the cheesecake as always, but could've eaten a lot more of the brownie too if it wasn't so thick and I was so full. My plate during the desserts gave me a flashback to Sweets Paradise in Tokyo :P
And that was the whole evening. We decided to walk to our respective metro stations as well as the central station to ease the pressure of the food. I was home around 10.30pm and immediately sat myself down in front of the computer and played ESO until 4.30am. Oops ^^;
So now that that's out of the way, here are my thoughts of this year's show.
I only watched the semis half-heartedly, just to get a hum of what was going on, what the countries were doing and who would qualify for the final. And also to see the hosts and the usually funny opening and interval acts :) I was a little sad to see that no other Nordic countries qualified (that must be a first, right?), but then I thought that hopefully that would mean we'd get 12s from all of them since now they couldn't vote on each other :3
Yesterday I was ready in front of the TV with a big bowl of popcorn and Coca-Cola, and with my phone and all the social media (Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr for me). I had been on a buzz all day waiting for the show :3
I couldn't understand why the world was so hung up on Russia and Poland and Australia. Fair enough, Australia had the most polished number of the bunch and it somehow came off as the most professional one. Russia had the coolest stage show but the song was seriously boring - totally flat voice fromt he singer imo. And Poland had... a good-looking guy dressed in something inspired by British military uniforms from the 18th century? If you're looking for stage shows, though, along with Russia, Germany and Italy were the most memorable. (And honestly, Italy's song is growing on me.)
I wasn't expecting Sweden to win again. Winning two years in a row seems implausible no matter how good the song is, and this year (imo) we had a song that takes a few listens before you actually really enjoy it. The first time you hear it it's kind of bland. So I didn't expect Europe to get it on their first try. We did well, though, a fifth place! (And apparantly If I Were Sorry is now the most downloaded song of all of them all over the world - so take that!)
Justin Timberlake was invited to perform a song during the voting period, because for the first time the show was being broadcast in the US. I had a hilarious time on Twitter reading Jesse Cox's (an American let's player on youtube) tweets. He was watching it for the first time and didn't understand squat.
Justin didn't go over great though. He mostly looked like "where tf am I?" and people on Twitter called him Justin Timberlame and Justin Toiletbreak. And while I thought most songs this night was boring by Eurovision standards, Justin's performance was so generic that it made all the boring Eurovision songs seem good.
The real stars of the night were the hosts. I loved the opening act of semi 2 (a Eurovision themed version of My Favourite Things) and the interval act of the final was just as amazing. How do you get the ultimate Eurovision song? The Swedish hosts are here to show you! This interval number included basically everything I missed in this year's show - including previous winners Alexander Rybak and Lordi :D (Just look to the neighbours for prominent Eurovision guests to invite for the number).
Then there was the voting, which was all messed up this year. Well, messed up in Eurovision. The system they have converted ESC into is the same system we've used for the Swedish selection competition for years. But it screwed up ESC! Sitting through the results was always one of the highlights of the show. Now we get a quick view of the points and a member of the jury handing out a 12. It was over before it hardly even begun. And since it was jurys handing out the 12s and they're supposed to be unbiased, there was no longer any bittersweet joy in guessing which country would give a 12 to which. And then the people's votes were delivered in bunched points so there's no way to know how many 12s they got. The 12s are sacred! I want to watch them being delivered and being bitter about Finland giving their 12 to Russia instead of Sweden. All of that was taken away by the new system. Everyone hates when the neighbours vote on each other, but it's become a tradition. I want it. And then the results were all messed up. The jurys gave the most points to Australia - so according to the jurys Australia was the winner of ESC16. The people gave the most points to Russia - so according to the people Russia was the winner of ESC16. And then Ukraine ended up winning?! What the actual fuck?! O_o
I didn't like Ukraine's song. I know that it won because of the message. A song about her grandmother having to leave her country during WWII works well in today's Europe, where so many refugees now live having been forced away from their countries because of war. And some older generations may connect with that too because of older wars. It works. I get it. But the song wasn't good. Maybe I would've liked it better if I could actually hear her. (Actually, listening to the video on Youtube I could hear her better than on my TV - probably because the sound is closer to my ears in my headphones. I could grow to like it tbh.)
But for the second time in the last three years I've been living in Eurovision town. In 2013, when it was in Malmö I lived there. This year it was in Stockholm, and while I don't live there exactly I work there so I got to live Eurovision town again :D It's been great! Can we win again next year? The rest of Europe seems to think the same way judging by the comments section on YouTube:
All in all, a pretty good year where the hosts were more Eurovision than the competitiors. And it also had a wtf ending which is a nice change from most years where the favourite of the polls always seems to win. That I didn't like the winning song is beside the point. It made good TV.
And now the ESC nerd in me will go to sleep until May 2017.
Celebrating the Harry Potter day with a quiz I found ages ago :D 1. What house will you be in? Ravenclaw
2. If the sorting hat was on you and it said you'd be great in a house you didn't consider before, will you follow his advice or choose what house you want? At the age of 11 I was convinced I was a Ravenclaw. If the hat told me otherwise I'd still say I wanted to be in Ravenclaw.
3. What kind of animal would you bring to school? Do I have to bring one? I don't like cats. I don't like birds. And I'm not really a fan of amphibians either.
4. If you were in class, where would you normally sit? First row in the middle, or second row to the side, preferably next to the wall. Being next to a window gets uncomfortably hot when the sun's up.
5. What do you think you'll be doing right now? Probably studying somewhere or hanging out with friends.
6. What's the core of your wand? Unicorn hair, according to Pottermore.
7. Do you think you'll be part of the quidditch team? No. I'm crap at any and all physical activities.
8. Will you be part of any organization? Possibly. I was in several when I was younger, but I quit them all once I was a teen.
9. Will you go home during holidays? Yes.
10. Do you think you'll have friends from other houses? I'd like to think so, yes.
11. What will you pack for school? Books and notebooks. Lots of both. Also muggle pens. I've tried writing casually with ink. It's a bother.
12. How about when going home for holidays, what will you bring home? School books, and magical items and sweets.
13. Would you consider studying in another wizarding school? Considering what we know about the schools now, and answering this question as if I'm British and Hogwarts was my actual school. I'd still say maybe I'd try an exchange year at Mahotokoro in Japan. That would be cool.
14. Do you think you'll be a prefect or head girl/boy? I'd prefer to be neither. I'd probably be nominated though. I was good in school. But I hate responsibility and I don't like being the boss of crowds.
15. Are you going to be a pure-blood or half-blood or muggle-born? Half-blood or muggle-born.
16. Will you be related to any wizarding family? If I'm half-blood, well duh.
17. Will you be a student who gets into trouble a lot? Not to begin with. Poddibly during my last two or three years.
18. Do you think you'll get a lot of detention? For what reason/s? The only reasons I could think of would be skipping class and roaming around the school during night. I don't think I'd do it a lot, though.
19. On hogsmeade visits, what shops will you go to? Honeydukes. I also wouldn't be surprised if there's some kind of bookshop in Hogsmeade that Harry didn't notice because he's dense. So I'd probably hang out there a lot.
20. Will you be supportive of your house's quidditch team? Probably. On Hermione's level.
21. Will you read Hogwarts:A History? Of course!
22. Do you think you'll get a lot of letters from home? How frequent do you think you'll get them? Yes. When I was in Tokyo for 4 months my parents called me on Skype at least once every week. And I was 19 then. Imagine me being away for months at 11. I'd get letters back as soon as I'd written a reply :P
23. Will you subscribe to the daily prophet or the quibbler or other wizarding world media? Nothing at 11. Maybe at 16 or something I'd subscribe to The Daily Prophet. Never liked magazines.
24. Which part of the castle will be your favorite? The library.
25. When sleeping in your dormitory, will your four-poster bed's curtains be drawn or closed? Closed. Privacy, please!
26. If the team your house played against wins, do you think you'll be bitter towards the other team after the game? No. Sports aren't important enough to me :P I may be a little sad that we lost, but not bitter.
27. Do you think you'll be a fan of wizard music? Yes.
28. Will you be curious enough to try and explore the whole castle, even if you know you can get in trouble for visiting some parts of it? Yes.
29. How frequent will your visits to the library be? Possibly daily.
30. If someone was to form an organization similar to dumbledore's army, will you join? Yes.
31. If you were to get detention, what task would you prefer? Would you want to scrub cauldrons or clean trophies or sort through unlabeled books or…? Did you say books? Yes. That.
32. On your o.w.l.s, what subject/s will you get an O in? Which ones do you think you’ll get a T on? Answering realistically; seeing how I like to read I'd probably manage an O in History of Magic, despite Binns' lousy teaching. I think I'd be a decent student in most areas though. I never failed anything in muggle school :P
33. How about in your n.e.w.t.s? Same.
34. If you were a pure-blood, would you take interest in reading muggle literature? Yes. I'm curious by nature. I'd like to know about that weird culture :P
35. At what time do you think you'll go to bed on weekdays? Before midnight, but after 10pm.
36. Would you prefer firewhiskey over butterbeer? Never liked whiskey.
37. What wizard snack would be your favorite? Or which one would you like to try? Chocolate frogs and licorice wands. I'm not a fan of Jelly Beans, so I wouldn't want to try Bertie Bott's. But most other sweets described in PoA seem cool, and I'd like to try most of them :P
38. Will you collect chocolate frog cards? Yes.
39. Will you keep track of which flavor of beans you already tried? No. I wouldn't be in to them.
40. What quidditch team (excluding hogwarts houses) will you support? Quite possibly Holyhead Harpies.
41. What classes will you take for n.e.w.t.s? As many as possible tbh. I did try to max my points in high school. I'd probably do the same at Hogwarts,
42. What will your boggart be? If we're talking about the sort of fear that gives me nightmares, then something out of a Japanese horror movie, like The Grudge. If we're talking about actual life-ruining fears, then that everyone I love told me they want nothing to do with me anymore.
43. Will you stay in the hog’s head or the three broomsticks? Three Broomsticks.
44. If you are of age, will you try to enter the triwizard tournament if they ever host one again? No. I'm not suicidal.
45. What do you think happens during graduation? During? Probably the same as in the muggle world. You get your grades, your diploma, and you have some sort of party.
46. Will you see the thestrals carrying the carriages? Nope.
47. If you were invited to join the slug club, will you accept the invitation? Yes :P
48. Will you consider becoming a professor in hogwarts after school? No. I don't like talking in front of people. That's kind of imperative when being a teacher.
49. What would your patronus be? A rabbit, most likely.
50. What memory will you think of when making a patronus? I don't think I'd look for a specific memory. That's hard. I think I'd more likely think of a person or a place or an item that has made me very happy, and the memories associated with this thought would come on their own.
51. What year are you suppose to be in right now? I'm a 7 year alumn :P
Can't believe this month is already over! Where did it all go? :o Tonight's Walpurgis night so let's hope our bonfires scare the winter away and make room for spring. Sköna maj välkommen~~~
Books: I managed to complete five books in April. Only four of those did I begin to read in April. The last one was my breakfast book that finally came to an end. This month it's a tie. I can't decide which book I liked best out of Welcome to My Nightmare: The Alice Cooper Story by Dave Thompson and J.K. Rowling: The Wizard Behind Harry Potter by Marc Shapiro. So I'm gonna put both as this month's favourite!
Music: There's been so much ESO this month that most of the songs forever in my head have been the bard songs from ESO. Luckily they are very well-made (much more so than Skyrim's). Another favourite is an original bard song from the Skyrim quest mod Falskaar (which also is more professional than the base game's own songs). I've also found a new love for Three Days Grace.
• Elder Scrolls Online - "Stagger and Sway"
• Elder Scrolls Online - "Three Hearts as One"
• Elder Scrolls V: Falskaar - "Heart of the Gods"
• Three Days Grace - "I Am Machine"
• Three Days Grace - "Human Race"
Games: Do you need ask?
Tv shows: I discovered a new show a couple of weeks ago, that for some reason hasn't been able to leave my head. It's weird, because it wasn't amazing and it wasn't a new scenario, but it's still stuck in my head. Containment.
Other things: Hanami in Stockholm, and me and Toni celebrating our 4-years anniversary :)
This is the first volume in a Japanese manga series. It was really cool. This ordinary school boy gets accused of murdering his entire school class after being the only survivor of the onslaught of an entity only he could see. Because he's so young he's sent to prison for life rather than being sentenced to death. He comes to the prison called Deadman Wonderland, which has a very specific hierarchy, its own economic system, and if you don't take your meds you'll die. Definitely looking forward to reading more of this series!
2. Welcome to My Nightmare: The Alice Cooper Story, by Dave Thompson.
The first biography I've ever read. It was really cool, actually! In the beginning it was kind of slow, because I already knew all that about his religious ties in the family, and how he moved around a lot as a child. The fun part started when the band that formed on a whim in high school started trying to get signed. So many ups and downs. I felt really tiny there for a while, because the author listed all the bands they were up against that were really cool and popular in the 60s when they started out - and I knew maybe 1/4 of them... But the most interesting part was that while this biography treated Cooper's musical career it also told the story of how the musical industry has changed from the 60s all the way until recently. I'm young enough that I don't know any specifics of what the industry was like before the new millenium, but it seems like then and now are lightyears apart. I love how Cooper's managed to stay with the times, like he still keeps the feeling from the original band, but the tunes change with the times (I give you some songs to compare). I'm really looking forward to reading his other biography as well!
1970s - Ballad of Dwight Fry. 1980s - Poison. 1990s - Lost in America. 2010s - Last Man on Earth
3. Dragon Age: The World of Thedas, vol 2.
Honestly, I started reading this book on January 2nd. But it's such a big book that I wouldn't be able to bring it with me on the train, so this book was banished to be my breakfast reading, and since I only have about 10-20 minutes a day (and work days only) to read for breakfast it took me over 3 months to finish. I wouldn't say that the second volume was as good as the first volume, but I still really liked it. It's a lot of background fluff for fans of the games, things that you may not know if you miss a comic, or a novel, or some piece of dialogue, or a codex entry. Everything we've ever been told about the world of Thedas is found in these two books. And they're so worth reading ♥
4. Tsuji-chan no Ribbon Days, by Nozomi Tsuji.
This is one of two books by her that I bought while in Tokyo. Back then I bought them both with the goal to be able to read them some day, because I certainly couldn't back then. Now I can! So to clarify: Tsuji Nozomi is a 4th generation member of Morning Musume. She started the group in 2000 and graduated in 2004. For 2 years she was in another group with her best friend, until her best friend caused a scandal that broke her (the friend's) contract and the group was disbanded. Tsuji continued with other activities until 2007, when it was announced that she was pregnant. She quickly engaged and married the baby's father, and for the next 1½ years nothing was heard from her. Then she showed up again. This book basically tells the story of her early life, how she came about auditioning for Morning Musume, some of her memories from that time, but mostly what happened after the press conference that announced her pregnancy and marriage. The book was released in 2009. I bought it in 2010, and since then she's had two more babies. Tsuji is one of my favourite members of the group, for her personality, voice and comedic talent. This book was very interesting and actually told me a lot I didn't already know :)
5. Non Piisu: Tsuji-chan no Hibi Smile, by Nozomi Tsuji.
The other book by Tsuji that I bought while in Tokyo. While the first book was very interesting and well worth a read, this one was a disappointment. Named after her blog, I should probably have realised already by the time I bought it, but this is simply a collection of her blog posts and photos collected under different headlines and transformed into chapters. Not a lot of text and not really in a format that I enjoy reading (seriously, Japanese blogging really "sounds" like a child speaking - no full sentences and lots, lots, lots of emotes). So I mostly skimmed through this one, read a few sentences here and there and looked at the pictures. I mostly enjoyed the cooking chapters ♥
So there we go :) Mostly positive this time around!
Every year since I got back from Japan (can't believe it's been 6 years!) I've missed hanami. It's not a big deal in Sweden so it's possible to miss it. But every year I've wanted to go. This year for the season, I have a job in the centre of Stockholm and the office is very close to the Royal Gardens. So this time I decided to take a trip there after work last week.
I was sort of disappointed tbh. There are one-day festivals of cherry blossom viewing at different places in Sweden too, and particularly at the Royal Gardens they tend to make a fuss as soon as the flowers bloom. But it was so small. I thought the whole place would be pink, instead it was just one corner of the area. Also it was Spring showers that day so it rained every five minutes.
Here are some pictures from the day:
The last picture is a shot of the whole area. Not very impressive, is it? Still, it was nostalgic to walk around the sakura again :3
For nostalgic purposes I'll also throw in one picture from each time we went hanami in Japan. There was more than one occasion!
First time (10-03-20) in Kyoto. Second time (10-03-30) at Meguro-gawa, Tokyo.
Third time (10-04-01) at the Imperial Palace, Tokyo. Fourth time (10-04-06) in Ueno, Tokyo.
Fifth time (10-04-25) just outside the metro station in Sakura shimmachi, Tokyo where I lived. Sixth time (10-05-03) at Namsan outside Seoul, Korea.
And also two songs that inevitably makes me think of those times we went hanami:
It really doesn't, but I wish it would. For the past 2-3 weeks I've been living and breathing ESO, which is also why my weekly posts died out.
I started playing a Skyrim quest mod called Falskaar at the end of last month, and while I was exploring I started to feel the need for ESO. I picked it up and continued on the character I created some weeks earlier. I had a lot of fun with it and decided to stick around, so I asked for any casual guilds in the chat. I got two hits very quickly. One was a very small guild with a very enthusiastic guildmaster, and as soon as he realised that I was a veteran in this game he made me second in command. I have a lot of fun with those guys :) The other was a big bustling trading guild with over 200 members. They are very active in the chat and we're always engaged in odd conversations (most recently I promised to tickle Molag Bal's belly when I took him down. Another night we learned that pizza is a vegetable, but also that it kills your soul). Chatting with those guys is now half of the fun I'm having. And I love not having to look in the zone chat for random people to do dungeons with - I just ask my guildies and 99% of the time someone is willing to team up. I used to avoid the group dungeons because I dreaded LFGing in the zone chat, now I volunteer every time someone mentions dungeons. For the first time in the two years I've played this game I've found guilds who are casual and fun. I don't like serious guilds who analyse everything, it takes the fun out of it imho.
And now I'm back to trying to talk my IRL friends into playing the game. I can't believe it's been two years and I still don't have any IRL friends who play. I can't believe I'm still trying to convince people two years later -_-
But hey, I'm having fun and I don't even mind that they keep calling me "he". I haven't been very obvious with me not being a guy. I've mentioned the boyfriend a few times now though, so I guess most of them have figured out I'm a girl, or they just think I'm gay. I don't mind either. And tbf I also assume that everyone I talk to is a guy before he says otherwise. They just tend to be mostly guys :P
Books: I managed to complete 7 books in March. Tbf four of them were manga volumes and thus didn't take too long to read although they were in Japanese. My favourite book from this month is easily the last book in the Hunger Games series: Mockingjay. Impossible to put down, I finished it very quickly.
Music:
• Tommy february6 - "Little Red Forest"
• The Pretty Reckless - "Burn"
• Simple Plan - "In"
• Three Days Grace - "Fallen Angel"
• Morning Musume - "One and Only"
Games: Half this month consisted of Fallout 4, the other half was Portal, ESO and Skyrim. I must still say that Fallout 4 was the best game of the month. None of the others made me feel withdrawal symptoms for being away from the game :P
TV shows: I've watched a lot of shows this month as per usual. But the best one is X-Files. Can't stop watching that show!
Other things: Easter was fun. I also saw the first butterfly of the year which was nice.
.jpg)
