Back

Well, after a few days, I´m back to blogging. Yay! Expect a "A day in the life of Laia" post tomorrow or so. I finally have the time and inclination! : 3 A cosplay one on my other blog as well....because tonight I´ll be working on Lady Thor.

Poster!!

In the morning, I received my Zelda videogame, which made me very happy. Then, this afternoon, to my surprise, there was another knock at the door. I found this waiting for me, nicely wrapped in a poster tube:

A promotional poster!! It´s absolutely golden and shiny and I love it! The game got sent by private courier, not regular postal delivery. Apparently, the poster was supposed to arrive along with the game, but since it was packed separately, ended up on another man´s delivery route.

I have no idea where I´ll hang it; maybe near my sewing machine, for inspiration. Most definitely not in direct sunlight, since I don´t want to be blinded. It really is astonishingly shiny; it looks like it was made out of beaten metal, instead of paper. Another marvel of technology?

Agh.

My brain...............................

................................is overheating.

Treats

I treated myself to a yummy snack today while taking a break from my studies (and watching an episode of Hotaru no Hikari).

They´re FritoLay´s "Chips for wine" series. Specifically, thye´re "Tandoori Chicken and Lemon" flavor. They´re delicious.

Wickedly spicy, with that tangy aftertaste that lemons leave. I definitely will be buying more one of these days, they´re just the right amount of spicy-tangy that´s hard to find.

Book review: "Wintergirls" by Laurie Halse Andersen

My first book review!! I wanted to start off with something a bit different than my usual reading selections. I decided on the book "Wintergirls", written by Laurie Halse Andersen.

Wintergirls is a story about an 18-year-old high school senior girl named Lia, and her friend Cassie. They´ve been friends since elementary school but, in the last year, haven´t spoken to each other. Both Lia and Cassie developed eating disorders--Lia is anorexic and Cassie bulimic--and due to the tensions that developed, Cassie broke off her firendship with Lia. Despite their estrangement, Cassie calls Lia 33 times on the night of her death, and Lia never answers. Throughout the book, Lia's guilt, her need to be thin, and her fight for acceptance call out to us readers in an amazingly touching (and even heart-rending) first-person narrative.

She´s smart, she hides things: no-one suspects that she´s fallen back into the "bad habits" that sent her to the hospital in the first place. Throughout the book, there are words that are crossed out, fonts that are bigger or smaller, repetitive chants that she tells herself, even blank pages that really make you know what she´s thinking, doing, going through: conflicting emotions, hating herself, hating her body, wanting to shout out for people to listen but stopping herself and keeping the distance that she needs to keep up her charade that everything is alright.

This book has really called out to me. The topic of anorexia and bulimia is close to my heart, as I suffered eating disorders as a teen, caused by something nearing a social phobia. I saw a classmate of mine trying to hide this very same condition from everybody around her.

Lia´s a main character that you can easily relate to, even if you haven´t lived an eating disorder. Her inner conflict, the things she wants and says she doesn´t....we can all relate to that.Who hasn´t been a teenager? Though the anorexia is a part of Lia´s story and problems, it doesn´t stop there...it´s also a story about her relationships with everyone around her, and how she has to learn to accept herself as she is and stop trying to be what all of the people around her expect her to.

The most tense and gritty moments for me were those in which you see Lia´s internal battle with wanting food and convincing herself she can't have it, that anything more than 500 calories a day is bad bad bad. How she tries and tries to reach "goal weights" that are lower and lower numbers, admitting that shéll never be satisfied. My heart clenched when she makes herself sick eating a cupcake once when she "loses control" because her body is too "used to broth" and anything other than the small amount of low-calorie and low-amount food that she permits herself, and accepts that as "punishment".

It´s a very had-to-read book. Not in the sense of the language used (which is actually very evocative and even poetic sometimes) but in the sense that there are a great deal of truly harsh situations throughout the book, and some people might find the stream of thoughts of an anorexic a bit difficult to face and absorb. It really drums in that anorexia is a mental disorder that affects eating habits. It´s definitely not a "frivolous read".

That said, I´d absolutely recommend this book.

Things I want....for Christmas!

I find that my wants this Christmas are pretty much videogame-based....

 Legend of Zelda 3DS 25th Anniversary special edition....with the Ocarina of Time remake included....

Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword special Edition pack, which includes a golden Wiimote, the game and the soundtrack CD..... (released yesterday in Europe)

A Wii (so I can play Skyward Sword).














 The latest Professor Layton game (released next Friday).













There are three videogames I fangirl and obsess over, in any shape or form: Legend of Zelda, Professor Layton, and Pokemon. It figures that two of the three would get important releases this Christmas. I might get lucky and get the Layton game as a gift, but as for the others.....I think I´m on my own (they´re too expensive for gifts)....and I´m definitely going to have to choose and prioritize...

Of course I´d still like to maybe get some clothes (scarves, mittens, thick socks, I love and need you so as not to freeze!), or maybe a gift coupon for the sales that start right before my birthday.....and I might get that watch I´ve been eyeing at the store. My old one is starting to fall apart. I mentioned something along those lines to my Mom, she might possibly remotely get the hint (or not. She rarely does.)....

I already know what I want to get everyone but my brother. I just need to go get the stuff. Christmas shopping trip planning, start!!

Cute and unlikely

People always say "Don´t slouch!" and "Walk with your head held up high!" and things like that. I agree that they´re important, but sometimes there are things you can only find when you´re wandering around, half in your own world, and looking at the ground.

Yep, it´s a hole in the pavement shaped like a heart. What are the odds?

Packages: Haul

I got three packages today; what are the odds that they all came at once?

Package 1. It had cute "candy tape" closing the envelope. 

Packages 2 and 3: From Yesstyle and Mysterious place #1. 








They had the following:

My leggings from Yesstyle. They all fit like I want them to, except for the purple ones--they´re low-waisted, and I really hate that, but I´ll survive. The red and green are too thin for winter, but I might try double-layering them for Christmas; it´d be fun and warmer. I´m totally in love with my grey leggings, they´re warm and have that really cool design on them. The polka-dots will look great with my ETC dress and the jeggings...I´ve always wanted.

I got my writing paper! Yaaaaay! So happy; Now I´ll be able to send lots of pretty letters. I had to control myself; I wanted to buy tons and tons since there are so many cute designs.....but in the end I had to admit that there´s more than enough paper, with 12 sheets per pack..... I got Christmas/winter, Alice, sorta-patchwork and rabbit writing papers. They got here really fast, despite having been sent via SAL....






The third package has Christmas gifts, so they´ll have to be kept secret for now, since I don´t want anyone (any friends, really) to see (on the offchance that they decide to read my blog NOW of all times, and blab).

On another note, I´m starting to think that it just might not be worth it for me to buy stuff from Yesstyle anymore.  Seriously, I got hit with a customs fee these last two times (I´ve ordered 3 times) that were equal to the amount I actually spent on the items! For example, I spent 30 euro on the leggings, and paid 26.42 in taxes!! Outrageous, I tell you!

This hasn´t happened to me at all either with my writing paper or with the gifts package. I refuse to pay what I figure I´m saving when I buy off that site in taxes.

The only difference is that the Yesstyle comes from Hong Kong (?) and the other two packages come from Japan.... and I shouldn´t be getting taxed on packages that are under 100 euros!!

A Hello Kitty......violin?

Today I came across something that was so cute and yet so strange that I couldn´t really believe it was real..... a Hello Kitty violin!!

Just when I thought that the Hello Kitty franchise had reached its limit...it goes beyond! A part of me is actually intrigued with this idea, to tell you the truth.....as it combines violins with HK.....naturally it´s not a real violin, but an electric toy violin, but still...

I wonder how many instruments Hello Kitty has branched out to? Real ones, I mean? I´ve seen real live HK guitars at a music store, honest-to-God-I-did. I even took pictures (I have them somewhere on my computer....). What will be next? Pink Hello Kitty pianos?

What do you think?

Closet Child Sale

Closet Child is having a 30% off sale again.......I have no idea until when it actually lasts. I´m not feeling motivated about it at all.

There´s nothing particularly pretty, which is sad. Nothing that catches my attention. Not that I´d spend it at the moment --I´m saving up to buy Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword and a Kenshin Figure for myself for Christmas/my birthday.

It´s still nice to look at pretty things, though. I really like pretty things, silly girl that I am.

If only there had been a BTSSB watch on sale....I´m always looking for one of those. :P I will eventually get one. They´re way too expensive unless they´re on sale (the last one I´ve seen on the site  is 9800 Yen=94.13 Euro=127.21 US dollars).

Myths and Farytales: Prince Hyacinth and the Dear Little Princess

One of the novels I´m currently reading is based on a particular old fairy-tale. I decided that, before continuing any longer, I wanted to read the origianl. Thank you Internet, thank you wikipedia!

I somehow ended up browsing though a great deal of fairytale summaries, but there was one in particular that caught my eye:  "Prince Hyacinth and the Dear Little Princess". It´s not very common to find a prince with a name like "Hyacinth". It´s even less common when the whole purpose of the action in the story is......for getting him to realize that he has an abnormally large nose!

 A picture of Prince Hyacinth, his nose and the Dear Little Princess.

It made me laugh, the whole situation and the lengths to which the Queen goes (to hide that her son´s nose is large) are so absurd. I suggest you check it out as well. Like all fairy tales, it´s not particularly long. You can find the story here, the same place which was the source of my image up there.

East of the Sun and West of the Moon is still my favorite, though. So romantic.

Reading review idea

I love reading. Whenever I can, I have my nose stuck in a book. They are my passion, the thing I am and always end up devoting more time to than I should.

I thought that, besides the occasional drama/other stuff review, I could write book reviews on my blog as well.

I generally read a lot of fantasy and science fiction novels, as well as books from those recently-coined genres such as "Paranormal Romance" and "Urban Fantasy". I also read other kinds of books as well, though--historical fiction, anyone? Myth-based fiction?

Do you think this is a good idea? I think it could be fun. Especially if I read some books that were recommended to me by you, my (few, but very much loved) blog readers.I´m willing to give almost anything a try.

Swedish sweets!

Recently, a Swedish sweet shop opened near the center of Madrid, almost next ot the metro station I usually take. I kept on telling myself that I should go, but never got around to it. Today, I remembered that I wanted to check it out, and decided to go while I was waiting for a friend to come and meet me.

It´s kind of expensive, as far as sweet shops go...but it had a lot of curious types of candy, including salted licorice (salted sweets!!! That´s so strange in my Spanish mind) . 

This is the bag I got. Cute, but I somehow wish they had other types of bags or cute Hello Kitty ones like I´ve heard of.....I got 7 euros worth of candy--meaning 200 or so grams of sweets and one "candy roll" (called "Center"--chocolates with a toffee center; my candy dream come true!!).

Here you can see the inside of the bag. Yummy candy goodness!

I´ve only eaten a few so far (and given some to my Mom and brother, who have an infamous sweet tooth), but my favorites are:

-Fruit-flavored bricks (upper right corner)
-Sour cherry (upper center)
-Fizzy lemon candy drops (buried under the huge cola)

My mom´s favorite was the giant gummy heart (partially blocked by the "Center" roll in the picture). A shame I only got one of those, it looked yummy, and she refused to share.

I can´t wait to try the rest! Some of the flavors are different from what I´m used to (the blueberry hard candy tastes a bit salty to me), but very delicious! I especially like the texture of the gummy candy. Maybe next time I´ll be brave enough to try the salted black licorice, hahaha.

Nail art: Pink sparkly stars

I love playing around with my nails. My favorite type of manicure is "french manicure". However, since I prefer to get that done instead of doing it myself (straight lines, bleh...., I generally try other things with my nails while at home.

Every few manicures,  I spend one week to a month with natural nails, so that they can "breathe" and recover from being painted and atacked by nail polish remover. I can really tell when my nails have had enough, they start looking darker or their surface roughens.

This time around, I decided to try wearing "nail stickers" on my nails. I decided that my theme would be "pink stars", since it has been awhile since I last painted my nails. I really wanted to use my hot pink nail polish. Everything went great....until I couldn´t find my last polish: my clear topcoat. I had to use my clear-with-silver-glitter polish as topcoat instead, which transfomed my theme to "pink sparkly stars".

The glitter somehow makes the nails hard to photograph--both in natural and artificial lighting, but I tried.

 Thumb.

 Shooting star on my index finger.

 Three-star chain on my ring finger.

General view of all of my fingers. 

I used the same pattern on both hands: big star on thumb, shooting star on index, big star on middle , three-star-chain on ring and big star on pinkie. A shame that the glitter doesn´t really show in the pictures: my nails are actually pretty darned sparkly.


What do you think, do you like them? My students certainly did! I actually had one of my girls ask to take a picture of them on her cellphone. What a pleasant surprise.

Recommended drama: Kimi Hannin Janai yo ne?

This Japanese drama is a must-see for those people who are interested in a drama that combines elements of mystery with doses of comedy.

"Morita Sakura is a peculiar "freeter" (freelance part-timer) who dreams of becoming a mystery novel writer. While switching between various jobs throughout the series, she also becomes an assistant to Officer Udagawa, a detective who discovers her excellent memory and reasoning skills. On the other hand, Udagawa (who has just joined the police ranks through his father's connections) is fairly inept and has a tendency to fall in love with female suspects." --Summary from Dramacrazy.net

It´s a fairly short drama (only 10 episodes long), suitable for anybody who doesn´t want to spend hours and hours in front of the computer or TV.

The cases are short and rather simplistic, but the funny situations and charisma of the two main characters (and even the supporting roles) make every episode enjoyable to watch.

Morita Sakura is constantly dressing up in different outfits and even cosplaying as she cycles through an apparently infinite number of part-time jobs. For those of us who like lolita, we get a little "wink" from the producers--she wears this fashion for a few minutes at the end of one of the earlier episodes.

If you´re a fan of hard-core reasoning detective dramas, you might find it a bit too frivolous. But for those of us who are looking for a hint of mystery, basic cases, detectives and some laughs, I definitely recommend "Kimi Hannin Janai yo ne?".

You can find more information about it and even episodes here, on Dramacrazy.net.

Letter from a friend

I love getting letters! I hadn´t recieved one in a long time.

I was so happy when I saw this in my mailbox on Saturday! It´s so rare to get mail delivered on a Saturday that it was twice as exciting!

It´s a lovely envelope and a lovely letter!! Expect my reply soon!

Book Hauls

A few weeks ago, I ordered some books that I thought I needed. They got here on Monday, to my surprise and delight. I love getting books in the mail.

I didn´t think to take a picture, but you should have seen my mailbox! It was so crammed with books that not a letter more could have fit in! Makes me wonder why the postman didn´t just ring the doorbell to give them to us, actually. Fortunately, it didn´t rain, and we usually pick up our mail right after the postman comes by, so they didn´t get even a drop of water on them.

To tell you the truth, I have our postman´s routes timed and calculated to a tee. He always comes by our house at 11am on the dot. For bigger packages, they (another pair of postmen in a truck instead of on a motorcycle) come by at 1pm or so. ^_^ You can´t tell at all that I love getting mail and/or packages, right? Hahaha.

I get along so well with one of our postmen that he even caught a package that had been mislabeled once (my house number is 36, and the label said 3). Showed up at my door with the package and said "This says three on it, not thirty-six, but I knew this one was yours, it´s from Japan!".

So, pictures of my books!!

 These 4 are from my "I-want-to-be-a-better-teacher" part of the haul. Almost exclusively for my Proficiency class: I want them to write better, as well as have extra grammar exercises for them. The last one, "Grammar for English Language Teachers" was recommended to me by two other teacher-friends. So I bought it, and it is admittedly quite thorough. Being more of an instinctive-english girl than a grammarian, I know that this will really help me explain in those lessons where I need to teach direct grammar. I´ve already used it for one class (yesterday); it was quite useful.

 

These other two books are from my "I want to enjoy life and hobbies somehow" section of the book haul. I couldn´t resist the "Dressmaker´s technique bible". I´ve only skimmed through a few pages, and I can already tell that it´ll be essential. It shows you from how to do seams  to how to distinguish cloth types. As for the "Historic costumes" book, it was on sale (nearly 50% discount!) and I thought it might be useful for the Three Musketeers clothes. So far, it looks like it focuses on English outfits and is a bit confusing.....but I´m sure that something can be salvaged from it as soon as I actually read it. There are a lot of dress patterns, so I might actually end up making myself a medieval dress sometime!

All in all, I´m really happy with my haul. The only problem now will be finding where to put them! I have entirely too many books on my shelves......

Of raincoats and rain

With the two whole days of almost nonstop raining, I´ve started wondering about how to protect oneself from rain. I mean, who likes to get cold and wet? Going out to dance in the rain is all good and well, but only if you´ve got the assurace that, as soon as it´s over, you can rush inside and take a warm shower, put on flannel pajamas and wrap yourself up in a blanket while sipping a hot beverage (preferably tea or cocoa).

When faced with the prospect of getting wet on the way to someplace, and actually have to go there and stay wet, my mind just insists on coming up with avoidance policies. Any way I can is valid, there is nothing quite as disgusting, in my opinion, as dirty and wet boots that squelch every time you take a step. My perpetually cold toes shiver even thinking about it, let alone living it. Thank you (not) Ireland for showing me this (not at all) delightful feeling.

So....what are ways to avoid getting wet? Perhaps I should just straight-out ask a cat, but instead I thought up a list:

1. The traditional method when you have nothing else: running into a store/other random place for shelter and wait for the rain to pass. Hey, at least it keeps your nice clothes from getting ruined.

 Whatever works. Bus shelters are so convenient in times like these.

 
2. A handy-dandy newspaper. Though of course, it´s only a temporary shield. You don´t want to end up with wet paper in your hair!

3. Rain boots. They keep your feet nice and dry!! They used to be available in only one color: ugly. Now that they´ve become fashionable, you can get yours in any size and/or shape! (even high-heeled water boots, to my surprise).

4. Rain bonnets. I first came across these in Ireland. They won´t keep your clothes dry, but at least your hair won´t be wet!!

5. Level up! Rain ponchos: widely regarded as an item that should only be limited to water rides in theme parks, this evolved version of the rain bonnet actually keeps you (pretty much) dry.

The invisible man never goes anywhere without his bright yellow poncho, as you can see.

6. Raincoats. While not (necessarily) a level up in coverage from rain, your average raincoat is a level up from a poncho in the sense of style. Raincoats actually have a shape and can evern boast a nice design.

These are some seriously cute raincoats.

7. Umbrellas. Who doesn´t own one? Or two? Or three? Portable or not-so-portable; sober black to wacky rainbow shades; one-person or multiple-person.....there are umbrellas for all kinds of people and situations. Well, no. Just one situation: rain. They´re great, but if it´s rainy and more than just a bit windy, you´ve got a problem.

 This umbrella is lovely; it´s printed with one of my favorite paintings: "Starry Night" by Van Gogh.


Out of all the choices, I personally prefer the raincoat (one with a hood) and rainboots to keep myself nice and dry. However, this is the Age of the Umbrella. You barely see any raincoats anymore (at least in Spain), which is kinda sad. Perhaps now that rainboots are back in style--I´ve seen several of my students wearing some today alone, when two years ago I wouldn´t have--the raincoat, its natural companion, will also return.

All I know is that I own a yellow raincoat (My school gave it to me on a sailing trip as part of the school uniform, hahaha) and am planning on buying some yellow rainboots to match--and I want to wear them soon. Will I have a chance? Probably. Even though I live in sunny Spain, we do get rain. Occasionally. Eventually. Hey, clouds, come back here!! Don´t leave now that I´ve started considering taking out the rain gear!!

Does it rain a lot in your country? What´s your preferred method of keeping the rain off you?

Finally, it´s time....

November 1st apparently signalled the end of "summer" in Spain. Our respite from cool weather and the rains that keep out country from droughts in summer (most years it´s a close thing) has officially ended. Today it has not stopped raining at all, past midday.

Let the rain and universal deluge begin!

November 1st: Dia de los Difuntos

 Halloween has become popular in Spain in more recent years....though it´s still very rare to see children trrick-or-treating or Halloween decorations in the US. Mostly, it´s an occasion for the kiddies to have fun dressing up and going to school and eating candy......and of course, older people nearer to my age (and that of my friends) consider this an opportunity in which to dress up (usually girls in skimpy outfits) and party.

I like Halloween, I really do. I still think it´s a shame that a lot of people are losing our own tradition from these days, though. You see, in Spain on November 1st we celebrate "El Dia de Todos los Santos" or "El Dia de los Difuntos" (All Saints Day or The Day of our Dead).

It´s a day which has traditionally been reserved to celebrate and honor our ancestors, visit their graves and lay flowers on them....generally, a day of quiet contemplation and reflection, remembering those who have passed. Sadly, year by year, there are more people here who forget this holiday in favor of Halloween. Silly when you think about it--the day we actually get the holiday on (it´s a National Holiday, in fact) is on November 1st, not October 31st.

This year I haven´t been able to visit my family´s graves. I can never visit all of them, of course--since I have relative buried both in Valencia and in Tarragona, and both places are quite apart--but I usually visit at least one of the cemeteries. This year, we didn´t go to Tarragona--my relatives from Tarragona came over to spend the long weekend. I thought I wouldn´t really mind not going, but somehow....I really missed it. I missed visiting the graves and wandering through the graveyard. Don´t get me wrong, I´m not a creepy person--but who can deny that a cemetery isn´t a peaceful place?

I still dedicated a while today to reflecting upon and remembering everyone.....especially my grandfather, who passed away before this summer (may he rest in peace).....but I really felt like I should be over there, cleaning the gravestones and laying flowers and maybe breaking some off from the bouquet and putting them on some of the really old graves that people don´t seem to visit. Just to show that someone remembers, even though I haven´t met or heard of them before.

My cousin said "It doesn´t have to be November 1st for you to visit their tombstones." But it does. because we´re so far away from the rest of the family that we don´t get to travel to visit whenever we want to--and graveyards have very strict opening times. In our small town, it only opens two days a week: wednesdays and sundays, for 3 hours each. They might be able to pop on down.....but we can´t. It always opens on the 1st of November, no matter what day of the week it is. We can visit.

Besides, it´s called "Dia de los Difuntos". It´s a day dedicated specifically to the dead. If that isn´t reason enough to pay them a visit, then what is?

Next year I´m definitely going, even if I have to take a train for 3 and a half hours. I´ve realized that I somewhat need to find that peace there to be at peace with myself. Some things are truly ingrained, I believe. My parents taught me this tradition, and I will honor it--and teach it to my children, and to my students. There are some things which should not be lost to the flow of time.