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Woo! I hope you all had a nice time!

I'm just back from Christmas at my parents house. It was good. We went to see family and some of my parents friends. I don't normally enjoy visiting people on Christmas day too much (because I'm normally full of turkey and have to go out when I'd rather be digesting and napping), but I really enjoyed it this year. Maybe I'm just getting older. But I liked it, because everyone was in a good mood and having fun because it's Christmas. Also, I think my Dad enjoyed it too, because my uncle plied him with brandy (lots and lots of brandy), and then we got to watch for about 20 minutes as they both tried (and failed) to open up my uncle's dining table ready for Christmas dinner.

Highlights from the presents side of things include an electric whisk from my parents (now I can bake cakes! If I have the motivation!); a book on local history from my grandparents (I am so chuffed); and a copy of my favourite film of 2009 from my parents.

The best present though came from Jackie, my parent's friend who passed away recently.
She was always very organised when it came to presents, and this year she bought and wrapped her presents a whole month before she died. So, come Christmas, there was a present waiting for me. And do you know what it was?

A bottle of perfume.

And not just any perfume; we could tell as soon as I'd unwrapped it, just from the smell - it's the perfume that she always liked to wear. I thought that was a really nice thing to receive.
But, not only that. When we saw her husband the next day, he told us that it wasn't something she'd gone out and bought for me; it was a bottle that she'd bought for herself. There must have been a point where she realised that she didn't have long left, and, thinking that she wouldn't be able to use it herself, she passed it on to me.

What a beautiful thing to receive.

I feel really privileged. It's not the sort of perfume that I'd normally use, but in this case, I'm going to wear it with pride.

♥

I doubt I'll be around tomorrow to spread the Christmas greetings, so I thought I'd do it now.

I hope you all have a nice time!

To celebrate, here's a nice video I found yesterday. Simon's cat in the snow. I think I'm pretty late on the game with this one, but I have to say, the Simon's cat animations are awesome. Watch all of them. The way the cat moves is so wonderfully lifelike. If you've ever owned a cat, you'll understand.

Falalalalalalalala all that jazz, guys <3

What the hell is it with 2009 and snow? First we had tonnes (relatively) of snow in February and now it's snowing in December!

We could almost have a white Christmas, which is something I've never seen in my 25 years, but I kinda hope we don't because I need to go visit relatives and travelling when it's icy is a big piss.

The good news is that at work today we were told (at 2:45pm) that we should all go home at 3pm because of bad travelling conditions \o/

To celebrate my afternoon off, here's a video to get you all into that festive spirit.

I went to my first ever funeral this week. It turns out that funerals are really really sad. Really sad. But they're important you know, for closure and all that. And this one did go as well as it could have done. They had flowers spelling out 'love' and 'peace' and they released a dove into the air. Jackie would have loved that if she had been there to see it.

In brighter news, I went to Oxford to see both Mariya and Emma this weekend. Oxford is terribly pretty, and full of fascinating history too, so I had a jolly nice time. There was also dancing and sushi and FUDGE so it was all good.

Have some photos:

The Bodleian Library. Very impressive.

Some gate or something? I DON'T KNOW

An old, weathered door with carvings. I love old doors like you won't believe!

Inside Brasenose, which I am assured is one of the prettiest colleges. And when you're standing there, you can pretend to be all intellectual, even if you're just visiting. I WANT TO LIVE IN A COLLEGE PLEASE IT'S SO PRETTY.

Inside Brasenose's hall. With it's long wooden benches and heavy panelling, it could be described as 'Harry Potter style' were it not for the fact that Harry Potter style is based on Oxbridge style and not the other way round. This particular hall has a very classy Christmas tree.

Sadly, all the Christmas trees in the world could not distract you from what greets you as soon as you walk in the room. I THOUGHT UNICORNS WERE SUPPOSED TO BE SYMBOLS OF VIRGINITY AND CHASTITY, WHAT ON EARTH HAPPENED TO THIS ONE.

Recently, I've been reading a piece of original fiction set in a slightly fantastical victorian England. And one of the characters caught my attention so much that I just had to draw him.

Meet Henri Jean Louis Rochelle. As you might be able to tell, he's French. He's also a vampire, but not one of those ghastly monsters who like to live in huge castles perched on the edge of ravines and who think there's nothing better than sneaking into people's bedrooms in the dead of night for a quick snack - no, he's cultured, lives in central London and prefers to drink quail. (I can't vouch for the not sneaking into people's bedrooms thing though; probably best to lock the door just in case.)

And it may be because he's a vampire, or it may be because he's French, or it may be a terrifying combination of the two, but Rochelle is more flamboyant than a whole line of chorus girls. (And yes that is a ladies fan he's holding.) Luckily for him, he's both rich enough and fang-y enough that no-one dares pull him up on it.

So, real life has been kinda shite recently.

A close friend of the family died this week.

She'd been fighting with lung cancer for the past few years now, and she had been particularly bad recently, but it's still a shock. At least she died peacefully in her sleep. And now she doesn't have to suffer any more.

But man, you couldn't have met a nicer person. She always treated me like family. I'll miss her a lot.

My parents are taking it quite bad. They've lost one of their best friends. But they're doing their best and trying to keep busy.

So am I for my part.

Things I have been doing to cheer myself up:

1. I just finished playing the first Phoenix Wright game. I am late to the party, I know, but it was fun nevertheless. If you want to know what Phoenix Wright is like, here is a helpful summary: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAS1WoDi3Q0

2. I finally caved in a got myself a pink cardigan. (And not even for cosplay purposes. I bought it for EVERYDAY WEAR.)

Oh lord, what have I done.

Hi!

I went to see Deborah in London for her birthday yesterday. Claire was there too, which was cool, because I haven't seen Claire in about a year and a half!

I got to see Deborah's new flat, which is very nice and new, and much less skanky than my old flat in London was. Then we went out in Holborn for some dancing. I got cidered down the back of a leg, but they also played this so it's all good.

Then, on the way home today, I saw a poster for Bunny and the Bull. WHAT IS THIS FILM. I neeeeed to watch it. Have you seen this clip? She has most productive teat of all my bitches.

(If you don't like strong language, you definitely won't like any of the links in this post :D)

As a character, Malcolm Tucker is a horrible person; horrible, horrible.

And yet strangely attractive.

And the more he swears, the more alluring he becomes. When I watched this scene in Saturday's episode, I was nearly beside myself.

Maybe it's the accent?

Oh Janine, with this new layout you are really spoiling us.

Why yes, yes I am. And those little round chocolates are quite nice too.

So! I decided to drag my blog kicking and screaming (and there was plenty of both, but mostly on my part), into 2009.

1. Yes I realise 2009 is nearly over.

2. Shut up.

Hahaha, it took me so long to change it because I really liked using Mariya's batik. But in the end, I figured that after 2 whole years, it was time for some new scenery.

Now, I'm not quite sure if this layout is going to work or not, becuase I've used .png files for the images, which I have never done before because not all browsers support them (but seeing as I learnt that fact back in, oh, the year 2000, perhaps browsers are more up to speed now than they used to be). So this is just a heads up: if the site looks like a big hairy bollock to you, please let me know and I shall endeavour to fix it.

It's funny, you learn a lot of things when you redesign a layout. Today I have learnt that:
- trying to do anything with php makes me cry (I kinda knew this already)
- I've hardly drawn anything this year at all D:

I clearly need to draw more. Working full time sucks away all my good drawing time, and when I get a weekend free, I waste it doing silly things like making new layouts :D

I'm in the process of updating the layout, so the site might like a little funky for a bit (and not in a good kind of way).

In addition to the fic in the post below, I drew a little doujin about Lockon and Haro.

Title: Partners
Characters: Lockon (aka Neil Dylandy) + Haro
Rating: G
Summary: They make a great team :D

Click to download as a .zip file

Time to post this here! I wrote a little Gundam00 fic about Lockon. (I also drew a Lockon + Haro doujin, which will be coming up in my next post :D)

Title: One Chance
Character: Neil Dylandy
Rating: PG for language and insinuated violence
Summary: Speculation on Lockon's recruitment into Celestial Being

Full story »

Word up.

Last weekend, Mariya and I went to see a big old stately house. And I've spent the rest of the week wishing I could live in one.

But really, I'm not asking to live in one all the time; I'm not crazy. I'd just like to have the chance to hire one out for a weekend so I could throw a fantastic party. Not a big thing mind, just a few friends with some good food and some good music, and some dvds, a wii, some dressing up and a huge game of hide and seek. HOW AWESOME WOULD THAT BE.

(note to self: stop watching tv shows about the huge costume parties the rich kids used to have in the 1920s.)

(note to self the second: I really need to watch Bright Young Things.)

In other news, I've just finished reading Tom Jones, which was actually shockingly good, despite the fact that it was written 250 years ago. Most of the goodness comes from the fact that it is absolutely hilarious. My favourite character was, by far, Squire Western, who had a big kind of Brian Blessed thing going on :D

And finally, not related to any of the above: This week I've been mostly listening to oldschool rock.
Jimi Hendrix - Voodoo Child
I feel like I should grow a door in my head or something.

So, I went to see James' new pad in London at the weekend. It's very nice when all's said and done. He's got an amazing chair and an amazing radio and a kitchen that's great for blind people and a jacuzzi bath that sounds like an elephant in labour :D

We met Nick and Steve and Heather and Siân and Sarah there, and we went out in trendy Shoreditch and Hoxton. Where, I have to say, we went to a club that played the best music out of any club I've ever been to, ever. And it was free to get in! They already had me by the time they played Bonkers by Dizzee Rascal, but then they played Daft Punk and Justice in quick succession. If I wasn't in love with them enough by that point, they then played the Twelves. The Twelves! God, I danced so hard. I want to go back! I need more electro fun! More!

And then, of course, the rest of my trip was spent moping over the fact that I don't live in London where it's cool anymore. When you live in London you practically absorb cool by osmosis. You can't help it, not when there's places with people playing the Twelves and drinking out of goldfish bowls and boys wearing skinny jeans everywhere.
*sigh* I'm not cool any more. I miss it. But then the next day you're stuck on a hot, crowded rail-replacement bus, surrounded by noisy, smelly people and driving for ages to reach an anonymous tube station, and you realise that there are some parts of London which you won't miss at all XD

In other news :D :D :D :D :D
Have you seen the GUNDAM00 MOVIE TRAILER?

I've shocked myself by how excited I was when watching it. We've only got a tantalising glimpse so far, but hopefully this movie is going to be awesome.

Did you see the part where Tieria is now a hologram? How cool is that? So he's not just stuck in a computer any more and he still looks like the Tieria we've grown to love, but he doesn't have a proper body, so can switch to NAKED IN SPACE any time he wants to! Fantastic.

And, the bonus is that Tieria is actually becoming more and more like Arnold Rimmer with every day that passes, and, while that's not necessarily a good thing, it is hilarious!

MOVIE MOVIE MOVIE MOVIE :D :D :D :D

So, I finally got unpacked and finished buying all my furniture (I have still yet to give the flat a thorough clean, but there's no need for you to know that :D) And here, as promised, are photos!

After 3 years of not having one, it's really nice to have a living room again. I love my sofa. It's almost the cheapest one that Ikea will get me, so it's not a paragon of comfort, but it does look good! Most of my furniture though is second-hand, which is far cheaper (and more interesting, if you ask me). In the back of the photo, you can see my solid oak dining table, which I got for only 40 pounds :D

A view into my kitchen, which is tiny, but suits me pretty well (it's not like I have to share it with anyone!) The vase was a present from Theresa as a thank you for being her bridesmaid, and the new home cards are from my many relatives.

Yes, that's right, I now own a second bookcase. It's so nice not to have to squeeze my books onto tiny shelves any more, and now I can buy more manga :D
The blanket is one that I've had since I first left home many moons ago; it was knitted by my Mum <3

My coat rack has been taken over by bags, scarves and hats.

The view from the window is rather leafy. My bedroom gets a lot of sun in the mornings.

My chest of drawers is another second-hand bargain. I love its retro feel; you can't see it in the photo, but its feet are wonderfully 1950s, and quite by accident, it matches my coffee table (which I got for free from a bin, oh yes) really quite well.

I have 5 x more wardrobe space than I had before. I clearly need to buy more clothes!

What I haven't shown you in these photos is how the green carpet fights with the red curtains (Why, Mr. Landlord? Why?) And how they both clash horrifically with the upholstery on my new dining room chairs, which insist on being orange. Oh well, at 5 pounds each, I'm not complaining!