Tuesday 31 December 2013

2013 - a year full of... cats?

I usually do this thing at the end of every year where I go through the events of the passed year. This year will not be an exception but seeing as I haven't written much this year nor done much else than sleep and work I'll just feed you a few anecdotes and pictures with captions. Enjoy. Or not.
Oh and if you're just looking for some of my favourite tv shows, films and books of the year skip to the end. Keep scrolling.

The beginnings of a new year...:


My old friend Torsten and I spent New Year's Day of 2013 together. He turned 17 this year and is still one of the most opinionated teenagers I've ever met. I'm hungover in the picture, I'm sure, but Torsten doesn't mind. It only guarantees him lots of cuddles. We love cuddles.

Spring's here:

I was a pink Yip Yip Martian for the Scnadinavian Sci-Fi, Game & Film Convention and got attack-hugged by a very happy Spiderman. I'm not sure how I ended up in this situation. Ok, I'm lying. It's all L's fault. He's in the blue Yip Yip costume. We were awesome.

All summer long:
Summer arrived late but it came in like a wrecking ball, ripping people's clothes off as it went. No, really. I love how the whole of Gothenburg acts whenever the sun comes out. All these half naked hipsters, punks, metalheads and rockers with their tattoos - eye candy galore.


I was in love with my piercing. And my hat. All the hipster in this picture is hurting my eyes.
I got back to enjoying handicrafts which delights me to no end because creating things is a great pleasure but hasn't held that kind of attraction to me in a long while.


So I completed things for my medieval outfits while I had the inspiration. Check out my purse! It's got tassels!


We crazy Swedes often enjoy our Midsummer's Eves with a large side of alcohol. Attending a party at a friend's place meant I was stealing his tiara at every chance I had. He's got the prettiest things. And the loveliest of shoes and glittery dresses.

Autumn is summer's end:
2013 was the year of my return to the Medieval Week on Gotland and it was much better than I could ever have imagined. On the first night after I had blatantly stolen a hat from one of the landsknecht, I picked up a Steampunk Pirate to share a nightly stroll with. Only later did I realise that the pirate and I could have advanced to a more horisontal position in my bunk but hey, I was having a hoot and a half nontheless. I returned the hat. I drank enough beer to drown a fish. On the last night I located and snogged a bearded knight with amazing hair. In all fairness, I must admit it to be a week to cherish in memory.

Here, have a picture of His Fluffyness Mus-Ingvar.
It was an unusually warm September. Lovely.
Oh, and I turned 25. Blergh.


Qwertee is my new favourite thing to throw money at. It speaks to me. Though I ask you to ignore the ring I'm wearing in the picture; I use it at work to scare off the creeps by pretending that I'm engaged (the feminist in me is crying over the fact that the only thing that can scare the creeps off is the potential threat of my fake partner). To everyone else it's a silver ring with the One Ring engraving.


L adopted a Maine Coon and after spending hours in shock over how fucking HUGE this feline creature is I couldn't stop petting him. He makes a great pillow.

We've reached the end - December:
A busy month for me. I got started on my new tattoo but with a great deal left for another sitting I'll rather not bore you with the details just yet. As you probably have already figured out I'm planning my next tattoo as I write. It might be painful to get a tattoo but there's nothing like the pleasure of having it done.
It was finally time for my return to Belfast. My friend L got to see Belfast in all its glory. Bombs and all. Yeah, I'm serious. We're the kind of freaks that enjoy visiting cathedrals so we went for a tour to St. Anne's Cathedral and later the same day a small bomb detonated nearby. Luckily we were happily drinking our tea back at the hostel at that point. I was pleased nontheless because my inner beer nerd was overjoyed with all the locally produced ale I poured down my gullet.

Back at the Parlour at last.
Once back I continued my life as usual but I was a pair of pink pig slippers and a Cookie Monster onesie richer.


In conclusion:
Happy New Year!

I move on with my life with my boy band haircut still in place, but with a larger library, a new piercing and more ink. 2013 held no greater surprises in my life and looking back at it I can't really find anything that stands out among all the rest. It was a bleak year to be quite honest and I make no resolutions or promises facing the next one. 2013 was in retrospect the year when nothing considerable changed.

But what about the films and books?
2013 wasn't even that much of an amazing cinema experince. Quite a lot of disappointments to be fair as I had waited a few years for some of the titles (Riddick, Kick-Ass 2, The Wolverine, Star Trek Into Darkness among others) but if I had to recommend you anything I'd tell you to give Now You See Me, Monster's University, The World's End, Iron Man 3 and Pacific Rim a chance. Like previously stated, nothing mind-blowingly awesome but entertaining at the least.
Even Doctor Who lost all of its charm and I have no fucks left to give about the fate of the Doctor now that Moffat has completely taken over the show. Sadly, nearly the same goes for my old favourites Supernatural and Sons of Anarchy - by now I'm just too invested in the characters to stop watching. The third season of Game of Thrones came and went. Instead of lingering on this misery, I watched and rewatched what there is of the second season of Elementary and welcomed Dracula with Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Almost Human with Karl Urban and Michael Ealy to my weekly schedule. Sleepy Hollow was a fresh wind. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. wasn't. The instant success of Orange is the New Black was well deserved and I'm on pins and needles for the next season.
As we arrive at the subject of the books I've plowed through this past year, there are a couple of titles I'd like to give the praise they deserve: I, Lucifer by Glen Duncan, Hyperion by Dan Simmons and the Johannes Cabal series by Jonathan L. Howard. They're excellent if you like a good story with an unexpected ending.

Yeah. Basically.

Friday 6 December 2013

Pimping the skin you're in - Part V

I just wanted to let everyone know that I'm alive and kicking while reality is kicking back at me with a vengeance. I'm working the busiest time of year right now as well as writing my bachelor thesis. My way of dealing with all this stress is treating myself to a shitload of things. Things like a new computer and a new tattoo. I realise that I really don't have time for anything outside of work and school and that's the exact reason to why I'm shipping off to Dublin and Belfast for a week from Sunday. It's another way of treating myself to something and at the same time slide away from my responsibilities. Already I know that I will fail to write my best friend her Xmas story, something I've been doing for many years in exchange for her artwork. And it sucks to know this. I'm hoping that I'll find the rest of the Xmas gifts I need in Dublin or Belfast and still have time left to drink a beer or two and eat some chips. Maybe even consider my thesis and come up with something halfway intelligent.

The computer is working just fine and the tattoo is healing up nicely.

"I love tattooed women, maybe because they are uncontrollable, they are themselves to the point of drawing symbols of their power on their skin. Talk about owning your own body, being in your body, claiming yourself. I love it. When the world is in an uproar over whether women should have a choice or not when it comes to their own bodies, being tattooed is one of the most visible choices of all."
- Margaret Cho