Wee Baby Sloth

Wonders of Wanders

2013-07-13T21:35:10Z

The 10th anniversary of this LJ was a couple of months ago, holy crap. Not that I've really been using it the past few years. Despite this blogging fail, I've decided to try again and start fresh:

Wonders of Wanders, my brand new travel blog!

Yes, the name is totally a rip off of BBC's Wonders series presented by Prof Brian Cox. Because I have a giant crush on him. Only one post so far (about the GISHWHES weekend in a haunted Scottish castle) but hopefully I'll be better at updating it.

Life-update-wise, I was asked to star in a werewolf movie in China. So I'll be doing that for the next couple of months, lolol. Most random thing EVER.

That is all.

Happy new year from the future!

2013-01-01T00:00:06Z

2012 was the most amazing year of my life, so I felt it would only be fitting to make like the countdown ball on NYE and bow out by dropping from the world's highest bungee jump platform (233 meters / 764 feet). Happy new year's, all! :D

Holy crap 26, when did this happen?

2012-09-18T16:24:28Z

Recently (or something) I turned 21, and now I will be 26 in three days, what?

Not that this is a bad thing. Not being like the Chinese people around me (btw I've moved to China -- travel/life update soon), I don't think it will be the end of the world if I'm not married and about to become a mother in four years. In fact I think it might be the end of the world if I am married and about to become a mother in four years; I'd much rather be a "leftover" as they call single, 30+ women here. But all of that is neither here nor there.

The point of this post is actually to say that the Art Creation Foundation for Children in Jacmel needs help. And I'm not above using my birthday as an excuse to ask for it. :P

As you probably know, I went to Jacmel, Haiti with Random Acts both this year and last, and it has become one of my favorite places in the world (which is saying something). A large part of this is because of the kids at the ACFFC.

These kids had little to begin with and many lost even that in the earthquake two years ago. But they laugh and love and try to share everything from their songs to their art to their food and water with you. I've never met happier, more vibrant children. They're like that because of the ACFFC.

You can read about the ACFFC at their own website or at RA's H2H site.

And also at this photo website put together by Vanesha, one of the Hope to Haiti volunteers. Most of the pictures have comments from Judy Hoffman, the director of the ACFFC, telling stories of each of the kids. Some might break your heart - like the little girl who thought surely there must be a mistake when she first joined the ACFFC and began receiving three meals a day; shouldn't that extra food go to someone else instead? - but they're also hopeful and will make you smile.

The ACFFC is about to lose their current house, and if they can't raise enough money to move into a new one, who knows what will happen to them? The house they hope to buy is perfect for them and would be a permanent home, and nothing would make me happier than to see them be able to move into it (short of perhaps winning the lottery in which case I would just buy the house for them and continue to travel forever). You can see a photo of their dream house at the bottom of this page.

I would be so grateful if any of you are willing to donate however much you can spare to help this cause.

Here's the link: http://www.crowdrise.com/anewhomefortheacffc/fundraiser/tracyloowho

Thanks. ♥

Brazil + Argentina + Peru

2012-07-08T23:43:18Z

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
After finally convincing my good friend Brazilian1 to quit his job in Portugal and go traveling with me in South America, he moved back to Rio and I joined him there. We'd planned to plan epic adventures together!

...Only his girlfriend (who'd been waiting for him for two years while he was in Portugal) got upset when he let on that he'd be leaving again, with me. I advised him to tell her I'm a lesbian. Misha (he was there a few days before the con) advised him to find a picture of an ugly girl and tell her that's who he was traveling with. In the end Brazilian1 told her the truth and she threatened to call it quits if he went with me. No longer the cheating bastard I once knew, Brazilian1 decided to stay. Moral of the story: you should never tell your significant other the truth.

But at least I got to hang out with him in Rio, which is beautiful, especially at night.

Requisite Giant Jesus picture. There's one of these in Lisbon too but not nearly as impressive.

Climbing trees on the Sugar Loaf! There were little monkeys on these trees and I tossed peanuts at them.

Another friend, Brazilian2 from São Paulo, also came to visit. I took him to the SPN con briefly to show him the hordes of fangirls. I must say, the screaming at that con was the loudest I have ever heard at an SPN con. Brazilian2 was very impressed. We even managed to meet Jared when he finally arrived (we'd all been waiting for him for like two hours after the opening ceremony/panel, terrible organization). He tried to shake my hand but I'd been eating with it so he gave me a hug instead. \o/

Anyway, Copacabana beach!

And the cool sandcastles on it.

Lots of concerts on the beaches in Rio.

Also I managed to see the Avengers in IMAX 3D. Fucking amazing. Except for the part where Brazilian1's girlfriend threw some kind of fit and made everything uncomfortable for everyone, but that happened pretty much every time I saw her. Whatever.

Arraial do Cabo, Brazil
More beaches! This time with boats too.

And sandboarding in the dunes. (That's Brazilian1.)

Brazilian1's girlfriend didn't get upset and start crying until the very end, so all in all it was a good weekend. :P

Ilha Grande, Brazil
After leaving Brazilian1 to deal with his various domestic issues by himself, I headed for Ilha Grande, which translates to Big Island. In Brazil they are very fond of glass shower doors. I managed to shatter one while trying to get out of the shower, cut up my hands, and bleed all over the hotel's bathroom and towels. Naturally, I immediately proceeded to watch SPN 'cause Cas was on. He was very pretty.

Ilha Grande was very pretty too.

Spent most of my time there with two Brits and a Finn, all from my room at the hostel. The Finnish guy and I went for a long hike one day, at the end of which a purple dog awaited us.

Actually there are a ton of dogs on that island. And bonus crab too!

The hostel's cat liked to nap on me.

Feiticeira beach. Went kayaking for a couple of hours around this beach and saw some cool birds but didn't have my camera with me, alas.

Lopes Mendes beach. Apparently this beach is famous and is frequently mentioned in "top beaches of the world" lists. It was indeed very nice! And big.

Paraty, Brazil
I'd intended to spend more time on Ilha Grande and skip Paraty, but the Brits and Finn were all going to Paraty and convinced me to join them. Excellent decision, Paraty was also beautiful and even more secluded.

There were orange trees free for the picking and cute monkeys that we fed bananas to.

São Paulo, Brazil
I only came here to visit Brazilian2; I wasn't terribly excited about the city itself. But we did have amazing food at a Brazilian rodizio and some hilarious conversations.

Brazilian2: You're from Detroit, right?
Me: The suburbs, yes.
Brazilian2: Do you have any good sports teams other than the Redwings?
Me: The Pistons do alright I guess.
Brazilian2: Oh! The Detroit Pistons are from Detroit?
Me: ...

Iguazu Falls, Argentina
Just thinking about Iguazu makes me itch. I got over 50 bug bites there. For some reason everybody keeps comparing Iguazu falls to Niagara and saying how much better Iguazu is which makes me irrationally defensive about Niagara, but I must admit Iguazu is cool too.

And they do have cooler wildlife there.

Including coatis!

Had fun playing with the effects on my camera.

Ushuaia, Argentina
Ushuaia is known as the southernmost city in the world, and the national park there, Tierra del Fuego, is the "end of the world". Met a guy from Berkeley there and discovered we had a mutual friend. Small world!

Patagonia in general is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been to. Expensive to get there but worth every penny. Also I had fun rolling around in the snow, as I do.

Check out this badass bird.

Glacier! Saw people snowboarding here. Was very very envious.

El Calafate, Argentina
Also in Patagonia, also beautiful. The thing to do here is to see the Perito Moreno glacier, so I did. Even the drive to the glacier was cool, doesn't it look like the mountains are just kind of hovering in the sky?

Tons of glacier pics:

What's cool is you can hear the ice constantly cracking, and huge chunks of it frequently fall into the water. I even got to go trekking on it. With crampons!

View from on the glacier:

Cusco, Peru
After leaving Patagonia I went straight to Peru to meet up with lallipoo. We decided to take a bus from the airport in Cusco to the city center and everyone thought we were insane to a) attempt it at all, and b) attempt it with our big backpacks and things. When we saw the bus, which is actually a little shuttle thing with so many people crammed into it there are some hanging out the doors, we discovered why. But we managed to get on anyway and survived the ride. \o/

City center:

Ollantaytambo, Peru
Some ruins close to Cusco.

Call me a creep but I thought they were cute.

Machu Picchu, Peru
Obviously we went to Machu Picchu.

And saw Cas!llama! I met him again later on in the day and got to pet him. He was very soft.

They only let 400 people climb Huayna Picchu each day and we didn't have the foresight to book weeks and weeks in advance, so we ended up climbing Machu Picchu mountain, which opened only recently and is about twice as high as Huayna Picchu.

There are strange flowers on it.

Two hours later, the view from the top:

The coolest part about getting to the top was meeting a ninja there! There was also a buddha.

And taking pictures of some guy's Inca Kola, lol.

Kay last Machu Picchu pic:

Pisaq, Peru
More ruins!

And... Ayahuasca ceremony. Some people meet God, others hear the trees whispering secrets to them, still others drink this stuff and have epiphanies about their lives. None of these things happened to me. I sat there and chewed on my hands and hair for three hours. There's dignity for you.

Lake Titicaca, Peru
We'd heard that the Andean Explorer train from Cusco to Puno is one of the great rail journeys of the world, so we took it. And I slept for most of it. *facepalm* Still, the parts I was awake for were really cool.

Went out onto Lake Titicaca the next day.

There are floating islands made of reeds and cool boats:

Imagine living in one of these...

Bathroom. :P

This is on Isla Taquile.

Amazon Rainforest, Peru
This is the part of the trip I was most excited about. :D We stayed at Muyuna Lodge for five days, in this little bungalow. IT HAD HAMMOCKS. \o/

The very first day we went fishing for piranhas. Later we went swimming in piranha-infested waters and survived. There were pink dolphins around (unfortunately they were impossible to photograph), perhaps they saved us and we didn't even know it. :P

Sloth!

Giant terminator frog!

Neighboring village:

Gorgeous sunset:

Giant water lilies:

Ayahuasca ceremony #2. God stood me up again, but at least I didn't chew on myself this time.

Monkey!

We saw tons of other flora and fauna too, but my favorite part of the entire Amazon experience was our guide, Moises.

Moises knows everything about everything in the Amazons and can spot a baby caiman swimming in the water from across the river at night, while it's raining, and go snatch it out of the water with his bare hands.

When someone asks him a stupid question, Moises will either ignore it completely or reply with a very curt, two-word answer. He showed us a cool nocturnal bird and I asked him how it sees in the dark. His reply was, "It's nocturnal." Probably not hilarious now that I've put it in writing, but hilarious at the time 'cause he was so gruff about it, haha.

Moises saved us when we got our canoe stuck in the jungle. He loves his machete and is amazing at spear-fishing.

Actually he is amazing at everything. When lallipoo and I returned to civilization we discovered someone had once made a documentary with/about him (The Rainforest Wisdom of Moises Chavez) which we giggled and swooned the entire way through.

OKAY, end inappropriate gushing over our guide who was our fathers' age. *cough*

Lima, Peru
We were actually here twice, in between flights, and managed to get out and see the city a bit each time. But mostly we stayed on the coast.

We went to this restaurant for lunch and later a friend of mine from Peru told us it's one of the best restaurants in Lima. Had delicious ceviche there.

Sunset over Lima, from the plane:

I'm thinking Florida and Haiti will have to be a separate post later. In the meantime, I've been convinced to join Pinterest. Made a pinboard of some of the cool places I've been to, mostly with pictures from photographers much better than myself. If nothing else you may enjoy looking at all the pretty!

tracy @ 2012-07-04T03:05:00

2012-07-04T07:05:42Z

http://bouncingbabynames.com/

Turkey + Serbia + Montenegro + Croatia + Rome

2012-05-02T01:26:27Z

Istanbul, Turkey
The few of you who used to read tracy_trolls may remember Teh Turk. Good friend of mine from Portugal, returned to Turkey about a year ago to do his mandatory military service and only recently got out. Terrible English. I went to visit him for a couple of weeks and we had some amazing conversations about pee.

Turk: *puts on a damp coat* (It had been raining for the couple of days beforehand.)
Me: Your coat is still damp.
Turk: Dam..?
Me: Yeah, with a 'p' on the end.
Turk: *looks down at himself* Where is the pee?
Me: ...*dies of lulz*

Me: I need to pee.
Turk: Maybe we can put pee at Starbucks.
Me: ...*dies of lulz*

His English is way better than average in Turkey; all his friends think it's perfect. :P

Istanbul! Took this pic from the plane:

The weather forecast was "cum showers".

They sell cans of air.

There's an Aston Martin store next to the building the Brazilian embassy is in. (I had to apply for my visa to Brazil.)

A PINK IMPALA which I fangirled all over and got weird looks for:

Mosques all over the place:

And... turnip water!

Princes' Island, Turkey
I took tons of pictures of seagulls on the ferry ride over.

We rented bikes, rode around the island, fed stray cats, and saw some cool scenery.

Cappadocia, Turkey
We rented a car and drove around.

This was my favorite place in Turkey. It's so so so different and beautiful.

And phallic. Mostly phallic.

That's me in between the two giant penises. It was a lovely place to be.

More cool pics:

I tried to take a panoramic pic but failed because I haen't figured it out yet. Pffft. Here's one part of it:

Turkey in Turkey! Yes, I am that lame.

Also went horseback riding.

Konya, Turkey
We only stopped here because it was too long of a bus ride straight from Cappadocia to Pamukkale and I get motion sick on really long bus rides. Not a whole lot going on in this city but we met up with Teh Turk's brother and friends and had a good time.

Pamukkale, Turkey
Another gorgeous place. The white stuff that looks like snow is actually rock. But not salty, I tasted it. :P

I got into the water in my jeans, as usual.

There's also an antique pool.

Izmir, Turkey
Teh Turk went to university here, so he showed me around a bit. Then we sat by the water at night drinking wine and listening to other drunk Turks singing awful songs. Fun times.

Also hung out with some of his friends. And one of their mothers. The mother spoke almost no English but was excitable and loved me to bits, hah. Went ice skating in a mall too. I used to ice skate quite a bit when I was younger but it was Teh Turk's second time and it was predictably hilarious. XD

Then back to Istanbul for a day where I had my requisite Turkish bath experience. It was so relaxing we missed our flight to Serbia. Go Turkish baths!

Nis, Serbia
Immigration gave Teh Turk a hard time but we made it to Serbia the morning after we were originally supposed to be there and met up with another good friend from Portugal who showed us around her hometown, Nis. Not too exciting but pretty enough.

Mostly it was just good to see them again; the three of us were really close and hadn't all hung out together in over a year. Plus the bar in Nis made the best Sex on the Beach I've had since leaving the US. \o/

Went swimming in an olympic sized pool and Teh Turk had to buy a speedo beforehand. He was hilariously embarrassed by it and said it made him look like a "hot chick" lolol. The Serbian girl and I tried to wear him out (we're both better swimmers and I once beat him by at least 15 minutes in a race to some island) but he managed to keep up lap after lap even though he was clearly dying. A year ago it would've been easy to make him give up but a year of military service toughens a guy up; he said later he'd planned on swimming until he fainted. :P

Kotor, Montenegro
Teh Turk and I only went to Montenegro because it was the cheapest way to get from Nis to Croatia. Immigration gave him a hard time here too. I had never known less about a country before arriving there before, and most of the time we had little idea of where we were going or what we would do once we got there. But we took a bus ride which went through the mountains and it ended up being the most beautiful bus ride I've ever been on.

Arrived in Kotor.

We met some random guy at the bus station in Kotor who gave us the impression he would show us to a cheap hotel. We ended up in a room in his home. But he was hilarious and had a cool dog and for some reason I inherently trust people with cool dogs so it turned out well. He even had a view.

Then we hiked up to the top of the fortress and got more amazing views of the city.

Met a couple of donkeys on the way and almost got charged by this mountain goat or whatever it is:

It started raining pretty hard while we were sitting by the water later and I love rain so I stayed and got drenched. Teh Turk was cold and miserable but stayed and got drenched anyway. Hahahaha.

Herceg Novi, Montenegro
After Kotor we moved on to Herceg Novi. Also not so shabby.

We'd planned to go for a swim but for various reasons it was like 5 pm before we made it down to the water. Which was fucking freezing.

Me: Still want to go for a swim?
Turk: You decide and I will follow.
Me: Fine. *gets into the water*
Turk: *stands there shivering for a while with water up to his shins before turning back to the shore*

Guess military service didn't toughen him up that much after all. Never trust men. Once I got over how numbingly cold the water was I had a lovely swim out to some rocks in the water which provided an amazing view of the surrounding mountains. Stayed in the water for so long I think I got mild hypothermia and it took forever to stop shaking after I got out. Oops. But did I mention the amazing view?

Dubrovnik, Croatia
Predictably, immigration gave Teh Turk a hard time. :P Really wish we'd been able to stay longer here.

Srsly isn't it gorgeous?

Out of all the countries I've been to so far Croatia is the one I want to return to most. I was looking at pictures and there's so much we didn't get to see or do -- sheer mountains right up to the sea, snow, waterfalls, rafting, kayaking, hang gliding, horseback riding, etc. etc. Next time, eh?

Took an overnight ferry from Dubrovnik to Italy. Had to part ways with Teh Turk 'cause he doesn't have a visa for the EU. Dubrovnik port at night:

Rome
Rome will never not be awesome. Last year I visited during my Eurotrip and ended up sleeping at Termini train station on platform 1 with the bums and the bugs. This year I got put up in a 5 star hotel with the GISHWHES winners. How I've moved up in life. XD

GISHWHES dinner:

Spent the next day hanging out with the GISHWHES winners at the Colosseum and Foro Romano, then went to the cocktail party at the con that evening to see some friends. Also Misha.

Got excessively drunk afterward and apparently said things I totally don't remember saying. Oops.

Spent the next few days meeting up with various friends, hanging out with the GISHWHES folks some more, squealing over Cas spoilers, walking around the city, and generally chilling out.

Saw the Trevi Fountain and Colosseum at night too, which was a first. Very pretty! I love sitting outside for dinner in the evening next to these places, sipping wine and living it up in Rome. ♥

Back in Lisbon now! :D I have a day-long layover here, saw some friends, had some drinks, headed to South America in a few hours to spend 5 or so weeks traveling around the continent with a good friend (a.k.a. Brazilian1 in my Eurotrip posts). Life is good. Except for the part where I have a 10 hour flight tomorrow. Oh well.

India Part II + China + Bangkok + Myanmar/Burma + Singapore + Bintan + Kuala Lumpur + Dubai

2012-04-27T02:38:23Z

Mumbai, India
I had to stick around Mumbai for something like 10 days to apply for my Chinese visa. Before I went I'd read over everything on the embassy's website multiple times, very carefully. I was prepared! These are the things that Mumbai's Chinese embassy's website got wrong:

- Location of the visa application center
- Hours of operation
- Required documents
- Price of visa
- Method of payment
- Processing time
- Types of visas I can apply for

Miraculously, I still got the visa.

Anyway, Mumbai! The famous Mumbai CST train station:

Elephanta caves, with bonus monkeys!

This monkey came right up to me and stole my bottle of water.

Marine Drive.

Sunset! 'Cause I love sunset pics.

Before I got to Mumbai I'd planned to couchsurf and check out its nightlife. Then I got there and stayed with a couchsurfer. Really nice and accommodating guy, except for one thing.

CSer, after getting me settled in: Do you need anything else?
Me: The internet password, please?
CSser: Sure. One kiss for every 10 minutes of internet you use.
Me: *laughs because I'm pretty sure he's joking*
CSer: *gives me the password and tries to kiss me*
Me: Whoa, what are you doing?
CSer: Kissing you.
Me: Uhm, no.
CSer: Okay. Sorry if I made you feel bad.
Me: I don't "feel bad". Just, no more of that.
CSer: Okay.
Next day, after some chatting...
CSer: Can we kiss now?
Me: No! Why do you keep pushing this?
CSer: Because I want to kiss you. Come on, just two? You used a lot of internet.
Me: No.
CSer: Okay, just one, then. A long one. You agreed to the terms.
Me: Ugh wtf.

I had to stay at his place that night since it was late, but I got out of there the next morning. Decided against checking out the nightlife and subjecting myself to more of this.

Matheran, India
After my abrupt departure from Mumbai I took an impromptu trip to nearby Matheran. It's a cool hill station that looks a bit like the Grand Canyon actually.

No motor vehicles are allowed so people get around on foot or horse. I chose horse, of course. \o/

See the guy in the pic? He works at the hotel I stayed at and doubled as my tour guide. We'll get back to him in a sec.

First, Sunset point.

So, the thing about watching sunsets is that it gets dark afterward, right? At this point I no longer had the horse, so it was a half hour trek back to the hotel on foot. Through the woods, in the dark. Dark like we were relying on this guy's cell phone to light the path.
Guy: I love you.
Me: Uh. A bit quick, don't you think?
Guy: You love me?
Me: Dude, I just met you.
Guy: You no love me?
Me: Ugh.
A while later...
Guy: *tries to show me porn on his phone*
Me: Ugh. *stuffs a large sharp rock into my purse while he isn't looking, just in case*
Another while later...
Guy: Excuse me, open your pants. (Srsly these were his exact words.)
Me: No!
Guy: No?
Me: No.
He keeps walking and I start worrying about how I'm going to get back to the hotel by myself if I'm forced to open his head with the rock. But he didn't try anything and even apologized when we got back to the hotel, said I was his first love or something ridiculous like that. IDEK, his English was terrible and he'd never heard of the internet before despite having downloaded porn onto his phone.

Anyway, so much for escaping sexual harassment by leaving Mumbai. I stayed in hotels when I got back there.

Agra, India
After collecting my visa I only had about two days left before I was due to fly to China so I didn't get to see any of the places I'd wanted to see between Mumbai and Agra. :( But I had to at least get a glimpse of the Taj Mahal. Took this pic from a boat behind the Taj.

The boat was full of Portuguese people, hah. It was nice to hear Portuguese again! Began missing Portugal. :(

Anyway after seeing the Taj I took a train to Delhi to catch my flight later that night. Good thing I had the foresight to leave early 'cause the train took almost two hours longer than it was supposed to. A year ago I would've missed my flight for sure. I've matured so much. \o/

Wuhan, China
I know you all want to see the inside of a lavatory on a China Southern Airlines flight. Notice anything off?

Wuhan is where I was born, and my living grandparents still live there, so I go and visit every few years. This particular occasion was my grandfather's 80th birthday and my father also flew out for it so I saw him too. Went straight from the airport to the hospital where my grandfather was staying.

Grandfather: Come closer, let me look at you.
Me: *goes closer*
Grandfather: So what made you decide to travel the world by yourself?
Me: *shrugs* Thought it'd be fun?
Grandfather: There are people who worry about you, you know. Your father, your mother. Do you think you don't need anyone? Everyone needs help from other people.
Me: Are you seriously lecturing me within minutes of my arrival? *sigh*
Next day...
Grandfather: So where are you going next?
Me: Haven't decided yet. Maybe Thailand.
Grandfather: You're very independent. It's good that you're capable of being so independent.
Me: ...Thanks. For not being contradictory at all.

Most of my days in Wuhan were spent eating, resting, eating catching up with stuff I had to do, eating, seeing relative after relative (usually while eating), watching Merlin, developing a huge crush on the guy who plays Arthur, and -- you guessed it -- eating! \o/

Huangshan, China
I'd originally planned to go to Tibet, but March is the anniversary of an uprising and riots so they don't issue permits in March or something. Went to Huangshan instead with my father. It's said to be the most beautiful mountain range in all of China, and it did not disappoint! Huangshan is full of endless stairs and sheer precipices and trees growing on top of rocks.

Apparently my parents had taken a romantic trip there together way back when.

Father: Entrance fee? Pffft. 20+ years ago there was no such thing.
Me: Well, that's what happens when a place gets commercialized.
Father: Be careful! It's easy to slip and fall.
Me: Sure.
Father: 20+ years ago, there was no gondola. You had to hike up the mountain by yourself.
Me: As fun as it sounds that would take ages, we don't have time.
Father: Be careful!
Me: Yeah, I know.
Father: Some peaks are closed. You won't be able to see the best one! :( 20+ years ago, your mother and I climbed up to that peak.
Me: Well, it needs to be preserved and all.
Father: Be careful, you'll die if you fall of that cliff over there.
Me: Yes, I know.
Father: 20+ years ago -- *skips a step, falls, and scrapes up his hands*
Me: Dude. And you keep telling me to be careful?

Anyway, one more pic:

Bangkok, Thailand
After China I did indeed end up going to Thailand. Just Bangkok, though. Tried to couchsurf again and stayed with a guy from Uganda. Seriously cool dude, everything from his accent to his walk scream "rich African prince". Except for the part where he keeps calling sex "rumpy pumpy" which made me lol. In case anyone is curious, I did ask him for his opinion on Kony2012 and the gist of his reply was "good campaign, bad timing."

Anyway, he and his friends (a couple of Dutch guys) took me to the infamous Patpong within hours of my arrival. Things the girls there can do with their vaginas include but are not limited to: serving ping pong balls (I understood, then, the name of this esteemed establishment) to men in the audience who had paddles, throwing darts at balloons (though one of the Dutch guys took one to the shoulder so their aim isn't perfect), pulling out very long strings of razors, blowing out candles, and my personal favorite, using chopsticks to pick things up. No, I don't have pictures.

This was a Saturday night, so after Patpong I drank a really excessive amount of vodka (you can buy bottles of it at 7-Eleven and it even comes with a straw!), briefly considered purchasing one of the many dildos they were selling on the streets, and instead hit the clubs. Fun was had by all!

Actually my main motivation for going to Bangkok was to get a visa for Myanmar, but I had so much fun in Bangkok I stayed for an extra couple of days, alternating between sightseeing and watching Human Planet with the couchsurfer and going out with him and his friends.

Temple of the Emerald Buddha.

Rooftop pool party!

Yangon, Myanmar
The funny thing about Myanmar is that it wasn't even on my radar until about a month before I went. i was in India at the time and met an Italian couple who told me Myanmar was the most beautiful country they'd ever visited, so I thought surely I must go and see for myself!

I was supposed to be hosted by a Burmese girl, or so I thought. She met me at the airport.
Girl: So where is your hotel?
Me: Er, you said you could host me?
Girl: Yeah, I'll take you to your hotel and show you around tomorrow. Didn't you book one?
Me: Okay... uh, no I hadn't booked a hotel yet.
She helped me book one and was really sweet, I guess she just doesn't understand what "host" means. Also apparently it's illegal for people to host foreigners in their homes.

Met up with a cute Brit for dinner that night (he took me to a hooker bar, lol) and we went for a walk around the lake afterward. Lots of mosquitoes. True to her word, the Burmese girl showed me around the next day.

Misha's face in downtown:

The lake with its giant dragon boat:

Shwedagon Pagoda.

I managed to slip into the Shwedagon for free somehow. Dunno what occasion it was but they were serving free food that day to anyone who wanted it.

After eating I felt so bad about evading the entrance fee that I ended up throwing some money into a donation box. Oh well. :P Stayed with the cute Brit that night and the Burmese girl seemed surprised when I made her understand I was going to sleep in his home, lol.

Bagan, Myanmar
The next day I flew to Bagan! Met a Taiwanese businessman on the plane and ended up going to dinner with him and his friend at a cool restaurant with a marionette show. Made the mistake of mentioning this to my parents who think everyone is out to rape and kill me. If only they knew about CouchSuring.

Anyway, Bagan has a very dusty, dry, abandoned feel to it. Densest concentration of Buddhist temples, pagodas, stupas, and ruins in the world, according to Wikitravel.

Climbing to the top of a pagoda is an impressive feat -- steepest and smallest stairs ever, would be fairly impossible without the rail.

While I was in Bagan Castiel returned and I couldn't download the episode. Not for lack of trying, but either the internet was crawling or the power kept cutting out. Usually both. Very antsy.

The ferry from Bagan to Mandalay is supposed to leave at 6 am. The first day I showed up at 6 am and it had already left. The next day I showed up at 5:15 and it left shortly after 5:30. Pffft.

People live in huts on the riverbank. The poverty in this country is humbling.

Mandalay, Myanmar
The view from my hotel.

Actually I didn't spend much time here. Mostly I just wanted to take the train north to Hsipaw. This section is supposed to be one of the great railway journeys of the world, and I've developed a thing for rail journeys.

Gokteik, Myanmar
My quest to see this viaduct was actually quite epic. It was for no particular reason the thing I wanted to see most in Myanmar. Just one of those ideas that got stuck in my head and wouldn't go away, I guess. At first I thought it was between Mandalay and Pyin U Lwin and had planned to take the train from PUL and spend a day there before heading back. Then I got delayed in Bagan for a day and thought I wouldn't have time. But no matter, I could just take the train to PUL and go straight back to Mandalay, right? Well, once I got to Mandalay I realized I'd misread and the Gokteik was actually between PUL and Hsipaw, a good ways further, and there was no way I could (or would) go all the way to Hsipaw and back to Mandalay in a day (or even two). Then I realized I didn't have to go all the way to Hsipaw -- I could get off after the Gokteik and catch the train back. Awesome, right? Except I missed the train. It was supposed to leave at 4 am and when I showed up at 4 am, it had already left. You'd think I'd have learned a thing or two from the ferry experience, but you would be wrong. Also it was 4 am, come on. T_T I ended up taking a pickup ride to PUL. Beat the train there so hopped on and continued north over the Gokteik Viaduct. \o/

On the train I met a Scottish guy and his Burmese tour guide, an ex con who'd been imprisoned for political reasons. Fascinating conversations with both of them.

The next day I flew back to Yangon, spent the night at the cute Brit's place again, and went to some sort of expat get-together at an art gallery with him. There are a surprising number of Americans living in Yangon, all teachers. The following morning was my flight out of Myanmar. It didn't leave early so I didn't miss it. \o/

Singapore
My cousin lives here.

My cousin is a (half) black dude with arms the size of my legs. You wouldn't be able to tell at first glance that he's half Chinese, so when he introduced me to his flatmates and friends I got various responses ranging from "you aren't built like him" to "seriously? And all this time I thought 'I'm half Chinese' was just a pickup line."

To be honest I spent much of my time in Singapore chilling out under not one but two ACs, catching up on work and TV shows and sleep, hanging out with my cousin, and cruising around in his millionaire friend's S$300k Lexus convertible. This millionaire friend kept calling me "cousin" and once asked if I was still "in heat" instead of "feeling warm". He's Iranian. Good times.

But I did manage to do some touristy stuff. Marina Bay Sands!

The mall at Marina Bay with the pond inside.

And Sentosa was very pretty.

Bridge to the southernmost point of Continental Asia.

Bintan, Indonesia
My cousin had booked a weekend trip to Bintan for us ages ago. Come time to leave, the Chinese embassy had his passport and he didn't. *facepalm* Because we were drunk, we decided it would be a good idea to show up at the ferry terminal with his old passport, the one with holes punched in it and CANCELED written on it. The immigration officials looked at us like we were idiots. It was a valiant effort. I ended up going alone so it wouldn't be a complete waste of money, and it was a package tour from Groupon so all weekend people were asking me for my name and I would give them my cousin's (very obviously male) name. Awesome.

I got an excellent massage and spent the weekend relaxing on the beach.

And a cat ate my dinner.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
I only came here 'cause flights from here to Dubai were much cheaper than flights from Singapore to Dubai. Got in late at night via bus, had no idea where I ended up, and asked someone where the nearest metro station was. They pointed to a sign not so far from us with arrows pointing to the metro station just across the street. I felt very smart. Made it to my hostel and had just enough time and energy left to check out the Petronas Towers before crashing.

Thus ends the Southeast Asia part of my trip. Flew to Dubai next and had a 9.5 hour layover in Chennai. I didn't consciously notice how distinct the smell of India is the first time I went there, but upon stepping off the plane and breathing in the air, I recognized it immediately. India smells so very… Indian.

Dubai, UAE
Stayed with a couchsurfer from Syria. He took me kayaking in the sea.

Only, it was his first time kayaking so he had no idea what he was doing. I ended up in the sea in all my clothes. There were pretty purple jellyfish in the water which I thankfully managed to avoid while in the water in all my clothes.

I had booked a time slot to see the Burj Khalifa online, and I was nearly late after the kayaking incident. Showed up all wet and was afraid they wouldn't let me in, but they did. The Burj Khalifa is so fucking amazing.

I stayed until well after sunset to see the night view as well.

Afterward I met up with a GISHWHESHEAN and we walked around Dubai mall looking for cologne for my friend. Even the biggest mall in the world didn't have the cologne he wanted. Fail. The aquarium was cool, though.

Just got to Rome! Actually between Dubai and here I also traveled around Turkey for a couple of weeks, then Serbia, Montenegro, and Croatia, but it's 4:30 am so those will be in my next post. Hopefully it won't take another two months to write it up. T_T

Alps + Cairo + Abu Dhabi + India Part I

2012-02-23T12:38:28Z

A very belated happy Valentine's Day and thanks to n_isfor_neville, ohmiya_sg, angel_kink, harper47, effervescent, rogueslayer452, anathema91, starlitshore, brihana25, and wook77 for all the glass hearts! They are very decorative and festive. ♥ I think at the time I was floating lazily about the backwaters of South India in a tiny boat.

Been traveling for almost a month now and had some crazy times.

Innsbruck, Austria
Annual snowboard trip was in the Austrian Alps! It was me, a Brazilian (yes, the same one that's in all my other travel stories), an Austrian, a German, and six Portuguese. One of the most hilarious weeks of my life, NONSTOP LAUGHTER. As you can see! I'm the one dying of lulz in the snow.

This particular pic was taken after a good number of shots/beers and the following conversation:
Me, to Brazilian, who is always always the last person everyone has to wait for: Will you hurry the fuck up, you've been strapping your boots in for the past two minutes now.
Brazilian, totally by accident: Come on, two minutes isn't such a long time to strap my dick to the board!

Proof that all guys ever think about is their dicks aside, there was a lot of drunk snowboarding (snowassing?) on this trip thanks to the lovely tradition of après-ski which isn't so much after skiing as it is toward the end of skiing but oh wait you still have to make it the rest of the way down the mountain in the dark after you've had all those drinks but don't worry it's not hazardous at all.

Speaking of hazardous, at one point (during the day, while sober) I lost everyone because we were snowboarding in the middle of a cloud and I couldn't see anything, so of course I ended up by myself in the middle of the woods on some abandoned toboggan run for several kilometers. Which I thought was fine, because it was a fun trail and in the US when you get lost all you have to do is get to the end of the run and there'll be some ski lift to take you back up, complete with maps and everything.

Well, in Austria when you get lost you end up in the backyard of somebody's private condo in a completely different village and their GIANT DOG almost kills you. Now, normally I love dogs, but I was the intruder here and it was growling menacingly and running toward me so I thought, omg I'm going to have to kill somebody's dog with my snowboard and possibly die in the process. D: But it stopped about half a meter away from me and we had a staring contest and then I managed to back away slowly. Ended up hitchhiking back to the ski area, and the woman who gave me a ride had the friendliest dog ever. Go figure.

There was also the time I fell backwards off a cliff, but anyway. It was only a few meters and the landing was very soft. In conclusion, I survived the trip.

Oh, and we got to go bobsledding too!

Cairo, Egypt
After Austria I had 1.5 days to pack up and move out of my place in Lisbon. Whittled all my stuff down to only what could fit in my backpack (half of which is taken up by my body pillow lolol), shipped a small box of personal things back home to my parents, and left the rest behind.

To go camel-riding around the pyramids in Cairo!

The owner of the little camel tour business also taught me how to ride horses in the desert which was incredibly fun but omg he was such a creep and kept hitting on me when we were in the middle of the desert by ourselves.
Guy: I take you horseback riding because I want to treat you like a friend.
Me: Great, thanks, it's very kind of you.
Guy: *TRIES TO KISS ME*
Me: Okay, whoa, this is not treating me like a friend. Friends don't kiss each other.
Guy: I want you to be my girlfriend.
Me: No thanks.
Guy: *TRIES TO KISS ME*
Me: *starts looking around for rocks I could use if necessary*
Guy: You want to stay for dinner? I have Arabian horses, we could ride them and cook fish or chicken over a fire in the desert.
Me: No thanks, I should get back...
Guy: Stay for dinner.
Me: No.
Guy: Stay for dinner.
Me: No thank you!
Guy: Well, maybe after you go home and think about it you'll change your mind. Give me your email so we can touch togethers.
Me: I think you mean "keep in touch".
Guy: I want to touch togethers.
Me: *facepalm*

Thankfully I remained largely unmolested and we eventually made it back. Met up with the friend I was in Cairo to see in the first place and he drove me around Tahrir square and the river, then took me out for dinner and shisha with his friends.

Egyptian drive-thrus are genius. You park your car, they come over to take your order, and then they put your food on a tray which they attach to your window. Meanwhile, some kid comes over and starts washing your car in hopes of a few cents. Why don't we have these in the US?

Abu Dhabi, UAE
I only had a 13 hour layover here but it was during the day so I left the airport, met up with a guy from CouchSurfing, and went to brunch with him and his friends because brunch is apparently the thing to do in the middle east. Got wasted (which is impressive, considering where we were). One of the guys jumped into the pool with all his clothes on. So, he's pretty much just like me. I would totally have joined him if I'd had a change of clothes with me but I didn't, and I didn't fancy being soaked on the plane to India, so I (just barely) refrained.

It's a miracle I got back to the airport on time. But not before taking some pictures from the CSer's flat:

Chennai, India
Friend's wedding! It was a very long and complicated process but quite beautiful. I was given a sari (which I had to ask the lady at my hotel's reception to help me put on, lol) and got hennas on my hands:

They served our meals on leaves.

And there was dancing in the street.

Fort Kochi, Kerala, India
Me: *walks around town*
Rickshaw driver: I'll give you a tour for 20 Rupees (which is like $0.40 USD, srsly).
Me: Sure, why not?
Rickshaw driver: Are you Japanese?
Me: Chinese.
Rickshaw driver: Do you have a boyfriend?
Me: No.
Rickshaw driver: If you ever want an Indian boyfriend, let me know.
Me: ...Okay.
Rickshaw driver: I also give massages, do you want one? A sexy massage!
Me: *facepalm*

This is what the traffic was like:

Nearby Cherai beach, where I met a local university student and talked to him, then sat writing postcards for a while and almost everyone who passed me stopped to ask if I was Japanese.

Other nice scenery:

Dubious trash can:

And last but not least, ♥.

Alappuzha, Kerala, India
Houseboats are the main thing here.

I did not fancy spending a fortune so instead opted for a day trip through the backwaters on a tiny boat.

Local villagers building a wall in preparation for monsoon season:

These things are everywhere in the water:

Drank coconut beer, dozed on and off, and was told by an Italian couple that I absolutely must visit Myanmar. So maybe I'll do that next month?

Anyway I also went to a beach, and of course the rickshaw driver who took me there asked if I was Japanese and if I had a boyfriend. These two questions are like hello here.

I thought it'd be nice to head off to the secluded part of the beach instead of joining all the tourists, but not so much.

Creeper: *jogs over* Are you Japanese?
Me: No.
Creeper: You want fucking?
Me: No! Please leave me alone.
Creeper: *unzips his fly and takes out his dick and does this gross thing with his tongue* You want?
Me: Jesus Christ will you go away.
Creeper: *finally leaves*

A few minutes later some other man comes over, asks me if I'm Japanese and whether I have a boyfriend, and waves his friend over because he wants to "introduce" him. I pretty much just walk away.

Then a group of teenagers approach and I think to myself, surely these kids are too young to sexually harass foreigners on the beach! So so so wrong. *facepalm*

Eventually I go and sit with all the other tourists. The End.

Goa, India
Goa was amazing! I stayed with a CouchSurfer; guy from Paris who's teaching French at Goa University. We passed the days riding 260+ kms on his motorbike from beach to beach, playing with stray puppies, and generally just chilling.

He let me ride his motorbike even though I told him the last time I tried it I crashed it twice. But he was a good teacher and I did well this time. \o/ Also he has gorgeous wrists and smelled delicious.

Anyway, shark on a plate:

And sunset!

I took an overnight train from Goa to Mumbai. This part is copied from Facebook so a few of you saw it already:

This is the view from the overhead luggage rack in the ladies' carriage where I stayed because I couldn't get a reservation. An old woman told me it's the only place no one occupies since it's too small, so of course that's where I headed when the train started to get crowded. They all thought I was crazy but then cheered when I managed to climb up there and settle in half on top of their bags. I ended up being the only one who could stretch out, get semi-comfortable, and sleep a bit (until screaming fights complete with hitting, slapping, and crying broke out every time the train stopped and more people got on). Crazy night.

Now in Mumbai, resting, ordering room service (which comes with four spoons and no fork, lolwhat), catching up on TV shows (UNICORN WITH RAINBOWS COMING OUT OF ITS ASS OMG) and other things, and generally pampering myself for a couple of days. I'll be around Mumbai for a while since I applied for my Chinese visa yesterday and it takes forever, so tomorrow I'll start going out and meeting people and actually exploring the city.

/longest update in forever

Off to watch Fringe! :D

English fail 2011 <3

2012-01-02T17:01:50Z

Spent the weekend at a friend's vacation house in Ericeira, a little town on the beach an hour or so north of Lisbon.

I rang in the new year laughing violently about cows. This is a conversation to preserve in my LJ forever:

Friend, who is Portuguese: I'm so jealous you're going to India! I've always wanted to go to India, it's a huge dream of mine.
Me: Yeah? Why India?
Friend: The cows!
Me: Huh?
Friend: The cows!
Me: The cows...?
Friend: Yes! The cows. I love cows.
Me: ...Okay... yeah, I guess there are a lot of those in India...
Friend (with great enthusiasm and conviction): Exactly. I don't have any cows in my life, so when I'm on vacation I like to see cows.
Me: ...
Friend: Just during vacations, though. In the summer. I wouldn't want cows the rest of the year.
Me: ...
Friend: ?
Me: But why cows?
Friend (very earnestly): I don't know, I just love cows!
Me: Right. Okay, great.
Friend: It's like when I was in Palermo, cows everywhere! We only felt safe in two streets, but it was great, all the cows.
Me: Wtf. Admittedly I have never been to southern Italy but Palermo is a big city, I'm pretty sure it's not overrun by cows? Everywhere but two streets?
Friend: Really, Palermo is full of cows in the streets! There's no organization.
Other friend, who had been listening with equal bewilderment until this point: OH I KNOW WHAT SHE IS TRYING TO SAY. CHAOS.
Me: OH. OH MY GOD I UNDERSTAND EVERYTHING NOW.
Friend: Yes, cows...?
Me: CHA-OS. Cows are the animal! Vacas! Vacas everywhere in Palermo!
Friend: OMG. NO WONDER YOU KEPT GIVING ME SUCH WEIRD LOOKS.

We laughed for like twenty minutes straight, well into the new year, it was amazing. Most hilarious English fail of the year. Second most hilarious was the time a girl from Colombia was concerned about a baby and wanted to suggest we wrap it in a shawl. What came out was a casual, "hey btw, should we rape this baby?" Uh NO I can think of a few better things to do with my Sunday afternoon, thank you, where did this idea come from? Wtf? Third most hilarious was Chinese people painting Portuguese flags. There are supposed to be tiny castles on it and I guess they were told to paint "mosques", but instead they painted a bunch of mosquitoes on all the flags, lololol. We were so confused, like, WHY ARE THERE MOSQUITOES ON THE FLAG OF PORTUGAL?

There were so many more great moments, like the time a friend kept telling me about this huge, scary, furry bird, until I realized he was talking about a bear. And "I prefer cake with much density about chocolate." The same guy had never seen a tampon before we found some in a store and tried to convey this to me by saying, "I am meeting with the tampon."

Anyway yes, that was 2011. Here's to spending more quality time with non-native English speakers in 2012! :D

What did you all do? I hope everyone had an excellent new year!

ETA: HOW COULD I HAVE FORGOTTEN THIS GEM, a Brazilian friend once said, "I prefer this [packet of olive oil], it comes more!"

Random post to end a year of randomness

2011-12-23T16:32:30Z

Why so fugly, LJ? The changes have fucked up my layout too. :|

All my life I've written French guys off as being overrated. Now I am nursing a mildly pathetic crush on one after having spent last weekend with him and lallipoo in Paris. FML. On the bright side, at least he's not actually Parisian. And he's only half French.

History lesson of the day! I texted my friend (who is from Rio): Marcus, why is your city called the River of January?

Marcus: Bcs portuguese arrived or founded it in jan and when they saw the bay they thought it was a river or at that time the words for bay and river were the same. Since they were pt i think that they thought it was a river lol

Also I attempted to quit my job. The conversation took place in the break room and went something like so:

Me: So, after the snowboard trip at the end of Jan I'm gonna go to India.
Boss: India, really?
Me: Yeah, I've always wanted to go to India and this seems like a good time...
Boss: *drops something on the floor and goes to retrieve it*
Me: ...since my friend is getting married there.
Boss: Did you know, this colleage of ours vacationed in India once. I think he went by himself.
A different colleague: *joins our table* He has a girlfriend now.
THEN THEY GOSSIP ABOUT THIS GUY'S LOVE LIFE FOR SEVERAL MINUTES. Until we are joined by several other people.
Me: fml.

Later I made my boss understand that by "going to India" I meant I'm not coming back and he got sad and asked me to consider taking a leave of absence, aww. ♥

Thus far I have an Indian visa and tickets to Austria, Milan, Cairo, Abu Dhabi, and Chennai. After my friend's wedding in Chennai I guess I'll travel around India for a few weeks before heading to China/Tibet. Thennn I am contemplating Nepal, Turkey/Greece, Serbia, Italy again, Brazil, Peru... etc. But don't know yet and am open to suggestions! TELL ME WHERE I SHOULD GO. :D

Have a most excellent holiday week and EAT ALL THE THINGS. I miss you guys. ♥

Didn't 2011 start like, two months ago?

2011-11-27T23:40:05Z

Have you been asking yourself what kind of cards you should send to people this holiday season? No? Well, do it now!

And voila, here is your answer! :D

These cards are made from artwork by the kids at the Art Creation Foundation for Children in Jacmel, Haiti. Make a $20 or more donation in someone's name and we'll send them the card of your choice with a message telling them you've made a donation in their name. This works especially well if a) you don't know what to get someone for Christmas, and b) they are a decent person who would appreciate this sort of thing. Make a $50 donation and you (or a friend) will receive a set of all six cards, plus a beautiful bird ornament, handmade and signed by one of the kids.

Limited time only and all that! /plug

Other things I have been doing with my time recently:

Watching 169 videos of various people crossing various roads with various live chickens.

Going through hundreds of photos of dogs dressed as Cas.

MISSING CASTIEL.

Watching Real Steel, TWICE because IT IS SO AMAZING and totally one of those movies you don't expect much from going in but end up loving the shit out of.

Watching Australia.

Watching The Prestige (again, while making cheesecake).

Mooning over Hugh Jackman, can you tell? I downloaded Kate & Leopold too and will probably watch tomorrow.

Lounging around on the beach and feeling smug about being able to do that in late November.

Eating turkey sandwiches. (Saddest Thanksgiving ever.)

Educating myself on the visa and entry requirements of like 20 different countries. Did you know US citizens don't need a visa to visit Mongolia?

I am thinking I might prefer to go WWOOFing in Peru than in Nepal. So many places in the world.

OMG JAMIE BAMBER WAS ON HOUSE.

2011-11-08T23:14:00Z

I don't think I've seen him in anything since BSG. Fuck, I miss BSG. In fact, I spent pretty much the entire episode of House viscerally missing BSG. I miss Lee and Kara and Six and Baltar and Adama and Tigh (I WAS ALSO V EXCITED TO SEE HIM ON SPN) and Laura and Sam and Helo and Athena and all of it. :( But speaking of, what's this about Bryan Singer doing a reboot of BSG? It was just rebooted a few years ago, maybe he missed the memo, how can he possibly do better? Skepticism, I has it.

In other news, I got super excited over the reappearance of Castiel's coat, and then it made me sad that I've been reduced to getting super excited over a stupid coat.

What else? Oh, I went to Asylum 7 a couple of weekends ago. Also I am thinking about quitting my job to go work on an organic farm in Nepal or something. Horrible idea? Intriguing idea? If anyone has any experience with WWOOF I'd love to hear about it.

So how're all of you?

Charity raffle of SPN cast autographs for Haiti!

2011-10-19T00:26:02Z

All proceeds go directly to the Art Creation Foundation for Children, a nonprofit arts organization created for education and personal growth of children in need in Jacmel, Haiti. They are currently supporting 95 children and their friends and families.

For every $10 you donate, you will be entered once into a raffle to win this one-of-a-kind, 11x14" print of an original acrylic painting that has been signed by the following Supernatural cast members:

1. Jensen Ackles (Dean Winchester)
2. Jared Padalecki (Sam Winchester)
3. Misha Collins (Castiel)
4. Matt Cohen (Young John Winchester)
5. Richard Speight Jr. (Trickster/Gabriel)
6. Alona Tal (Jo Harvelle)
7. Sebastian Roché (Balthazar)
8. Chad Lindberg (Ash)
9. Steven Williams (Rufus Turner)
10. Corin Nemec (Christian Campbell)

The raffle ends on October 31st at midnight EST. On November 1st, we will choose a lucky winner!

ENTER RAFFLE NOW

or

7.04

2011-10-15T05:29:05Z

Who else thought Dean was even more gorgeous than usual in this episode? /shallow

I would have more to say but I can't stop thinking about FRINGE fksdlfjslfskdlsldfomg.

My new favorite thing in fandom~

2011-09-29T18:44:56Z

From HugCastiel.com by toranoko

HUGS HUGS AND MORE HUGS FOR CAS. HUGS FOREVER!

In other news, Oktoberfest in Munich tomorrow! :D Too bad I'll miss the new ep, though.

Shit I do for fun.

2011-08-29T00:00:10Z

Fundraising! Ever since getting back from Haiti, my friend Jenny and I have wanted to do something to help out the awesome kids at the Art Creation Foundation for Children.

LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT THESE KIDS. When you show up at their school they'll swarm you with hugs and bright smiles and be super excited about your camera. They'll run off with your camera to play with it but if you so much as look like you might be leaving they'll run to you and try to give it back. They make gorgeous little papier-mâché birds and when your own attempt fails miserably, they'll help you out with it and show you how to do it right. They also created an epic mosaic wall downtown, and they'll take your hand and walk the length of it with you, pausing at the bits they did and pointing them out to you with huge grins. And when they get their little bit of food and clean water, they'll have some themselves and try to share the rest with you.

A lot of these 95 children are orphans and street kids, and ACFFC is their only chance at regular meals, safety and health care, an education, and a family. Please please please donate a bit to support them, I'll love you forever.

Art for Art on Crowdrise

You don't have to donate $50, but if you do, Jenny and I will send you an 8x10" portrait she painted of one of the kids. Donate $200 to get all four plus a papier-mâché bird made by the kids.

Or just like our Facebook page or help us spread the word. Thank you in advance! ♥

I also like to jump off 15 m / 50 ft bridges. Apparently.

I tried to make this post last week but LJ was down. :P

2011-08-07T15:52:47Z

Back in Lisbon and back at work. Thank you to sesheta_66, rogueslayer452, enablelove, wook77, starlitshore (x3), and effervescent for the vgifts over the past few weeks! But mostly for not forgetting me even though I've been MIA for so long. ♥

This has been my whole crazy-ass, 17-countries summer: Lisbon → Coimbra → Porto → Frankfurt → Bacharach → Koblenz → Köln → Prague → Munich → Venice → Rome + Vatican → Florence → Budapest → Salzburg → Vienna → Bratislava → Kraków + Auschwitz + Wieliczka → Berlin → Amsterdam → Ghent → Brussels → Guimarães → Lisbon → Michigan → Miami → Haiti → Michigan + Indiana → Dublin + Wicklow → London + Oxford + Windsor + Stonehenge → Paris → Interlaken → Geneva → Lisbon. And summer isn't even over yet.

Already posted pics and stuff from Eurotrip part I so let's talk about Haiti! Which was six weeks ago but whatever. Full stories are or will be elsewhere, so here are some personal highlights:

Gotta start with Lords South Beach in Miami, the delicious gay hotel we stayed in the night before we went to Haiti. It was deliciously gay.

My first conversation with a guy in Haiti happened at the airport in Jacmel where I stayed behind for a while to watch everyone's luggage. He was a customs control officer and he kept asking me why I didn't have a man yet and "If you want to have sex..." What he was really asking (I think) is how people in the U.S. go about hooking up, but that's not what it initially sounded like. :P

Dancing in the rain on the first day.

We visited the Art Creation Foundation For Children in Jacmel several times over the course of the week, and a girl from the foundation came to our hotel with her friend on the last day just to say bye to me and give me three little clay birds she'd made. ♥

The mosaic wall made by the art students, it was gorgeous and they were so excited to show it to us.

The kids' fascination with our cameras and video cameras! They'd immediately snatch our cameras away from us when we got there and run off with them, which was admittedly mildly concerning the first time it happened until I discovered if I so much as walked out to the van the kid would come running over to me to try to give me my camera back.

Rooming with @jenny_ackerman!

Swimming in jeans every day.

Getting yelled at by some random woman for staying up giggling in the pool past midnight one night, and @jenny_ackerman getting upset because I wasn't upset about it. :P

Spending a whole week with my favorite h00r @LauinLA! ♥

All of the other volunteers too, even if they weren't nearly as big h00rs.

The rum punch and fruit punch, mmm.

This amazing corn thing we had for dinner a few times. IT WAS AMAZING.

One boob tree lady! The most profound painting in the world is now in my possession:

Drinking out of coconuts chopped open by little boys with giant machetes.

Misha's friend, Philip, talking about going to an Australian con with Misha which resulted in everyone thinking they were lovers and wanting a "Misha/Philip sandwich".

Friday night, featuring a live band, plenty of the aforementioned rum punch, and dancing with everyone. Even Misha who doesn't usually dance except when drunk, apparently.

Belly-dancing lessons from our resident Russian spy.

Teaching everyone rude and hilarious Turkish gestures.

"I'm not so much into fruit games." - @Rea79, my shark buddy, when asked to play apples to apples.

Random Acts bought boots for the construction workers at one of the work sites (they'd been going barefoot or had their feet wrapped up) and they later told Philip it was like working in Heaven. That floored me, not gonna lie.

Feeling marginally useful at construction sites. :P

We hired some van drivers to drive us around all week, and as we were leaving Jacmel Philip told me one of them had a crush on me, which kind of amused me because I think I know which driver he was talking about and he was cute. We spent several water supply runs trying to teach each other words in our respective languages and totally not understanding anything the other was saying except "Bob Marley" when one of his songs came on, lol.

The bumpy rides in tiny planes to and from Jacmel. :)

Leaving with the certainty that I'll be back someday.

So, IN CONCLUSION: It was stupid and those people were all stupid. - @jenny_ackerman

After Haiti was Eurotrip part II, with my parents. :P

Dublin, Ireland
We flew from Michigan to Dublin, found our hotel, got breakfast, and decided we'd set out to walk around for a bit.

A few steps out the door...
Mother (who has the tiniest bladder in the whole goddamn world): Where's the nearest restroom?
Me: We just left the hotel, mother.
Mother: Okay, I'll go back to the hotel, brb.
Father: *almost gets shit on by a bird*
Me: Welcome to Ireland?

For lunch, we decided to eat in a park.
Mother: Are there any restrooms here?
Me: IDK, dude.
Father: *almost gets shit on by a bird*
Me: That was a much closer call than the first time. Maybe the third time will be the charm, eh?

Dinner on the second day was a three-course meal at a hotel with live Irish music and dancing.
Father: One of the desserts is a mouse.
Me: It's "mousse". Haven't you ever had any?
Father: No.
Me: It's good.
Father: It looks like "mouse".
Me: ...Look, when the waiter comes over, please don't order a mouse.

Wicklow, Ireland
So, we had reserved seats for a bus tour of Wicklow, right?
Father: We have a reservation.
Bus driver: No you don't.
Father: No, really, we do. The hotel reserved it for us.
Bus driver: Which tour bus company? Maybe you're with the other one.
Father (while holding the pamphlet): I don't know what company it is.
Bus driver: Nevermind, hop on, we have empty seats.
Me: How is it possible that you said you didn't know what company it was while holding the pamphlet?
Father: It doesn't say!
Me: Yes it does, in huge letters on the very front! Wtf.
Father: Oh.
Mother: How long is this bus ride? Will there be bathroom breaks?
Me: *facepalm*

Despite getting on the wrong tour bus, Wicklow was beautiful and no one slipped and fell down the mountain to their death, although my father had a close call thanks to his sandals. :P

London, UK
It was raining! Surprise, surprise. Parents in ponchos. Very amusing. XD

The HP7 premiere looked wet but awesome.

Didn't manage to get a wristband but I snuck around outside, took a few photos, and apparently just missed Tom Felton walking down this stretch of red carpet:

To make me feel better, some little kid gave me a piece of one of the banners everyone was ripping apart for souvenirs. It was a Slytherin piece. \o/

Oxford, UK
The first thing I did in Oxford was to get a text from @kakapojayne saying she'd gotten me a ticket to the HP7 press screening that evening and that I had to get back to London early. :P

So my visit was cut short but I met up with olympia_m, who gave me an excellent little tour of the campus, the Harry Potter filming locations, the stuffed dodo, and the Eagle and Child pub which CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien used to frequent, among other things.

We also went to a garden where Tolkien got some of his inspiration from and were stalked by a cat:

Windsor, UK
Went to the castle amidst a huge amount of anticipation and suspense and long queues lined up and down the streets.

Father: Ooh, someone important must be arriving soon!
Mother: I hope they don't take too long, I need to find a restroom.
...
Mother: They're taking too long. Who is it anyway?
Father: Probably one of the royal family. Everyone's so excited.
Guards: *change*

Father: ...That's it? How often does this happen?
Me: Every day, I think.
Father: Are they this excited about it every day?
Me: Probably.
Mother: Whatever, restroom time!

Stonehenge
Me: It was a robot head!
Tumbleweed: ...*rolls*

Too bad I didn't go with any Misha fans. Oh well. On the bright side, my mother bought me a shirt that says "Stonehenge rocks!"

Paris, France
My most memorable experience in Paris was ordering a "salad with cheese", expecting it to be a salad with some cheese sprinkled on top. What I actually got was a few pieces of lettuce and tomato next to a giant plate of cheese. Now, some cheese is okay for me, but in general cheese isn't my favorite thing and I find goat cheese to be particularly vile. There was lots of goat cheese. I was dismayed, but I guess I should've expected it, being France and all.

Anyway, our hotel was only a few minutes' walk away from the Eiffel Tower, so I ended up with loads of pictures of the tower at night. Mostly because I have a Canon camera and the symbol for the night view setting has the Eiffel Tower in the background, which I took to mean my camera was made to take pictures of it. Lopsided. Naturally.

Interlaken, Switzerland
Pretty much the most gorgeous place I've ever been to, violent storms and everything.

Unfortunately it was cloudy for almost all of the time we were up in the mountains (and in fact I got a cool video of the cloud descending upon us), but it was a fun hike anyway and there was bonus salamander sex:

Geneva, Switzerland
We only really came to Geneva so we could fly to Lisbon the next day, but we had an excellent time walking around the lake and parks. It was all very zen-inducing.

Also there was a duck-like thing with a bunch of baby duck-like things on its back:

Showed my parents around Lisbon too and my mother couldn't believe I didn't know by heart where all the public restrooms were. :P

In other news, I have a Wee Baby Sloth necklace. I am very pleased.

Also I can't decide if I find it hilarious that Tom Felton was shown Harry/Draco manips on Conan O’Brien or if I'm uncomfortable with such fandom classics being put on public display to be laughed at. Probably both.

Also also SPOILERY interview but Misha: I have loved doing the intimate scenes with Dean or Jensen over the years the most. lskdjfklsjfskdjsfkjs ship. T__T When does the season start again?

That's all for now, UNTIL NEXT MONTH. :P Just kidding, I'm gonna try to catch up with LJ as much as I can in the next few days.

afjdklsfjkdlsfj HARRY POTTER aslkdjfjalsk

2011-07-09T01:08:50Z

Today I went to the HP7 press screening in London thanks to @kakapojayne, and fkdlsjflaskd IT WAS AMAZING.

I thought HP7 part 1 was... alright. Time well spent, but it wasn't a movie I really felt like watching twice. I will definitely be watching part 2 again as soon as it gets released. SO GOOD. Although perhaps it helped that I haven't read book 7 since it first came out and don't really remember most of the details, so if the movie got them wrong I didn't notice. TBH I don't really care how closely it followed the book, it was SO GOOD.

Also hilarious. Harry's first line of the movie was something like, "I need to talk to the Goblin." Which is not actually hilarious at all unless you're me.

Then within minutes he's fingering Draco's wand and being told by Ollivander that it basically belongs to him now, and my old H/D shipper heart kind of did somersaults. I did think the movie needed more Draco, but the Draco moments it had were all superb so I'm not really complaining. He and Harry had a pretty epic eyefucking session in the Room of Requirement when Harry asked him about why he didn't rat them out when they'd been captured at Malfoy Manor, and then there was the whole thing with Harry being unable to leave Draco to DIAF and Draco reaching out to Harry 'cause he knew Harry would save him and Harry saving him and the two of them RIDING A BROOMSTICK TOGETHER. I mean, that part of the book I do remember so it was no surprise there, but seeing Harry and Draco on a broomstick together on a giant screen in 3D was pretty much the highlight of the movie for me. XD But didn't Draco try to save Goyle from the fire at one point? I seem to recall that, but it didn't happen in the movie. Oh well. BROOMSTICK. HE WAS PRACTICALLY ON TOP OF HARRY. There are going to be so many icons of this.

Anyway, I'd told myself I wouldn't get all ridiculous and emotional about this being the last movie since I haven't even been in HP fandom the past few years, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't get fucking misty-eyed like every ten freaking minutes. EVERYTHING got to me. McGonagall leading all the Hogwarts professors in their valiant defense of Hogwarts, the castle getting destroyed, Fred and Remus dying, Neville's speech after everyone thought Harry was dead, Narcissa and Draco holding hands and walking calmly away from the fighting in the end with Lucius making a conscious decision to run after them, Snape dying--

Oh my god, Snape. Alan Rickman is the most amazing thing to ever happen to these movies. SO MANY awesome Snape moments, from the first shot of him standing in the castle to threatening all the students in the school against helping Harry to all the scenes in his memories which I never wanted to end and could've watched for hours (young!Snape was pretty adorable btw) to his death scene. The Snarry shippers will love that scene, I think; Harry does hold his jaw/cheek quite tenderly as he's bleeding out, and Snape crying out his memories is kind of priceless. XD His last "look at me" 'cause he wanted to see Lily's eyes one last time broke my heart, though.

Other favorite moments:

Hermione polyjuicing into Bellatrix and saying "Good morning" to some random Death Eater

Ron and Hermione making out after Hermione destroys a horcrux, mainly because the whole theater cheered

McGonagall animating the statues in defense of Hogwarts and being all giddy 'cause she'd always wanted to use that spell

Some Slytherin saying "grab him!" in response to Voldemort's "give me Harry Potter or die" ultimatum and Ginny grabbing his arm (I know, look how I've matured, I no longer hate Harry/Ginny and didn't even get upset when they kissed like the butthurt H/D shipper I used to be.)

Aberforth being a huge badass, so reminiscent of Albus Dumbledore!

Narcissa desperately asking Harry if Draco was still alive ♥ (Although is half of her hair really supposed to be black?)

Snape and McGonagall's duel

Voldemort randomly killing Death Eaters, IDK it amuses me

All of Snape's memories, but mostly the one where Snape is outraged that Dumbledore has kept Harry alive all this time only to sacrifice him at the right moment and Dumbledore asking if Snape actually cares about Harry and Snape SENDING OUT A LILY-DOE-SHAPED PATRONUS </3

After Harry half-dies he says his dreamworld looks "like King's Cross station, but cleaner"

Bits of 3D Voldemort floating toward you in the end as he dies, lolol

THE EPILOGUE. I cringed when it said "19 years later" 'cause I am very much an EWE girl, but oh my god the epilogue was hilarious. They used all the same actors/actresses but tried to make them look old and it really was hilariously awful, which was perhaps the point? I didn't notice whether Draco had a receding hairline, but Harry was a bit more bearded and Ron had a big beer belly and everyone in the theater lol'd as each of them was introduced. Albus Severus Potter was adorable and looked quite like Dan Radcliffe in the first movie. Ron and Hermione's son also looked like Rupert when he was younger. IT WAS ALL SO CUTE AND LULZ-INDUCING.

FKLSKDJLFSK this movie is just awesome all around, totally made up for the fact that I apparently just missed Tom Felton walking down the red carpet when I was trying to sneak around the premiere the other night. :P

Eurotrip post of DOOM.

2011-06-13T02:14:40Z

Here goes the long-overdue summary of my trip:

My ex was visiting and technically we went to Coimbra and Porto first, but those are both in Portugal so they don't really count, right? ("I went Eurotripping!" "Where?" "In my own country of residence!" ...Nah.)

Bacharach, Germany
For all intents and purposes this was the first stop, and pretty much the most adorable little town I've ever seen.

We stayed in a CASTLE. The little one at the top of the hill in the background:

It was a bit of a hike up there, and I had my big duffle bag (80% of which was taken up by my giant but beloved body pillow), laptop bag, and purse.
Ex, walking easily with just his backpack: I almost feel bad for you.
Me: ...I'm almost grateful for your almost sympathy.

But we had an excellent view of the Rhine from the top and got to sleep in a castle, so no complaints here.

Also, HAD AMAZING SOUP. ♥

Rhine River
Took a leisurely cruise up the river, saw many castles and other adorable little towns. One of which was named SPAY.

Köln, Germany
Me: How do you pronounce Köln?
Ex: Köln. Köln? Köln... Look, just call it Cologne.
Me: How am I supposed to take a city called "Cologne" seriously?
Ex: Whatever, my friend said to meet him at the dome right outside the train station, let's go.

This is the "dome" we met him at:

Me: You call this a dome?
Ex's friend: The German word for "cathedral" is "dom".
Ex: Oh. We were looking for like, an expo center dome.
Me: *facepalm*

Anyway, we met up with some of the ex's friend's friends for drinks/food.
Me: Do they have fruit beers?
Ex: There's apple beer.
Me: :D
Ex's friend: Don't get too excited, I think it's just regular beer mixed with apple soda.
Me: ... *HAS AMAZING SOUP*

Forget beer, what the Germans are really good at making is SOUP.

Prague, Czech Republic
Is gorgeous!

Even if my ex spent most of his time watching hockey.

Meanwhile, I actually went and looked at, you know, the bridge and castle and stuff.

Including a statue of someone with his fingertips practically dipping into Jesus's loincloth.

Also there were these t-shirts:

And, of course, the sex museum with ancient porno films and giant dildos:

Munich, Germany
One of the first things we saw in Munich was a topless girl sticking her butt out in an advertisement for GAS:

The English Garden with its artificial surf wave was pretty sweet, though.

Also the AMAZING SOUP.

At one point it started raining, so we found some shelter and met this almost-ederly Norwegian guy and a very pretty Russian woman with a baby. Chatted with them a bit until the rain let up and they left.

Ex, as we're walking up to the bathroom: Do you suppose that was his wife or daughter?
Norwegian guy: *comes out of the bathroom*
Ex: T___T
Me: *quietly lulz inside*

The ex flew back to the U.S. from Munich, and I took a train down to Venice. Passed a random but beautiful little Austrian town on the way:

Venice, Italy
The first thing I did when I got out of the train station was to get on a boat.

Then I checked in to my hostel and promptly... got on another boat. Which I rode until the end of its route, at which point I got on another boat. You get the picture. It was getting dark by the time I was finally satisfied with my boating-in-Venice experience.

So of course I spent the next two or so hours wandering around in the dark, only to end up exactly where I'd begun. I found this shirt to be appropriate commentary:

In order to get back to the hostel, I took -- you guessed it -- a boat!

The next day my friend, whose name is henceforth Brazilian1 (there will be a Brazilian2 later), arrived with his mother who he'd been Eurotripping with thus far. I actually quite enjoyed his mother even though I couldn't communicate with her too well with my terrible Portuguese.

Brazilian1 asked both me and his mother to take about a hundred pictures of him because he's vain like that. He looks the same in all of them.

Moving on. This is not the boat I road. This boat costs like 100 €. The boat I road was 6.50 €, and much cheaper with a 36 hour pass. Nevertheless, I posed with the fancy boat because I could.

Then I saw a few shops selling tiny glass angels holding their tiny little hearts out and would totally have bought one if ibroketuesday hadn't already gotten me one ages ago, a little Venetian Cas giving his heart to Dean. ♥

What I did buy was ICE CREAM. Lots of it. Not from the stand with pigeons all over it, though.

Rome, Italy
Went to Rome by myself since Brazilian1 and his mother had already been there, took like 50 pictures of the Colosseum and 5 pictures of everything else.

Then I had some ICE CREAM.

Also dipped into Vatican City for a while. The most interesting thing I saw there was a seagull eating another bird.

That morning I'd gotten a text from someone on CouchSurfing saying he'd meet me after work and host me, but then in the late afternoon he texted again saying he had to work late and couldn't do it, so I ended up sleeping at the train station, on platform 1 with all the homeless people. Excellent night for all.

Florence, Italy
Met this Korean girl at the hostel who was also traveling alone, so we walked around a bit together and had ICE CREAM. Also dinner. The conversation went something like this:
Korean: Do you have a boyfriend?
Me: No.
Korean: Me either, mine just broke up with me.
Me: Well, being single is more fun anyway.
Korean: No, I just want to get married.
Me: To whom?
Korean: Someone who really, truly loves me.
Me: But you don't even have a boyfriend right now.
Korean: I know, but I just want to get married.
Me: I'd rather travel and have fun and enjoy my freedom.
Korean: I just want to get married.
Me: ...I got the memo.

Anyway, Florence was also beautiful.

We saw lots of naked statues with curly pubic hair.

You know you wanted a closeup. XD

After Florence I took a night train to Budapest. Unbeknownst to me beforehand, it passed through Croatia, which is not in the Schengen zone, so I was woken up like five times, got my passport stamped four times, and almost got in trouble because they could all see my expired Portuguese visa and knew I was in the EU illegally. They frowned a lot and asked me some questions but in the end couldn't be bothered to actually do anything to me. Those of you with U.S. passports, just know that you can get away with a lot of shit in Europe. XD

Budapest, Hungary
My friend was gone for the weekend but left me the keys to his place, so I had it all to myself for a few hours. The first thing I did when I got there was to go downstairs to a little coffee shop with internet and download the SPN season finale. ..I believe that was actually the last LJ post I made.

Anyway, then Brazilian1 got there from Prague, and Brazilian2 joined us shortly afterward from Belgium. Being Brazilians, they immediately dragged me out partying. Hungarian guys are very tall and there are many attractive ones.

However, there are also weird ones.

Hungarian: *comes up to me and says something in Hungarian*
Me: I don't speak Hungarian, sorry.
Hungarian: English?
Me: Yep.
Hungarian: I love you.
Me: Uh, a bit soon, don't you think?
Hungarian: *looks embarrassed and leaves*

This one looked a bit nerdy, hope I didn't scare him off of hitting on girls forever. :P

The next day we actually saw some sights.

See that little yellow thing in the water? IT'S A BUS. IN THE WATER. I was impressed.

Another pic of the beautiful parliament building, because it's beautiful:

Also one of Brazilian1 hitting on a pigeon, after driving away a male pigeon that had been sexually harassing it:

Both Brazilians wanted me and each other to take about a hundred pictures of them. I concluded that it was a Brazilian thing and quickly tired of taking so many pictures of them even though they kept insisting mine were better.

There'd been some confusion over which was the castle and which was the palace on the Buda side of the river (apparently Buda is one side and Pest is the other side, I hadn't known that before), but we saw everything there was to see, or so we thought. Then we went back to the Pest side (where we were staying) and walked along the river for a bit. And saw this giant amazing thing on the Buda side that we'd completely missed.

Brazilian1: SHIT!
Me: Oh my god, is that the castle? Did we go all the way over there to see the castle only to completely miss it?
Brazilian1: I think so.
Me: I hate you.
Brazilian2: It's not too late to go back! Come on!

So we went back over there and realized the giant amazing thing was actually the Fisherman bastion. Still don't know how we failed to notice it before, given that it is, as mentioned, a giant amazing thing, but whatever.

And it actually turned out to be pretty good timing, 'cause we were there until it got dark and Budapest is even more beautiful at night:

We ended up staying an extra day in Budapest because we loved it so much. Saw some amusing t-shirts:

And went to more high places, because we like those:

(Yes, hundreds more pictures of Brazilians were taken there.)

Salzburg, Austria
After Budapest we took another night train, this time to Salzburg. Brazilian2's railway pass didn't start until after midnight, so he hid in the bathroom while the conductor came by to check our tickets, lol. It worked! Not that I recommend it, given how the bathrooms smell.

Anyway, we got there in the morning and left our stuff in the luggage lockers at the train station. (Some of you already heard this one, sorry for the repeat.)

Brazilian1: SHIT!
Brazilian2: ...Let me guess, you forgot your camera?
Brazilian1: Yes, and I don't have another 3.50 € for the locker! WHY DIDN'T YOU REMIND ME ABOUT MY CAMERA THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT. D: D: D:
Brazilian2: You laughed at me for bringing my camera charger but didn't remember to bring your own camera? Dude, it's not my fault. I'm not your mother, I don't have to remind you about these things.
Brazilian1: But you could have.
Me and Brazilian2: ...

So we went to McD's and spent like half an hour there getting coffee 'cause Brazilian1 needed some change. Then we went back to the lockers.

Brazilian1: *drops a 50 cent coin which disappears between cracks in the wooden deck* SHIT! Now I don't have enough change again!
Me: ...*lends him 50 cents*

Brazilian1 got his camera and we finally set out, me and Brazilian2 making fun of him and his camera/coin thing the whole way. 10-15 minutes later we came upon this view:

Brazilian2: Hey, this is a cool view, let me take a pic-- WHERE IS MY CAMERA? TRACY DO YOU HAVE MY CAMERA?
Me: Dude, why would I have your camera?
Brazilian2: You're joking, right? Didn't I give it to you?!
Me: No.
Brazilian2: fml.
Brazilian1: *dying of lulz because Brazilian2 brought his camera charger but not his camera*

At this point Brazilian2 went back to the train station and we had to wait another half hour for him to get his camera. Srsly, this is what Brazilians are like.

On the way to Hohensalzburg Castle we almost got killed by a runaway lawnmower on a steep hill, but we survived the experience and signed the guestbook in the castle. Well, the Brazilians signed it, I found a page containing only a turkey doodle and added a little something to it:

The rest of the city and all of its Mozart stuff was cool too. :)

Brazilians: *take a hundred pictures of each other*

Vienna, Austria
Pretty, as expected!

Brazilians: *take a hundred pictures of each other*

I was tired of all the walking we'd been doing so I rented a bike for the day while the Brazilians walked. I think I had a better day. :D

At one point we saw this guy who dropped his ice cream cone on the street, picked it up, and kept eating it. We lol'd a lot. Then Jared did the same thing a couple of weeks later. :P

Also, Brazilian1 owed me 1 €, so I asked him to buy me 1 € worth of apples, thinking it'd be maybe 3.

Brazilian1: *comes back with a bag of 12 apples*
Me: ...
Brazilian1: Here are your apples. I laughed a lot when I was buying them.
Me: *facepalm*

Bratislava, Slovakia
In Slovakia, people suntan in cemeteries.

We found the Chinese ambassador's house which I was unduly excited about:

Also quite enjoyed the UFO hovering over the bridge:

And this wastebin:

Brazilian2 had taken a bus because his railway pass had limited days, so Brazilian1 and I didn't actually meet up with him in Bratislava until pretty late, and then only by accident, mostly due to all of us not having much credit on our phones and being too cheap to call/text each other. *facepalm* That day it was my job to take a hundred pictures of Brazilian1.

Kraków, Poland
Getting there was an adventure all on its own. T_T

Brazilian1: Guys, half our train is missing.
Me: Wtf go away I'm trying to sleep.
Brazilian1: No, really, I tried to go to the bathroom in the other car and it's gone!
Brazilian2: Where are we?
Brazilian1: Prague.
Me: ...

Long story short, our train had split at some point. Half of it headed for Kraków and the other half headed for Berlin. We were obviously in the wrong half. :P It's a good thing Brazilian1 realized before we got all the way to Berlin, I guess.

Anyway, Kraków (when we finally got there) is a cute little city of crazy parties featuring blow-up dolls wearing strap-ons, amazing(ly cheap) food, and dalmation horses:

Brazilians: *take a hundred pictures of each other*

Auschwitz, Poland
Walking through Auschwitz was a much more sobering experience, as you can imagine.

There are pictures of a gas chamber and the wall of death in my Dropbox gallery if you want to see them, but I won't post them here. My mother actually got a bit upset when I tried to show them to her.

Out of everything at Auschwitz and Auschwitz-Birkenau, this is actually what got to me the most for whatever reason, at the very end:

Wieliczka, Poland
Later that day we saw the salt mine in Wieliczka. This was the stairwell we took down into the mine. Actually this was about halfway down the stairwell already. -.-

I was actually a bit dizzy by the time we reached the bottom. But the salt mine itself was cool.

Brazilians: *take a hundred pictures of each other*

Berlin, Germany
We actually meant to go there this time! \o/

Being the utter idiot that I am, I went and left my camera on a bench by the TV tower. Or it was stolen, we never did figure out which. Either way, I went back there about four hours later (almost midnight) to look for it, asked around with no luck, and was overheard by a homeless guy who stalked me back to the train station where he waited until I was alone to approach me.

Guy: I think I may be able to help you.
Me: Yeah?
Guy: I found a camera on the bench and took it to this place 15 km away but they couldn't help me. (IDK it was something like that, he spoke very broken English so I'm not sure where he was actually trying to go with this.)
Me: ...If you think I'm going to go somewhere with you at midnight in a city I don't know...
Guy: No, I have it.
Me: With you?
Guy: Yes. *pulls it out and holds it away from me*
Me: Okay.. so, can I have it?
Guy: Well, see, I have this problem--
Me: *hands him 20 €*
Guy: Perfect. Thanks.

So he gave me my camera and I was all :D :D :D until I turned it on and saw that it was a) now in German, and b) had no pictures on it except for a few he'd taken of the TV tower and sidewalk. Guess he'd planned to sell it. But I was already on the train back to the hostel at this point and wasn't about to go try to find him again, especially since it's not like he'd have been able to undelete my pictures anyway.

I ended up doing that myself later, managed to recover almost all of my pictures. \o/ Only 20 or so of the files were damaged, which isn't bad at all considering I'd taken over 1000 pictures.

Yes, I am a lucky bitch.

And Berlin is awesome.

Brazilians: *take a hundred pictures of each other*

We went on a really fun bike tour of the city and saw a nude park with, well, nude people. The little kid in our tour group saw them too. :P

Then a bird stole my food.

But not my AMAZING SOUP. \o/

Amsterdam, The Netherlands
On the way to Amsterdam we passed Köln, only we didn't know it at the time.

Brazilian2: Holy shit this place is really pretty, I wonder where it is?
Me: That dom looks like the one in Köln! Maybe we're in Köln?
Brazilian1: Pfft, I doubt.
Train: *passes by the station with big "Köln" signs*
Me: *smug*

Amsterdam was fun! I enjoyed it, and the guys enjoyed it even more. :P

Brazilians: *take a hundred pictures of each other*

We ate our requisite space cake, walked through the red light district, was warned against taking photos of prostitutes in windows (some of whom looked utterly bored and were on their cell phones, which I found hilarious), and found a cannabis seed bank.

At one point we also had steaks at a Uruguayan restaurant. All of us ordered medium.

Brazilian2: I know why their service is so fast, they don't even cook the meat.
Me: That's what medium is supposed to be like.
Brazilian2: I know why their service is so fast, they don't even cook the meat.
Me: Yeah, we heard you the first time. You asked for a medium steak and it's medium, I don't know what you're complaining about.
Brazilian2: It's not cooked! I'm not talking about the size, I'm saying it's not cooked!
Me: ...
Brazilian1: Do you know what medium is?
Brazilian2: Halfway between small and large?

Oh man, there were so many of these hilarious conversations, Brazilian2's English can be beautifully terrible sometimes. XD

ANYWAY, Amsterdam, yes. Their coat of arms says XXX. I approve.

Ghent, Belgium
Brazilian1 was supposed to come to Belgium with me, but I lost him to the red-lit windows of Amsterdam, so I went alone. Got to the train station in Ghent and found some kind of tourist/travel info center.

Me: Hi, can I get a map?
Employee: *gives me strange look*
Me: ?
Employee: We don't have maps.
Me: ...Okay. Uhm, thanks anyway.

I still do not understand this. But there was a big map outside the train station, so I just took a picture of it and used that to find my way around.

Walked away from the train station and saw a shit ton of bikes.

Then I walked a bit further...

Yeah, IDK either. But Ghent is gorgeous!

Brussels, Belgium
Then I went to Brussels because I was flying out from there the next day. Met a girl from Vancouver and was all excited, but then found out she'd never heard of Supernatural. FAIL.

Anyway, we went to a massive flea market, which was interesting.

Guimarães, Portugal
Flew back to Portugal! Met up with a bunch of friends and got a lovely picture of the sunset in Porto before we headed to Guimarães.

Guimarães was really pretty, so I lied about cities in Portugal not counting as part of my Eurotrip. XD

After Guimarães I returned to Lisbon for a couple of days and then came back here to Michigan, first time in over a year.

THE END. Here is a random picture someone took in Guimarães that I actually quite liked:

The awesome thing is I'll be going back to Europe next month with my parents to do Dublin, London and surrounding towns, Paris, probably Interlaken, and then back to Lisbon. :D Also I'm leaving for Haiti next weekend. SO BUSY. One day soon I hope to be able to start checking my flist regularly again, but that day is not today, sorry. -.-

lol finale

2011-05-21T15:21:05Z

Sitting in a tiny coffee shop in Budapest, so this will have to be short and sweet.

I haven't actually gotten a chance to read anyone's episode reactions yet, but I hear fandom hated the finale. Which is too bad, 'cause I LOVED IT.

If we'd ended the season with Castiel where he was in 6x20 -- well-meaning but conflicted, tortured, headed down the wrong path -- I'd be worried about where they'd take him next season. But we didn't end there. They made too huge of a mess of their third most important character to not fix it. Castiel finished going down his wrong path, his absolute power corrupted him absolutely, and he became OTT and ridiculously not Cas, so now there's only two ways this could go:

1. They kill him.
2. They save him.

And by "they" of course I mean Dean. Possibly with Sam and Bobby's help, or if (when) he goes for option 2, possibly against Sam and Bobby.

Now, there's a shitload of reasons why TPTB won't do option 1:

They know how much we love Castiel and even if it often doesn't seem like it, I do think they care about what fandom wants. We bitched and bitched about Cas's nonexistent storyline in season six and then the last few episodes were all about him (and therefore amazing). We fell in love with him in season four which is the only reason why three seasons later, he's still around. They're not gonna get rid of him now, I don't care what Sera Gamble says about phasing him out. They try to make us worry about Cas/Misha getting written off every fucking season but they never do it so quite frankly it's getting to be a lot like the boy who cried wolf. That shit doesn't work on me anymore. Demoting Misha to guest star probably only impacts how much they have to pay him, not how much Castiel is going to be on the show. (Remember how much screen time he got in season four when he was a guest star? My guess is he'll be heavily featured in the first few eps, get fixed, and then just pop in from time to time after that, like the opposite of this season.)

Also, they need the ratings.

But mostly, they made it a point to talk about how Castiel and Dean were family every chance they got these last three episodes:

"Next to Sam, you and Bobby are the closest things I have to family. You are like a brother to me." -Dean
"I thought you said that we were like family. Well, I think that too." -Cas
"We were family once. I'd have died for you. Almost did a few times. ... Don't make me lose you too." -Dean
"You're not my family, Dean. I have no family." -Cas

They cannot even talk about family more than they did without shoving it down each other's throats with their tongues. That means something. In fact, this being Supernatural and Dean being Dean, that means everything. It means Dean loves Castiel, it means he'll never give up on Castiel or let him go, and it means he'll do whatever it takes to bring his Cas back, just like he brought his Sam back in the beginning of this season when Sam wasn't Sam. The fact that Cas only went OTT after he got juiced up really emphasizes that the millions of monster souls took over and it's not Cas at all anymore, as do his 180 on Dean being family and his immunity to the angel blade. Before that, when Cas was still Cas (the Balthazar thing was a terrible stretch of his characterization but I guess it was like killing Rachel a few eps ago, whatever, sorry Balthazar, I'll miss you), it was all about tearful looks of longing and regret and openly admitting to wishing things were different.

tl;dr: There is no way Dean's not going to save Castiel.

Maybe he'll do it in 7x01. Maybe it'll take all season of Cas being the new big bad. That's the only thing that worries me, but I don't really think they'll go down that route. Like Dean said, Cas is "full of nuke" and that can't last long.

Man I wish I had time to go through and screencap all the amazing Dean/Castiel moments of the past three episodes, THERE WERE SO MANY. Dean's trust and loyalty, the betrayal of that trust and Dean's subsequent hurt and inability to trust Cas again, the breakup talk, all the tortured post-breakup talks, Dean being jealous of Crowley and (so bitterly XD) calling him and Cas "butt-buddies", Castiel begging Dean to stand by him, Dean's stubborn, pained refusal to either stand by Cas because he's obviously doing the wrong thing or let him go (which is so Dean that I fell in love with him all over again), ALL OF IT WAS AMAZING. Oh OTP, you are so deliciously angsty and epic and OTP. I CANNOT WAIT FOR SEASON SEVEN.

...This totally ended up being longer than intended. The coffee shop owner probably hates me, my battery is dying, and I have yet to see anything in Budapest aside from the train station and the sex shop right outside of it (which was pretty much the only thing written in English). Eurotripping, I AM DOING IT WRONG. Thanks for that, show.

The phrase "Yippee ki yay, motherfucker" comes to mind.

2011-05-02T08:20:13Z

Icon not relevant to post.

2011-04-01T00:19:58Z

A year ago today, I received an email saying I'd been accepted by my current company to do an internship in Portugal. One of my first thoughts was, IS THIS AN APRIL FOOL'S JOKE? Turns out it wasn't, so here I am, a year later. My internship ends on May 4th, and then I shall be doing a Eurotrip with some friends!

Your challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to narrow your favorite European cities down to three and tell me what they are. :D

I've already got Frankfurt (and neighboring Bacharach with its youth hostel IN A ~~CASTIEL~~ CASTLE that I've already booked a night in omgitwillbeamazing), Prague, and Munich planned, simply because a friend from the U.S. will be joining us that first week and these are the cities he chose.

...Actually this friend is my college boyfriend, lol. Most of you weren't around back then but we had all sorts of fantasies about running away to Europe together, so it's a little bit hilarious that it's pseudo-happening now, over three years after we broke up.

I DIGRESS. Europe! :D :D :D

Also, job hunt (that I should've started three months ago)! D: Would you believe it if I said the biggest obstacle between me and my job hunt is not having a professional email address? *facepalm*

Say your name is Mike Litoris and you have your name as a domain name. These are some possible emails:

mike@mikelitoris.com (but it's too repetitive, right?)
himself@mikelitoris.com (but it's too egotistical, right?)
contact@mikelitoris.com (I can't even put my finger on why I don't like this one but I don't.)

Anyone have more ideas? I WOULD LOVE YOU FOREVER for helping me to solve this GIANT DILEMMA.

Yes, this is really my life right now. But it's awesome, because EUROTRIP, and also because I watched Peaceful Warrior the other day and to my utter surprise and delight, Tim DeKay was all over it. \o/

Look what got made into a movie!

2011-03-11T20:09:02Z

HEY can we talk about how The Adjustment Bureau is basically season four of SPN condensed into two hours? Which is kind of unsurprising, as Kripke was involved in its production. ♥

See, we have DAVID, whose childhood took a tragic turn when he lost his mother, but who grew up to be a smooth-talking, charming bad boy type. Some years after his mother died he also lost his father, who he looked up to and who set him on his current career/life path. David is occasionally prone to violence.

The CHAIRMAN has ~special plans~ for him and sends his AGENTS, who have special powers, to guide him along the path toward his destiny. The Agent assigned to David is HARRY, who finds him difficult to manage and exasperating. Still, Harry talks to David and explains things to him in a cryptic manner and sort of befriends him.

In order for David to fulfill his destiny, it's important that he be alienated from ELISE, his ~soul mate~ (sorry Sammy, looks like you're the girl in this relationship), so the Agents do everything in their power to keep them apart, including trapping David in a room he can't get out of and threatening him. The Agents are just following orders without knowing the reasons behind those orders because it's "above their pay grade", but that's okay with them.

It's not okay for David, who has the general attitude of "screw destiny, I can make my own choices" and who keeps ~fighting for his and Elise's epic love~ because she's the most important person in the world to him. When things start getting out of hand, an Agent named THOMPSON, who's higher up in the hierarchy and who has numerous lackeys, steps in with a tougher act to do damage control. But David keeps fighting, and this moves the aforementioned Agent who is closest to him, Harry. Harry is "different", and he's conflicted about letting his emotions lead him, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have them! So it's easy for David to convince Harry to help him get to Elise.

Harry rebels for David! He helps David avoid Thompson and sends him off to find Elise. In the end David is reunited with Elise, Harry saves them from Thompson (okay, so this bleeds into the beginning of season five), and they give the proverbial middle finger to their original ~destiny~.

PLEASE NOTE THAT HARRY DOES NOT GET BLOWN UP LIKE A BALLOON FULL OF CHUNKY SOUP. ACTUALLY HE MIGHT EVEN HAVE MET THE CHAIRMAN. So it's like SPN season four but a million times happier. And there's more sex.

There should be fusion fic of this.

Also, this movie is like a weird bridge between the two great loves of my life, Harry/Draco and Dean/Castiel, because there's HARRY, and because Harry/David is H/D but also Castiel/Dean. Probably I should go get less drunk, but it's unlikely to happen. On the bright side, new pic of Cas! (It's from a future episode but it's not spoilery.)

Sometimes I think Matt Bomer can give Jensen a run for his money.

2011-03-09T23:16:30Z

Have you ever seen anything this beautiful?

Please let next season not be Neal keeping the art out of hurt, spiteful defiance and Peter catching him red-handed and being disappointed forever. Srsly, show. I want to think Neal will tell him about it, but I doubt he will. Maybe he would have if Peter had trusted him, but Peter didn't trust him, and maybe Neal thinks he never will, and Neal is still a conman at heart, and this is so so so much temptation. :(

Anyway, theory time!

View Poll: White Collar poll of utmost import!

Also, tell me why!

P.S. Why has no one claimed the SPN/Fringe crossover prompt over at deancastiel's birthday challenge yet (hint: it's March 19th)? THIS IS BREAKING MY HEART, GUYS. Fringe is the best thing since, well, White Collar.

Re-defining "shit-eating grin"

2011-02-28T23:35:40Z

Yesterday I went merrily to the zoo, expecting a delightful day of beautiful animals and innocent fun. Then my pure, virginal sensibilities were subjected to this:

A CLOSER LOOK. YOU CAN SEE HOW FAR IN THAT THING IS.

AND THEN TO OUR COLLECTIVE HORROR...

LOOK HOW HAPPY IT IS OH MY GOD. T_T

Because I am traumatized for life and felt the need to share my trauma. Thank you for reading.

ETA: LOL I just noticed that in the second picture you can see another elephant in the background going for a pile of leftovers. XD