bettina

I spent New Year's Eve (or as we call it: Silvester) with my mom, my brother and my friend S. eating good food and playing board games. It was quite a lot of fun, even though I didn't win once. Boo! We watched Dinner for One, watched some fireworks and then we all went home. It was pretty nice.

The not so nice part was that I woke up with a cough, a runny nose and cramps. Meh. Since I worked between Christmas and New Year, I was able to take off the Friday and Monday after the New Year (January 6th is a public holiday here), so it kinda sucked that I had a cold the whole week I was home. At least I got to sleep in and I was able to watch Austria kick ass at ski jumping (Vierschanzentournee!!!). Yay!

I'm also quite enjoying the new WoW expansion that came out last November. It's really fun and the garrison stuff is pretty cool, although quite time consuming. However the Molten Core run I did was awful, it took ages and we wiped constantly. At least I got my Core Hound mount. It looks hilarious when my little gnome rides it. Heh.

I booked my flights for Fedcon in May and for the Queen + Adam Lambert concert in Frankfurt. So excited for it!

Hello, there! I'm not dead! I just keep thinking of posting stuff, but somehow I never end up actually posting anything. If I made New Year's resolutions, I'd totally put "post more to LJ/DW" on my list. But well, I'm not one for resolutions.

I still read my friends list, though. Well, at least the LJ one (sorry, DW only users!). I have not forsaken LJ/DW for Tumblr, which I don't actually go to all that often. Sometimes I will check it out for a few days and then not go on Tumblr for months. I'm mostly on Twitter* now.

Since I posted last (July) a few things happened:

I went to Wolfsbane 2, a Teen Wolf convention, which was lots of fun! Spent time with friends, went to panels, got autographs, got a picture with Tyler Hoechlin (and I don't actually look too stupid in it). All in all, very enjoyable.

Sometime during the summer I started to go swimming every week, which is really fun. In the fall I did a swimming class that taught how to correctly swim, so you don't damage your back. So yes, you can actually swim breaststroke without hurting your back!
The teacher was really good and since the class ended I've been trying to keep everything he taught me in mind, which is not always easy, but I'm getting there. The only thing that really annoyed me about the swim coach was his assumption that I started swimming to lose weight and his constant "advice" what else I could do to lose weight and his very judgmental comments after I mentioned I'd eaten a chocolate Nikolaus. *grmpf*
For the record; I go swimming because of my bad back and my almost permanent tense neck/shoulder/back muscles. Swimming helps a lot with that. Also, the really nice massages I'm getting. :)

My grandma had a pretty bad fall in October (I think), she broke her leg and had to have surgery. And a few weeks after that she had a stroke. :( When we visited her on Christmas Day she was doing a lot better though.
But it's weird to see her like that, because before her fall she was living alone and doing most things for herself. My aunt was helping her with some stuff like taking a shower and stuff like that. But now, she's in a retirement home and can't walk and she needs help in the bathroom and can't even feed herself (because she can't really hold the cutlery anymore). It sucks.

There are a few things that I've already planned for next year:
I'm going to Fedcon again. I'm going to see Robbie Williams twice next year, because he so happens to do two concerts in my home town. No one ever comes to my home town and of course I just had to get tickets for that! :D
I'm also going to see Queen with Adam Lambert twice next year. Once in Vienna and another one in Frankfurt! :D
I'm really hoping I can make Camp Sparkle next year!

So, I hope everyone had a good Christmas and if you don't celebrate Christmas I hope you had a few nice days! I wish everyone a very happy New Year, hopefully it'll be a good one!


*This is me on Twitter. My Twitter is locked, so if you add me let me know (if it's an unfamiliar user name) so I can add you back. :)

Sooooo..., I've been to AlphaCon in Vienna last weekend and... ( the bad stuff )

( And now the good stuff )

So, that was AlphaCon. And despite all the bad stuff that happened, it was totally worth it! :D

I did a two week long extra job, which was quite exhausting, but yay extra money! Basically, I worked 8 hours, got home and did the same job I do at work for 4 more hours. Kudos to all the people with two or more jobs, because, damn, that's really very exhausting! Also, you hardly have any free time anymore.

After having had long hair for a few years, I chopped it all of last week. Well, my hairdresser did the chopping and the styling and everything and it looks really good! Got so many compliments! (Although, it made me wonder if I really looked that awful with the long hair.)
( Picture here )

I cried many happy tears when Conchita Wurst won the Eurovision Song Contest 2014! I never really thought that I'd actually ever see Austria win, but how awesome is Conchita? She's great and really beautiful and I've read and watched a lot of interviews and she's just incredibly sweet and charming. And I've been a fan since before she won the ESC, I thought it was great that we sent her! :)

Oh! The reason I'm actually writing this post is because, it's Fedcon time! I'm so excited, because Nichelle Nichols is one of the guests and I'm so, so looking forward to meet her! There are tons of other guests there as well, like Alexander Siddig and Amanda Tapping. It's gonna be a great con! Whee!
Also, spending time with mabiana, chani_atreides, novalee17 and padfootie! :D
On the downside, I have to get up ridiculously early for my flight tomorrow morning. Do not want!

The weekend after Fedcon I'm going to be in Vienna for Alpha Con, a Vampire Diaries and Teen Wolf con. Not that I've ever seen the Vampire Diaries...

It's been almost three weeks since the accident and I'm mostly fine. The knee and hip doesn't hurt at all anymore, but the ankle is still giving me trouble. Walking, climbing stairs up and down and some movements still hurt, but that's to be expected. Who knows how long that's gonna take, according to the doctor who saw me at the check up I shouldn't be so "impatient". Meh.

I've got an appointment with my attorney (well, the one that my insurance company assigned to my case) on Tuesday and let's see what they've got to say.

In the past couple months we've had quite a few game nights, which I'm really enjoying. I really love board games and I don't mind losing as long as we have a good time. Unfortunately, not everyone sees it like that. There have been a couple bad moments with people being sore losers and also the one couple tends to fight with each other while playing against each other. It can get a bit frustrating, but mostly it's fun times!

My friend S is really into the Print & Play games and the two of us have tried out a few of those. We've tried Gods, which was nice to play. Also Hive, which was really fun to play. But this one is probably not for someone who can't stand insects at all! There was another tile laying game we played, but I can't remember the name of it.

It's Oscar night and I've got tomorrow off so that I can watch the whole thing live. It's become kind of a tradition for me to do that, even though I haven't seen even half of the movies (or a third or a fourth) that are nominated.

But I finally got to see Gravity in 3D today! I've wanted to see it since it came out last year, but I never managed to see it and no one wanted to go with me. But then I found out that one cinema had an Oscar special today, where they showed all movies that are nominated for Best Picture. So, I went to see it and it really didn't disappoint! The 3D was fantastic and I really enjoyed the movie! :)

This afternoon the German SyFy channel had an apocalyptic movie marathon and because I love cracktastic disaster movies I had to watch! Heh. They showed four movies and because it's SyFy they also showed them in Zweikanalton, which means the German dubbing on one channel and the English original one on the other. Awesome!

Anyway, on to the movies!

Earth's Final Hours
Some super-dense meteorites (created from a white hole) hit the Earth and go right through it. The effects are devastating, because this event causes the Earth to stop rotating and the magnetosphere is collapsing.
This was kind of boring and I didn't see all that much, because I fell asleep. Whoops. It had an FBI agent, a scientist, a hacker teenager (the son of the FBI agent) and in the end they saved the world with satellites that sealed (?) the hole through the Earth and then the Earth started rotating again. Or something.
See the trailer here: Earth's Final Hours

Collision Earth
The sun turns into a magnetar for a very short time, magnetizes Mercury and knocks Mercury out of its orbit around the sun. And because Mercury is now magnetized it's drawn to Earth's magnetic field, bringing it to a collision course with Earth.
This was kind of fun and it had Diane Farr (Numb3rs) and Kirk Acevedo (Fringe) in it and I like both of them. Mercury is such a strong magnet that lots of metal things on Earth randomly start floating. Also, lots of people (usually the bad ones) die, because things like cars fall on them. Awesome! ;D
Short trailer here: Collision Earth

End of the World
The heliosphere is collapsing and because of that some interstellar wave is about to hit Earth and destroy it. The only thing that can save us now are two SciFi nerds.
This was pretty hilarious with all the nerdy and geeky references, it didn't take itself too seriously. The nerdy guys had prepared for all kinds of apocalyptic scenarios, the scientist they try to find (who is in a mental institution) also had prepared for all kinds of apocalyptic scenarios in his bunker, all kinds of people die. It was pretty awesome. Heh.
Short trailer here: End of the World

Armageddon
I trust that everyone knows what this movie is about, I think quite a lot of people have seen it. It's one of my most favorite movies and I just can't not watch it when it is on. And every single time I cry! It's not as if I haven't seen it a million times and don't know what happens. ;)
Also, it's the first time I've seen this movie in English. It was a bit weird at first, because I'm so used to the German dubbing, but I got over it fast.
Trailer: Armageddon

For lovis: What pet would you like to keep - or perhaps you would not like a pet at all?

I never had a pet, because my parents never allowed it. My great-grandmother had a dog, which I loved a lot. And my grandmother had lots of cats (and a few cows and pigs and chickens, she had a farm).

For a very short time I had kittens, but I couldn't handle it at all. They were cute and all, but I don't know. They totally stressed me out and I had to bring them back to the original owner. I still feel quite guilty and like an awful person because of that. I mean, who can't handle kittens???

I would love to have a cat again, but after that experience I'm very hesitant to try again.

For milenaa: What are your favorite books/stories and what's most important to you, style or characters or plot or certain tropes?

My favorite book of all time is probably The Neverending Story. I've read it the first time when I was a kid and it's one of the few books I've read several times (I don't tend to reread, not books, not fanfiction). The reader that is important to the story, who gets pulled into the adventures of the book, I always loved that part of the book. As reader, who doesn't want to be part of the book? :)

For books, characters and plot are certainly more important to me. Although, plot a bit less than the characters. I like strong female main characters, I like fantasy/SF settings, but I do read other books as well when they sound interesting. Although, I have to admit, I haven't ready many books in the past couple years.

I tend to read more books when I'm falling out of a fandom, but as soon as I'm falling into a new one, all my focus is back on fanfiction.

For fanfiction, of course the important thing are the characters. Heh. I don't care so much for the plot with fanfiction, although, a good plot doesn't hurt. There are certain tropes that I really like, hurt/comfort for instance, pining, straight up romance, AUs. That's my thing.

For coreopsis: Since I love your posts about your holidays/vacations... What's your favorite place you've ever visited? How many times, do you plan to go back, most fun thing about it, etc.

Considering how often I've been there, London is probably my favorite place to visit. I definitely plan to go back there many times. Hehe. I mean, since I've been there for the first time, I think I've been in London at least once per year, sometimes more often.

The funny thing, the first time I've been there, I didn't really like it all that much. It was in the middle of summer, there were a ton of people there and I'm really not good with lots of people. Since then, I've avoided going to London during summer. It's still very touristy, but there are not as many people.

There are lots of fun things to do in London. I usually try to go and see a play, usually with actors I like. It's always nice to see them on stage, instead of on my TV or the computer screen. And of course there's the stage door experience, hehe.

The British Museum and the British Library are probably one of my favorite places in London. It's just really awesome and you can spend days, weeks in there and never get bored. The Greenwich Observatory is a great place too. I've been there a couple times and it's really nice. And you have a great view!

Aside from London, Stonehenge was also one of my most favorite places to visit. I've wanted to go there for many, many years, before I actually managed it and it didn't disappoint. Unfortunately, we didn't have much time there, so I definitely want to go back and spend some more time there. Speaking of Stonehenge, this is still one of the funniest things ever! Heeee!

Since I've already mentioned two places, I can totally make this a top 3 favorite places I've visited. So, the third one is Vancouver. I've been there twice, both times over 15 years ago, but I still have very fond memories. Beautiful city, great people and it's always fun to see places on TV that you recognize. Hehe. I really want to visit again, but no idea when.