Beth Winter

You're supposed to be very young indeed for the wild jaunts along the lines of spending 13 hours on a bus just to see a rock concert. I decided that yesterday was my last chance to do it while, technically, in my twenties. (Or just over the line, since I was born at 6AM.)

And, well, it was Queen. QUEEN. I learned English from their lyrics, and Freddie Mercury was the first famous person over whose death I cried. And they've never done a concert in Poland. Ever. Until yesterday.

20 thousand-plus people in a giant stadium. 20 thousand-plus people knowing and loving and singing every line of every song. Brian May with THOSE guitars, 25 metres from me. Brian Fricking May, with endless solos and acoustic songs and I have no idea why his guitar didn't catch on fire. And Roger Taylor (assisted by his son as second drummer and how precious is that), and dear gods can he still sing.

And hey, Adam Lambert. Whom I've followed since American Idol, because you have to support upstart musical actors with delusions of grandeur. Who loves Queen as much as we all do, and you could tell. He wasn't trying to be Freddie, the Departed God of our common religion; he was the priest of this ritual, guiding us and travelling with us for the songs where Brian and Roger were busy making instrumental magic. His voice broke during Show Must Go On, his breath catching just like mine did. I had a hunch he could do this justice.

This ranks in my top two of favourite birthdays ever, along with Yamaguchi von Krolock in Tokyo. I think spending my birthday out of town may get to be a Thing.

Who Wants to Live Forever

Show Must Go On

I do think fannish activity centres are moving to Tumblr, and I never posted that much about real life. Especially when it tries to eat me, like it did throughout the last month. Last week was egregious, with a 14-hour day to cap it, so I'm looking forward to a slightly lighter schedule.

And for those interested - I managed to get the muse kick-started. Thus far, four longhand pages of a Doctor Who/Avengers crossover, wherein Steve has a Type, Tony Relates, and Thor cannot believe fairytales are real.

A plea for help for the large portion of the flist who have studied Japanese at one point or another:

One of the things I'd like to tackle this year is Japanese, because it's ridiculous that it's been over a decade since I acquired my first words of it, with two years of quasi-formal study of it thrown in, and yet my grasp of grammar is nil, some of the simplest words trip me, and let's not talk about my kanji knowledge, plzkthx. (On the other hand, my pronunciation's decent, understanding's getting better, and I am somehow getting some grasp on appropriate levels of keigo.)

I'd like to start by self-study, with textbooks. Can anyone recommend textbooks for the following?

- General textbook with exercises and lessons to work through
- Grammar, from beginner to intermediate, with a focus on how people actually speak
- Kanji (I'm eyeing Remembering the Kanji, but would it be better to buy volumes 1 and 2 at the same time, or will 1 suffice for now?)

Borrowed from many people:

( Fannish year summary )

...yeah. I need some time to think this through.

Some things, I really like. The reason Tomomin initially caught my attention was not her goofiness, but the fact that she's one of those girls who gives all to her role, allowing it to subsume her. Onstage, Yumeno Seika isn't there, and this is a very Yukigumi thing.

Similarly, I think Masako will do nicely in Hoshigumi (giving Toyoko someone to bounce off of) and MiyaRuri in Tsukigumi - Hoshi just has too many people and she hasn't been well-utilised lately; Mii-chan's situation in Sora was the same. Dai-chan I'm not sure about - there's going to be Tomomin and Koma above her and Kingu gaining fast. I'm curious about Serika Toa in Hanagumi. Dammit. Have to start watching them.

But I'm... annoyed about the Senka transfers. I know, I've been talking for ages about how Senka needs new blood, but it rubs me the wrong way to take Ema Naoki and Asuka Yuu away from troupes that they've been with for respectively 30 and 35 years. Let them retire with the people who care for them, would you?

Micchan... I'm hoping it's a New Senka thing, Tom-style, stealing All The Shows. And better than the dreaded alternative!

Originally posted at Dreamwidth - comments

Calling out to London and UK people - in the eventuality that one can be in London on Thursday-Saturday this week, how does one get (cheap) tickets to something like Phantom, Les Miserables, Priscilla, possibly Wicked?

(Also, anyone want to meet up? Evenings should be free-ish.)

Between August 16 and September 2, I was working every day. I just had my first free weekend and, predictably, spent it sleeping off the stress.

Today, I was on the road for 12 hours, due to a meeting in another city.

Tomorrow evening, I fly to Prague. Three days' training, then Saturday-Monday for sightseeing.

I'm taking the computer, but I might not be around much. I'll be trying to rest, because the alternative is passing out with exhaustion at some point next week.

But! I managed a pathetic two responses to the crossover meme:

( Buffy and Phantom )

( Star Wars and Tanz der Vampire )

First, thanks to everyone for the congratulations yesterday ^_^ I still can't believe it's over, or that I actually managed to be systematic and diligent enough to complete the programme. Apparently this year, 22 thousand people took Level III (some of them for the fourth or fifth time) and only 51% passed.

Second, to kickstart my creativity, meme from selenak:

You, the friendslist, give me two characters you know I'm familiar with from different fandoms, and I'll give you a dialogue between them, without justifying how the crossover would work, how their worlds clashed, or how they could even meet each other -- just a silly crossover conversation for fun with no backstory.

Following a lot of Japanese twitter accounts paid off in that Toho Geino was where I learned that my favourite Takarasienne ever has a blog now:

一路真輝 Official Blog ♥ ♥ ♥

I don't know what it is about this woman that reduces me to a squeeing fangirl, but oh, she. With flowers and a banner photo that doesn't hide the fact she's a 46-year-old mother, and photos.

And. Um. Puri-kura. *dead-as-a-doornail*

I will also finally be getting the 2011 Anna Karenina, and holding fingers and toes crossed for her October concert to be put on DVD, because this woman is a true diva. With all the sparkles and emoticons she wants.

(I also wasn't expecting it in the least because she's famous - married to a TV/stage star - and has had trouble with tabloids in the past two years. But she's never been one to back down from a challenge, or let her voice be silenced. THIS LADY.)

And if she's doing anything to celebrate her 30 years on stage next year... let's just say the currencies/world economy had better calm down.

My colleagues won't let a birthday pass by without a demand for sweets, so I spent this evening baking alarming quantities of muffins ~.~

But! For the first time I made up a muffin recipe almost from scratch, and had it come out right :D

( Chocolate-rum-raisin-gingerbread-coffee-chocolate-chip muffins of DOOM )

Now to sleep, and wake up a year older...