Bacteriae rule.

Got the results from my microbiology exam today - my first serious attempt at a "university"-grade exam. *does the victory dance and smokes the victory cigar* Safe to say I'm a happy girl.
Did you know that from the total amount of cells you have on your body, only 10% are you? The rest of you are bacteria. You're only 10% human - and 90% bacteria.

Horribul.

Know I haven't been the most prolific blogger the past week, mainly because nothing is happening apart from my intense urge to sleep around the clock - which is normal at this time of year. Secretly I think I was a bear in my past life, and the hibernation thing still kicks in.

But now, ironically, I can't sleep. Hence I roam teh intarwebz. I found a few interesting things, hence I need to rant.

Firstly: I just discovered totally randomly that someone who knows someone I am friends with ONLY because she’s a DM fan in the US has grabbed one of my lolmodes as a profile picture. Bizarre experience, seeing a thing you made and posted thinking maybe about 20 people would read, turn up as a profile picture for a random person.

Secondly: I just did something completely stupid. While on YouTube watching an interview with Martin Gore, I saw in a comment someone mentioning a Martin/DM forum which-name-shall-not-be-mentioned-ever-again. Curiosity took over (the same curiosity that killed the cat, I presume), so I registered and entered it. MISTAKE. The name-which-never-shall-be-mentioned-ever-again should’ve been a warning in itself, but no, I didn’t pick up on that. The forum was split into sections regarding Martin (mainly), Alan, Dave and Fletch. With dubious forum thread titles such as “fanfics”, “Put it away, Martin!”, “Martin’s girls” and “Martin’s Red Light District”, I went through these emotions in quick succession: Digust, awe, stunned disbelief, nausea, utter surprise, repulsion, embarrasment (for them, not me), relief (for me, not them), revulsion, being grossed out, shock, outrage, indignance and sheer pain. I felt utterly desecrated, filthy and damaged. I learned a few things though.

1. I have too much respect for Martin to openly discuss his “girlfriends”/family/divorce/one night stands/”scandals”/drinking/drug use/whatever. (Besides, how much of that is actually true?) Nor do I particularily want to see a gazillion pictures of his kids and or him in private settings, I feel like such a creepy fucking stalker.
2. I am normal. Way more normal than I imagined myself to be. By that forums standards, I am actually a sane, non-obsessive and balanced individual. This is the only good feeling I am left with, however.

I went into that forum hoping to find some cool pictures, either ones I liked or some I could put captions on. It turned out to be a slap in the face. I DID try to close my eyes/ignore the ominous threads I DIDN’T want to read, and focus on the threads that were supposed to be normal pictures, but the sheer amount of BATSHIT CRAZY made me come to a conclusion: no amount of pictures in the world is worth this crap - I had to get out of there. (And, I’ve never EVER seen forum people use THAT many smileys, either…)

Sadly, I dragged sisterofnight with me into this mess, and for that I am eternally sorry, but we did discuss it and realised what the forum did for us, and that was give us a warning about fangirlism: “Is this how you want to become? This is the path you are heading. Turn, now! Flee, you fools!” It’s like when you show smokers cancerous smokers lungs. It gives you a wake up call.

Yes, I love Depeche Mode. And I adore Martin Gore, I will forever admire him AND think he looks bloody good. But I am never, ever, ever, ever going back to that forum. Ever. Because it’s sheer evil.

Perfect!

Just heard that Nitzer Ebb has been announced as the support for Depeche Mode from January 9th and through February. This means that I'll get to see Nitzer Ebb AND Depeche four times in two months. I'm about ready to explode with teh happy. This is going to be four absolute perfect nights.

Joy!

When I came back to my apartment on monday night, I found this in my mailbox, and almost collapsed with an overdose of happee. 3 Arsenal shirts and the Depeche Mode ticket for the O2 show on December 15th.

Mart illustrates teh happee.

Mad hatter v 2.0

A while ago I wrote about the mohawk-hat I was about to knit. Well, I finished one. Which I gave to my friend, and she felted it on her own. Then I made another one, tied 340 knots to make the mohawk (!), and threw it in the washer downstairs. See, the thing about felting is, it's kind of a high risk sport, you can never ever be sure of the outcome. And lo and behold - my first attempt came out way to felted, and way too small. Hrmph.

All right, fine. I'll make another one. So I did, and threw it VERY tentatively in the washer at my dad's last night. This one turned out slightly under-felted (if that's even a word), but hey... I'm kind of pleased anyway.

We look good, don't we? Yeah, we do ^^
(And yes, that's an Arsenal shirt)

Tumblr stole my life!

This all began about a week ago, when I'd run off to Sisterofnight, my fellow Depeche Mode fangurl for some much needed relaxation and red wine to prepare for my microbiology exam.

The first evening I overdid it on the red wine, however, and have no clear recollection of going to bed. I will, hoever, never forget waking up and spotting this over my head. Safe to say, after taking a minute to wake up, I burst out laughing so loudly my head almost exploded (but that was more the red wine's fault, really).

Via twitter, a fellow fan instantly named this sort of thing a Lolmode, and via another tweeter I stumbled across a site with the not-so-subtle name of Fuck Yeah Martin Gore. This was a Tumblr-site (filled with 50+ pages with pictures *hirr hirr*), and this site in turn introduced me to the world of Tumblr - which basically is a simplified blogging, but a slightly more complicated way of tweeting. Think of it as a mini-blog meets Twitter and Twitpics. Naturally, there's also a Fuck Yeah Dave Gahan and a Fuck Yeah Depeche Mode site along with tons and tons of tumblr-site devoted to and revovling around every and any thinkable obsession or interest you may have.

After our weekend of red wine and fanatism ended we started talking about making a tumblr-site of our own, where we could post our various blurbs and outbursts - an outlet for our obsession, you might say. This sort of disappeared in everything else we were yapping about, though.

About 3 days ago, slightly hungover (yes, again...) and horribly bored I was browsing through I Can Has Cheezburger, the eternal and neverending source of Lolcat pictures. This is a habit I have, a way to pass the time when I really have nothing else in the world to do (besides stuff like the dishes, or the laundry, or cleaning the floors. Ew.) And when I saw a certain picture of a lolcat, my little fangirl brain instantly referenced it to a picture I'd seen of Martin Gore a short while ago. Of course I had to get hold of both pictures and make my own little "Totally Looks Like"-picture. Et vóila, my career as a Lolmode-maker was born.

Realising that making Lolmodes actually was really fun, I made the Tumblr-site Master and Servant,

and started to produce more captioned pictures. The activity of finding pictures to caption, thinking of captions, making the actual pictures and posting them to Tumblr, along with reblogging/liking other tumblrposts, and trolling on the depechemode.com-forum about the damn Lolmodes has now completely taken over every aspect of my life - I can't seem to be able to do anything else. Not even blog. Hence the lack of blogging lately. Hopefully, this newly found obsessive hobby will die down somewhat, and I'll be able to return to normal. *awaits sarcastic comments*

It does, however, seem like people like these Lolmodes, and laugh at them, which makes me really happy for some reason.

The simple things...

Just went for a long, late night walk with my dog. And Martin. (On the iPod). Felt I had to, to compensate for the forced bath. (Of the dog, not Martin.) Unbelievable how much fun can be had with a broken plastic chair leg. An enormous football pitch really isn't that dark in bright moonlight. It was actually kind of beautiful. Autumn isn't that bad either. I love being out in the cold, so my cheeks get all pink and frozen. It makes me feel alive and a part of the world. I forgot that for a while. Amazing how much company there is in a beautiful voice. That's me, a sister of night.

Food for thought

Pictures like these are the reason why I want to become a nurse, go back to Africa and make a difference in this world. Taken from World Press Photo Archives.

"Do you ever get that feeling
When the guilt begins to hurt?
Seeing all the children
Wallowing in dirt
Crying out with hunger
Crying out in pain

At least the dirt will wash off

When it starts to rain

Soap won't wash away your shame

Do you ever get the feeling
That something isn't right?
Seeing your brother's fist
Clenched ready for the fight
Soon the fighting turns to weapons
And the weapons turn to wounds
So the doctor's stitch and stitch and stitch
And stitch and stitch and stitch and stitch

Surgery won't improve your pain

It all seems so stupid
It makes me want to give up
But why should I give up
When it all seems so stupid?

Do you ever get the feeling
That something can't be done?
To eradicate these problems
And make the people one
Do you ever get that feeling
Something like a nagging itch?
And all the while the doctors stitch
And stitch and stitch and stitch and stitch

Hope alone won't remove the stains (shame)

It all seems so stupid
It makes me want to give up
But why should I give up
When it all seems so stupid?"

New diagnose

I have sadly recieved yet another diagnose to add to my list of ailments and disorders.

"DMOCD, or Depeche Mode Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, is a hereditary condition in which the sufferer feels the need to constantly listen to music and watch videos by the British electro rock act Depeche Mode. The known effects of this obsession include singing their songs non-stop or acquiring every Depeche Mode-related item possible.

Symptoms may also include spontaneous arm/hand waving, loud outbursts such as “Let me hear you sing it!” and “Oh yeah, that’s right!” and a fondness for anything black or sparkly and the number 101, as well as constantly posting on the Depeche Mode Message Board (or the DMMB for short), buying the best seats in the house for concerts, decorating your car with various Depeche Mode-related merchandise, voting for the band on radio stations, awards polls and getting fans to join in voting, etc.

Some devotees can also develop carpal-tunnel syndrome in one’s right hand (this is common particularly among many female sufferers) from right-clicking to download any and all pictures found under various “best of” posts on the DMMB. There can also be an increased awareness of hot flashes when looking at certain pictures of their favourite band member. Bruising may form as well, as the sufferer may sometimes fall off their chairs - this again is particular to female sufferers.
When meeting a band member, the inability to speak (laryngitis is always a good excuse!) due to awe OR uncontrollable screaming, hugging or kissing when in the presence of a group member OR simply passing out is very common. This particular characteristic is documented in the 101 DVD when group member Andrew Fletcher touches the hand of a female sufferer.

Sufferers can go weeks - if not months - without listening to any other bands…unless it is out of their control i.e. public places that play music within their facilities.

Research has found that various Depeche Mode songs can also invoke strong emotions in sufferers. This is particularly evident at live shows and the uncontrollable urge to do the “wheatfield wave” when listening to Never Let Me Down Again… regardless of where the sufferer is!


WARNING: THIS DISEASE IS HIGHLY CONTAGIOUS, ESPECIALLY IF THE SUFFERER IS EXPOSED TO A DEPECHE MODE CONCERT OR ANYTHING RELATING TO THIS BAND!"

Got this text in my mailbox from a fellow sufferer of DMOCD. I lol'd.

One down...

Today I've had my first exam as a nurse student. The subject was microbiology and hygiene, and as the geeky sod that I am I love this subject - for some reason I find disgusting bacteriae, fungi,m parasites and nasty viral infections very interesting. (Maybe because I'm one of the most infection-prone people walking the earth.) Seeing as we started school on August 18th, an exam on October 5th seemed really daunting, but I discovered quite quickly that my years of not studying hadn't resulted in my brain completely rotting out, I was actually able to obtain and remember information.

So how did it go today? I am hoping for a B, honestly, but we'll see. You can obtain a maximum of a hundred points, and I reckon I got about 80 or 85. Unless I get a kind judge that tips me over into the 90's and gets me that A. If that happens, I am so going to get a copy of the bloody exam along with the grade and slam it on my doctors desk - the moody bastard that looked at me sceptically saying "why do you think you'll do any better at school this time?" Or maybe not, I don't want to be a person who holds a grudge. Or maybe I will, just in this case.

The last 20 minutes before the exam started was probably the longest in my life, the clock seemed to tick backwards, that's how slow time seemed to move. I should probably count myself as blessed, I don't get exam nerves until the morning of the exam, but then I get them rather bad. About 15 minutes before exam start, some random woman's phone rang in the classroom - the ringtone was a crappy midi version of the "Just Can't Get Enough" intro. I smiled to myself, thinking it was Depeche trying to calm me down, wish me good luck and show they had faith in me. Silly, I know, but it helped.

Now I am off to buy food and have myself a glass of wine... or three. Tomorrow at 8 we're starting with anatomy, physiology and biology. Time to format the hard drive and start all over again...

Temporary insanity

I am going to claim temporary insanity. Just bought another damn Depeche Mode ticket - am now going to see both shows at the O2 in London. Got a seat in block 101 now, which is symbolic enough, and might be bloody good tickets actually, seeing as it is more or less ON the side of the stage. And bonus - it's on Mart's side! And no, I didn't pay and arm and a leg for it, that I actually wouldn't have done, insanity or no. Ended up paying about 10 quid more than normal sell price, which I can happily live with. Oh well, I'll get less time to throw away money around London, that's the upside. On the downside, I will have to be rather efficient in my sightseeing and Christmas shopping since I'll be busy both nights.

Oh you beautiful man, you. Shiiiiiiiny.

Speaking of Mart, if you're a fanatic with an itch you want scratched, go here. Be warned, you might end up spending a few hours here, though.