Oh, Xabi. I love it when you do things like this.

Also, have a book meme snagged from gigglingkat.

Name fifteen books you've read that will always stay with you, and don't take too much time to think about it (the first fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes). Copy this into your own post.

( books, books everywhere )

Journal is being configured.

ETA: Hey, I did it! YAY! The awesome milou_veronica had the template, I fiddled a bit with it, and the end result was this. And I like it! Colours are yet to be properly figured out, but the template itself is there. I do have one other that I'm going to try, but it's almost there. FINALLY.

ETA's friend: Actually, I'm really happy with this. Phew. And YAY again!

Meme stolen from shotgun9 .

Using only song names from ONE ARTIST, answer these questions.  Try not to repeat a song title. It's a lot harder than you think!


Pick Your Artist:
The Kinks

( that WAS harder than I thought )

 Fernando Torres scoring a hat-trick for Spain against New Zealand in eleven minutes? Makes me happy! I've been worried about the Spanish LFC boys playing in the Confederations Cup, injury-wise and such, but selfishly I'm kind of glad I at least get to see them play.

And now they bring on Arbeloa, too! It's like a mini-Christmas in June. The only one missing is Reina.
And Nando got to step off. Phew. The less he plays, the better.

(When did Ramos become hot? I don't like him. Finding him pretty feels so wrong.)

Oh, also? This makes me ridiculously relieved. Not that it necessarily means it's absolutely certain that either of them is staying, of course. But still, an official statement? Is nice. The idea of losing Xabi still makes me bite my nails. If we're going to challenge for the title again next year, we need him, and Masch, too.

 I'd completely forgotten that summer is So You Think You Can Dance season! Oh, how I love this show. I'm not a big fan of humiliation TV, so the auditions aren't my favourite episodes, but at least it's not as bad as some other shows and there are some real gems in auditions, too. One girl actually made me a little teary with her fifteen second solo - god, I love contemporary dancing, I really, really do. I loved watching Travis from season two, and Alison and Ivan dancing to Annie Lennox's Why is still one of my favourite performances of all time.

( babble with spoilers for the top 20 )

Also, I'm in love with Cat Deeley. She's the most adorable of them all, with her giggling and her "I love it when fully grown men cry." And she genuinely seems to care about the dancers. She may just be a a really good actress, but if so, hats off to her for her mad skillz. I could audition for that show just to get a Cat hug.

Finally, Benji? I'm still waiting for your call!

 Quick update - still on crutches and in pain, but not nearly as much pain as on Sunday. Phew. Just a sprain, then. Although I think I've stretched my ligament something awful - pretty sure that's what I can feel moving in there every now and then. And it kind of... buzzes. Very hard to explain.

I've started watching Criminal MInds. Like I needed another show to follow. Curse you, buffyaddict13!

( something that confuses me )

 Okay, I'm considering heading to the ER later if this keeps up. Ankle still hurts like HELL and it feels...weird, like something moves in there.

Because I'm a nerd who needs to get cheered up every once in a while, I've been watching the Champions League final from Istanbul 2005. For those of you who don't know (and don't care), we were down by 0-3 at half time, came back and made it 3-3 by the end of the second half and eventually won on penalties. It was... Magnificent. And watching it now still makes me grin so wide it hurts. A little teary-eyed, too, but they're happy tears. I mean, the moment when Stevie G finally lifts the trophy - seriously, goosebumps.

I need an Istanbul icon. Actually, I need more football icons, period.

 Why does it have to be so difficult to find a journal theme that I really like? This is almost it, but not quite. I don't want to keep switching, but every time I think I found the one I'm going to stick with, I realise after a couple of days that no, it doesn't work for me.
I did find another that was almost exactly what I wanted, only the font was too large. Boo.

I'll try and stick with this until I do find that perfect layout.

Off to write my exam on 'the Problem of Evil in British Literature'. Yikes!

All right. This is me, getting it off my chest.
For football fans, summer isn't exactly the best time of year. No matches. Every  weekend I'm dying to watch a game, itching for Premier League Saturday, and yet, there's nothing. Unless I want to watch the Swedish league, which I don't. I don't think a lot of those teams would even survive in the Championship.
The only thing to keep us entertained during the summer is the transfer window, with clubs selling and buying players all over the place. Reading speculation and rumours can be a lot of fun, as long as it doesn't involve a player you really, really want to keep in your own team.

The big news this week - so far - is Gareth Barry signing for Manchester City from Aston Villa. This was interesting to me as a Liverpool fan, since Barry has been linked with us repeatedly since last summer, and I've been worrying all season long that Benitez would have another go at replacing Xabi Alonso with him. Which would have sucked. Now, I can relax a little. If we're not getting Barry, I can't imagine there's any way Rafa would let Xabi go. Phew!
I do think Barry is - well, a little stupid. Going from Villa to City? On the basis that City will be 'a major force' and 'challenge for honours'? Let's see. Which team finished sixth and which team finished tenth this season? Which team will be playing in Europe next season? Nah. It's gotta be the money.

( more football babble )

In retrospect, I really, really love a lot of the Spring Awakening music. It now bugs me even more that the production I saw was so bad. Listening to 'Left Behind' (look, it's the kid from 'Weeds!') can actually kind of make me a little teary now even though I was rolling my eyes when they did it on Monday. 'Don't Do Sadness' is both rocking and sad, and 'Totally Fucked' has been stuck on my head all week with its incredibly catchy 'blah blah blah' chorus.

Loving the music but wanting to grit my teeth whenever I think of the actual show is weird. Taking the musical numbers on their own, they're awesome. Put it all together, and it becomes a mess. Love it, hate it. I'm confused!

I don't do sadness
so been there
don't do sadness
just don't care

I got a distinction for my vocabulary exam! I'm pretty stoked - you need quite a high percentage to get a distinction on the B.A. level.

I went to the theatre on Monday to see Spring Awakening, something I'd been looking forward to since January - a friend of mine works on the show in London and hasn't been able to stop praising it; it won eight Tonys; most people I know who've seen it loved it. Expectations were high, but sober. I knew this was going to be in Swedish, something I don't often like, but hey, sometimes it works.

( I've never been that close to leaving in the interval. However, some fun stuff! )

 Do not watch Bare when already feeling emo. It never ends well. When will I learn?

Now I stand at a crossroads
And stare at a question
If prayer were the answer I'd fall on my knees
But forward is calling, and I cannot stay here
Nothing can change what you will always be:
An angel sent to hold my heart and set me free

Damn you, Damon Intrabartolo et al. I don't do OTPs, and yet, they're it.

 I have completely forgot to post this (and I know how interested you all are), but the blackbird babies are hatched! They're a week old today! And man, they grow so fast. First they were just an adorable, gross and wet little pile, but now they have feathers and everything. They've gone from gross/cute to just cute. And of course, I keep sneaking up to photograph them when the mother is out getting food.

( Cut for pictures )

Look how gorgeous they are!

Also, sorry about the picture dump. I couldn't resist.

 We have an adorable little blackbird who has gotten into the habit of nesting in a bicycle basket outside our building. I hadn't seen her in a few years, but now she back! I mean, I can't be sure it's the same blackbird, but I'm going to assume it's her because she's a friend of mine. She has made a perfect little nest and is sitting on four tiny blue eggs. I'm very excited about the prospect of baby birds and intend to take pictures throughout.

Also, notice the fact that she chose the one bike that has a basket decorated with flowers and leaves. She has taste, that one.
( Cut for pictures )

Today marks the twentieth anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster where 96 people, men, women and children, lost their lives, and over 700 people were injured. I was reading the letters on the Liverpool website, and actually started crying. It is a disgrace that to this day the families still haven't had justice, that no officials have admitted that they were to blame for what happened, and that no one has uttered the word 'sorry'.

96 reds never made it home, 
They will never be forgotten, 
They will never walk alone.

 HA! I want this. 

It's a beautiful day (I feeel good...) - eighteen degrees and sunny, and I'm sitting in front of the telly about to watch Newcastle take on Chelsea while worrying about whether or not Liverpool will be able to beat Fulham later. Football over sun. Self? You FAIL.

Man, I wish I didn't care so much. Stupid Premier League taking over my life.