In which Eulalia Milburga Antonia Deverell makes her appearance

Halloween! The best (the very best!) night of the year, where ghouls leave their attics, ghosts come down from their tower ruins and the undead creep out of graveyards... Devils and goblins, feys and sprites come out to spook people... Will o' the Wisps mislead poor straying trick-or-treaters and Kelpies drag poor children to their watery deaths... While Barguests scare the lonesome wanderers out of their wits and Wolperdinger come out to eat their gory meal... (look up Wolperdinger, they are awesome!)

I love Halloween. I love myths and legends and stories about eerie creatures (and I actually mean "eerie" this time), and I drink up stories of Samhain, witches, ghosts and frightening encounters... And I love dressing up! This is why Halloween is the best night of the year! (Heck, it even beats my birthday!)

Unfortunately, this Halloween was a little wretched for me... Mostly because I had a horrible chest cold. I seriously considered going as someone dying of consumption for Halloween (i.e. wear nothing but a nightgown, have a hollowed out pale face, red-rimmed eyes, and coughing up my lungs all night... maybe a little blood trickle from the mouth for added effect too...) But I decided that would be too drab and depressing. Though some of my friends suggested that my costumes were the "consumptive" version of my actual outfit. Ha ha. I love them anyways, but the coughing was really annoying and unpleasant. Especially because it meant I had to be quiet during the annual Rocky Horror Picture Show presentation. Due to all my coughing, my voice was seriously starting to fail me and, even when I did try to scream "Slut" or "Asshole" at the screen at the top of my voice, or even when I tried to sing along, all that came out were these pathetic squeaking sounds worthy of a tiny frightened mouse... *pout*

Aaaaaanyways... It was still fun. For Rocky, I dressed as a slutty nun with a considerably short skirt... And it started freakin' SNOWING!! My buttocks were not happy, lol. I was (literally) freezing my butt off (okay, it was my fault, but still! It should NOT snow during Halloween!). Despite all this, I got many compliments on my costume. A performer at the Rocky show told me I was truly the sexiest slutty nun she had ever seen "and I've seen a lot!" she said. Also, whilst waiting in line to get into the theatre, several men called out to me that they "want to confess their sins" which caused me to giggle and feel rather proud, despite the cold and cough. And I think a classmate of mine was rather stunned by the shortness of my skirt, commenting that he "was intimidated" because I am usually not taller than he is (I was wearing 6 inch heels) and usually not that sexy. It was great times... until nighttime came and I started really hacking up a lung... but that does not matter, as I am starting to recover now.

It was a little unfortunate, because Michael had a catering job that night and therefore only arrived at the very end of the Rocky Horror Picture Show (that is to say at 2:30 in the morning!). I felt a little sad to spend most of the evening without him, but, as it was spent with friends, it was still very much enjoyed.

On Friday though (the day before Rocky Horror), I went as my own original character. Let me introduce you to her... Eulalia Milburga Antonia Deverell. She is a character for a steampunk story I have started to develop sometime in June. It is really a fun character and it was perfect for Halloween (as I only needed to piece together pieces from other costumes to bring my character to life). So here is the beginning of Eulalia's story:
The smell of coal and engine oil was lying thickly in the air, creating a heavy and warm atmosphere that was perfect for sleep and sweet dreams. Sleeping on the concrete floor, she felt at peace and relaxed - she was exactly where she wanted to be. Her chest rose and fell slowly, and with every intake of breath, the irony scent of machinery tickled her nostrils. Without realizing it, she smiled in her sleep.

She was so distracted by the wonderful smells that she did not notice the warm breath by her right ear. It therefore came as a complete surprise to her when 'NIIIIAAAAA!' was screamed in her ear by a shrill child's voice.

Screaming with rage, Eulalia Milburga Antonia Deverell, better known as Nia, tore herself from her dreams of machinery and blueprints and looked around for the perpetrator of this foul crime that was waking her up. With her ear painfully ringing with a strident sibilant note, she looked around to find Kurt, the eleven-year-old boy who worked in the hangar as a sort of "messenger".

Her eyes fell upon him quickly. He was sitting cross-legged, about two feet away from her, with a huge impish grin (enhanced by a great hole where his front teeth were missing) on his face, topped by a shock of tousled red hair. An irritated twitch quivered under her left eye. 'Pipsqueak...' she said in a voice trembling with annoyance, 'what was that for?'

Kurt pulled out the tip of his pink tongue, which led to Nia pursing her lips to avoid an irritated outburst, and said with his customary lisp: 'The engineth are finithed...'

Nia, who had started shaking her head in the hopes of ridding herself of the painful whistling in her ear, thought she had heard wrong. Looking up into the child's eyes, she uttered a faint: 'What?'

'It'th the engineth are failing... Jutht thought you thould know... The gentth wanted me...' Nia did not let him finish. Swearing at the top of her voice, she gathered her skirts and jumped to her feet. Grabbing the hefty tool belt that had lain beside her, she rushed towards the farthest end of the hangar, ready to repair whatever damage those amateurs had done to her beloved engines.

So that's the start of the story I had written. It was basically my mind going haywire on a steampunk scenario... I love steampunk! ^_^

To be more precise though...
Nia is an aristocrat, a countess actually, who has always enjoyed flying things and steam engines. Instead of learning embroidery, like her mother wanted her to, she designed machines deemed worthy of Bedlam by her mother and father. She was placed under many strict governesses and school masters, but the love of engines was never beaten out of her.
When her parents died and her brother (and his wife) succeeded to the title and the estate, he decided to get rid of his crazy sister. He placed Nia on the doorstep, with a handful of jewels and her best clothes so she might make a meagre living for at least some time without bothering him, and then turned his back on her completely.
But Nia did not care. She simply reveled in the fact that she was now free to pursue her love of flying and inventions. Soon, she found herself "taxiing" people accross all of London in one of her own inventions, a flying machine she has lovingly baptized "Astrid" (she believes Astrid to be the epitome of her inventory genius). Basically, she is a very unusual taxi driver... and her taxi flies.
And the clothes her brother gave her? She still wears them! Indeed, Nia would rather make no money at all than wear rags. Therefore, she still wears her best clothes from her days as a countess, despite working with engine oil and steam and having added some wacky goggles to the lot!

There you have it. The history behind my Halloween costume.

And for the moment, dear readers, that must be it. I must go to bed in the hopes of getting over my bloody chest cold.

*cough* Good night to all! *cough, rasp, hack, cough*

Oh... and a picture of me as Nia:


P.S. I met up with a friend from Air Canada today (she is now a flight attendant at Jazz). I was really happy to see her again. It makes me realize how badly I want to go back to Air Canada for the Winter season... it really was a fun (though strenuous) job!! ^_^

In which severe head trauma is imminent

Well, for those of you with facebook, this is probably old news, but that does not matter - the post goes up anyway! Yay!! (I figured I had to update my avid readers with something! XD )

So, here is the full account of how I nearly died.

On Sunday, I decided that, if I was to make a costume as extravagant as the Angel Sanctuary outfit, I was in desperate need of a dress form. Problem: they cost a fortune. So I followed people's advice and decided to make one out of duct-tape. Other than the fact that my feet started smarting really badly after a while, the whole process went well and smoothly.

I will not lie, it was quite warm in that duct-tape dress that was around me, as my roommate Vanessa struggled to make it into the perfect mould of my body. However, I would not have judged it as too warm. Many people have been pointing out that it was 30 degrees Celsius outside, but we had several fans going on inside and, for someone like me, who cannot produce her own body heat, I felt quite pleasant during the taping process...

Apparently, my brain registered the temperature as wonderfully and comfortably warm, my body, on the other hand, decided to violently protest. When the time came to cut me out of the dress form, my head started spinning. It was genuinely terrifying! I did not know where up or down was and the living room of my apartment was, quite literally swimming before my eyes... I could not tell where I was for a moment. The odd sensation is really hard to describe, but I think the closest feeling to it would be how your stomach churns when you are in an elevator that does not run smoothly. My stomach was, indeed, churning from all the vertigo my dizziness was causing. It felt like I had been on a high-speed merry-go-round or something...
Anyways, my ears also started ringing. So loudly that I could not hear what my roommate was saying to me, though I did register that she was trying to speak to me.

Then, I was lying on the floor, with not the slightest clue of how in the world I might have ended up there. I had fainted. It had barely been a few seconds, but it was a definite loss of consciousness.

Now, the dizziness and the creepy blackout of the event is my side of the story. But my roommate also told me what she saw. Apparently, my face drained of colour. Not only did I go entirely white, but she say my lips had turned the colour of my skin (which is frightfully pasty even as we speak because I do not get enough sun!)... which must have made me look like death warmed up. No wonder she was alarmed. Although, she deserves a medal: she handled the situation beautifully!

She says I started hyperventilating. I do not have any recollection of this. She says she was trying to give me advice to breathe (but I guess this was the part where I could no longer hear her from all the buzzing in my ears). And then I went down. I fell to my knees first and then forward. Luckily, Vanessa saw danger coming before anything could happen: my head was on a straight crash-course with the corner of our coffee table. I would probably have bashed my skull open and THEN we would have had a major problem... But Vanessa caught me just on time an gently guided me to the nice, carpeted floor. Accident avoided. I think she did a great job and has a lot of merit for saving me from a bloody disaster!

Apparently, I tried standing up several times and could not be convinced to stay down once I had fallen... I do not remember this either - I was lying perfectly still when I regained consciousness. However, my brain did register that I was lying dangerously near the coffee table and I was amazed that an accident had been avoided at all.

Seconds later, I was cut out of my dress form and felt much better in less than ten minutes. Now I feel fit as a fiddle (though exhausted from the day's training!). It was just a super scary situation... this has never happened to me before. But, I must say, it was rewarding: I now have a great (and ultra-cheap!) dress form to work with! YAY!!!

In other news, Michael is hanging on to his job well, which means he does not need to go back to Toronto for the summer! This makes me super happy!
On the other hand, my schedule sucks. I have six consecutive days of work (no days off in between), at which I start my shift at 4 a.m..... this means getting up at 2 a.m. *sigh* I wish I could have the evening shifts because
a) I am nocturnal... I am very active at night and have loads of energy, no matter how tired I feel... however, I am NOT a morning person at all!
b) The evening is when all the international flights are leaving - thus, the most interesting part of a day... it sucks that I have to miss out on it!!! *cries*

Also, during observation at check-in today, I had my first real jerk of a passenger. He said something along the lines that we did not take good care of our customers because we were taking too long. He also said that he could do what we did much faster without even having to touch the keyboard. Well, I have news for him: if we do not touch the keyboard, we cannot verify his information and thus cannot print his boarding pass. Ergo, he would NOT be flying if we did it "without touching the keyboard" as he said. He said he was a frequent flyer and new everything of airline travel... obviously not. I would like to see him try to check himself in with our system (not the airport kiosks)... and, if it was so easy, why did he not check in with kiosk in the first place... *sigh* Some people will never cease to amaze me...

Anyways... that's all for now. My brain is reeling with information about how to execute a check-in... but that is not of interest to any of my readers... if I have any...

And thus, goodnight!

In which the annual checkup happened...

I. Hate. Medical. Exams.

Do not get me wrong: I love my doctor. She's super nice! But the annual check-up always makes me very uncomfortable and feel very awkward. As much as I like my doctor, I hate it when she starts making small-talk from between my legs... waaay too awkward! And I am not a prude by any means!! And I hate cotton swabs too... it feels more like an attempt to impale someone than anything else.

Okay enough said. Just letting you know that I hate these yearly check-ups. But they are necessary, as the Canadian government does not allow the pill to be prescribed for over a year in order to ensure that women go to their annual check-up. At least my prescription got renewed, which is a good result from this check-up.
Also, considering my mum's breast cancer, I was told I should start checking for that more frequently... especially considering that I never used to check at all. (It has a tendency to be the very last thing on my mind...)

So yeah. Hate having to go to clinics. It never is fun.

Other than that: weather sucks. 15 degrees Celsius is not nearly enough for a cold-blooded snake like myself to keep warm. I spent most of the day wrapped tightly in a blanket. There was no sun for me to sunbathe and warm up my veins, sadly. I was freezing!! In June! *pout*

And I had to get up SUPER early (5:15 a.m.) in order to ensure that I would catch my train out of Montreal (because that's where my doctor is) on time (because the train schedules suck). I freaked out somewhat when I got to the subway that was supposed to take me to the train, as there was a "slowdown of undetermined length due to a system failure." I could have murdered someone. But I got to my train in time in the end, and all went well. I spent a nice morning with my mum... went to my bloody check-up... and then discovered a wonderful series (that I had heard of but never watched) called Lie to Me, which I quite enjoyed. I like how they use famous examples of liars in the series: it makes me giggle (especially when George W. Bush or Sarah Palin are featured).

Then I took the train back and took a MASSIVE (and well deserved) nap. And all of this was followed by a horror movie. Michael and I watched the original John Carpenter's 1980 film The Fog. It was great. Though now I am a little freaked out... I cannot bear to look out of the windows into the dark. Irrational fear, I know; but my imagination does tend to run away with me. *sigh* Why do I watch horror movies if they creep me out so... I do not know - but I have a fascination with ghosts. I have spent the rest of my evening reading up on ghost ships. A surprisingly large amount are just off the Canadian East Coast. Now I really want to go to the East Coast and see some ghost ships for myself (though I know I will be unutterably terrified should I see one).

It seems that I am a big scaredy-cat, but that I thoroughly enjoy it all at once. Oh well... it gets my imagination going - and those who know me well know what that means! *wink*

P.S. Les Miserables tomorrow! I am sooooo excited! And I just can't hide it! I'm about to lose control and... okay, I'll shut up. Anyways, I am really looking forward to it. I've been a bouncy ball of excitement about it all day!! Huzzah!! Do you hear the people sing...? (shut up, Naria!)

The Germany Chronicles 3 - In which the hills are alive

Hi from Germany to you all!
I am happy to announce to all (because I only wrote it in the comments so far) that I successfully passed my Japanese class! And with a B- at that! And here I thought I'd get a C... *sigh of relief* I won't have to retake it after all... I am never taking another language class again!

In other news, I went to visit Linderhof palace with Michael on Saturday. I decided to wear my gorgeous new dirndl for the occasion. In other words, I was dressed in a way that would have honoured our dear King Ludwig II if he were still alive (I want to say he would have "liked" what I was wearing, but seeing as he was allegedly gay, I highly doubt that a low-cut bodice would have attracted his eye at all...) Anyways, I was dressed in the whole and complete outfit and I looked absolutely awesome! I promise some good pictures. On the palace grounds (gorgeous gardens!) Michael and I became a photo opp for several tourists. Notably a French guy and an English one decided to take a picture of us because we looked "so traditionally Bavarian" and two people from Nürenberg also spoke to me about my outfit and how wonderfully traditional it was... I got a LOT of comments and it was great fun! The palace was a really nice visit. My mum and aunt used to be tour guides in there. Linderhof is the palace in which Ludwig II spent the last eight years of his life (until his very mysterious death) and it was allegedly his favourite palace. I understand why: STUNNING VIEW! And a beautiful place at that. It's actually a very small palace... just a cottage to a king, but I'd like to live in it nonetheless. Michael mentioned that he'd like to sleep in the king's bed: it seems to be the first that is long enough for his feet! XD

I also must mention the single, most terrifying experience of my life so far. As you all know, I have a frightfully vivid imagination and it tends to run away with me at the most inopportune times... I mean, I can get lost in the woods because I spent too many hours staring at a tree stump and picturing fairies living in it... *sigh* anyways...
So, after going to this cool restaurant in Oberammergau, where a family friend (and the owner of the place) does cool magic tricks at your table, Mike and I walked home in the dark (it was 9:30 at night). We were not scared when we were walking until we reached the church. Curious (as I always am), I decided to have a look into the churchyard. In Germany (and I suppose most of Europe), the cemetery is located in the churchyards and laid out all around the church. Which means that Michael and I walked into a dark church ground with very little light and some candles lit on a grave here and there. It was super creepy! There was also some slight haze from the rain and the paving sort of glittered in the faint light of a streetlamp. Neither Mike nor I could get ourselves to move further into the graveyard, as the dark shapes of tombstones were terrifying and foreboding. My imagination made me see figures lurking behind the stones... And Oberammergau is famous for the plague epidemic that hit it in 1633... which suggest many angry ghosts from centuries passed... The headstones closest to us stated years of death from 1908 to 1932... so right during the period of the first World War as well... But that's not the creepy bit yet. As Mike and I are standing there, shivering with fright at the thought of the many souls lying beneath our feet, the church bell starts ringing the bloody three-quarter of an hour!!! That meant three blood-chilling rings of a low-tone bell. It sounded like a warning or a death omen or something. Mike and I screamed and bolted. My heart did not stop pounding until we were safe inside with lots of light!

Oh, and the weather improved somewhat the next day. We went hiking. Michael said it was his very first hike! That made me very happy!! We hiked three mountains and back! A grand total of a seven hour walk!! My arse hurts a lot today. We hiked the Kofel, including the rocky tip of it, which consists of some rudimentary climbing: the rocky path is so steep and narrow (and rather dangerous) that there is some thick cable bolted along the path and you have to pull yourself up to the top, where the cross stands (because we are good Catholics here in Bavaria). We got great pictures from the top and Michael bolted a sandwich right beneath the cross. There were also HUGE raven-type birds up on that mountain. I swear, they were the size of a slender hen, but they looked like ravens: completely black and ominous looking! And then we walked through Bavarian woods (real fairy tale forest!) across two mountains! At the top of the last one was an inn where we had some soup and Michael had a beer. We reached that third mountain just in time because it started to pour and to hail down (yup, chunks of ice falling from the sky!). We waited out the rain at the inn and then went back out. When we finally came back down into Oberammergau, great thunder rolls could be heard behind us... so we were REALLY lucky with the weather! We did not get hit by lighting, though we saw ominous storm clouds pulling in... (Sorry, gotta finish this quickly!) It was a great (long!) hike and we had loads of fun! We also have many great pictures of it! And the hills WERE alive with the sound of music (Michael sang loudly on the mountain: the sound echoes beautifully up there!) It was AWESOME! I promise pictures soon!

For those wondering about the pictures, I cannot send them from the internet cafe, so it'll have to wait until we're back in Canada. I promise I'll put them up though!
Tomorrow: Munich!

I wish you all the best! Tscüß!