This is a test journal. There's no use in friending me for I won't be writing anything interesting in this LJ. For icons and fic, please go to liquid_magic and for the really old icons, check out la_gatta_bianca

Au revoir

I told her to shut up and go to hell but nobody listened. I just stood there, alone and helpless. Felt like the world was going to crumble down on me. What can a person do when everything seems to go wrong? Shout and throw things around? Act calm and pretend nothing happened?

Surely there must be a good explanation for that kind of behaviour? Nobody in their right mind would walk up to you and start scolding you for... for being there? For standing behind them? What the fuck do these people assume I am? I wanted to scratch her eyes out. On the spot. Lucky her, my nails have been bitten off for the nth time this year, so that was a useless idea.

Bitch. I don't want to be the centre of attention when I'm on a simple walk through the city. I want to be invisible and blend into that shapeless moving mass of people. But no. Somehow it always goes wrong.

Bugger, eh?

When I was little my parents told me not to go into the woods on my own. They said it was dangerous and that I could get hurt. They told me about huge animals that lived there, and they would certainly eat me if they saw me because they're always hungry. Of course I was terrified to hear such tales and I never ever went for a walk in those dark woods unless I was accompanied by someone else. And even then fear would overpower me and it made me abhor the woods altogether.

Now that I'm older (and wiser, I hope) I know that this was make-believe. The good ol' trick to make sure your kids don't do the wrong thing - but not because you like to scare 'em, but because you love them and you don't want anything to happen to them. So yes, I can forgive my parents for all the parental tricks they played on me. Why not? After all, isn't it better to have caring and loving parents than to have to find out all of life's Big Facts all by yourself?

And what has happened to this big evil scary wood? It's gone. Every single tree. Now the vast area is covered with houses. It's become another neighbourhood. Live goes on. Nature doesn't control us, we control Nature. What a pity. We ought to show more respect for Nature. Or one day She's gonna kick our asses.

Ik had nooit gedacht dat het ooit zover zou komen. Een dagboek, van mij, over mij, door mij geschreven (natuurlijk, beste Watson) en dat op een dag als deze. Neem me niet kwalijk als ik niet meteen met de deur in huis val, dat is nu eenmaal mijn gewoonte. Ik hou van afdwalen, zowel tijdens het wandelen als tijdens het spreken en schrijven.
Laten we beginnen bij het begin. Mijn naam is Ophelia. Geen gewone naam, maar wat kan je eraan doen? Mijn ouders ontmoetten elkaar tijdens een nogal flauwe aftreksel van Shakespeare’s Hamlet in Belfast. Ze trouwden in de zomer na deze ontmoeting en een jaartje later kwam ik ter wereld. Een dochter! Mijn moeder was in de wolken. Pa ook, maar in mindere mate, vooral nadat hij te horen kreeg welke naam de pasgeboren spruit zou krijgen. Ma wilde niet afwijken van haar idee – tot grote ergernis van pa, die mij het liefst als Elizabeth door het leven had zien gaan. Pech, denk je dan.
Ik heb twee jongere broers, Robert en John. Een eeneïge tweeling, dus zijn ze elkaars spiegelbeeld in elk opzicht behalve wat persoonlijkheid betreft. Gelukkig kunnen we het prima vinden met elkaar, wat er ook gebeurt. Ik heb literatuur gestudeerd aan de universiteit van Londen en werk momenteel als bibliothecaresse in de universiteitsbibliotheek van Belfast.

Ik hou ervan te zeggen dat ik geen hobby heb. Want mijn hobby is eigenlijk mijn leven. Zo simpel is dat. Ik lees en schrijf en mijn hele leven heeft altijd rond boeken gedraaid. Ik heb het nooit anders gekend. Tegenwoordig is het trouwens ‘in’ om een blog te hebben, een online dagboek zeg maar. Mijn vrienden hebben stuk voor stuk een stukje webruimte waar ze hun gedachten en belevenissen neerplanten. De één gaat prat op z’n chique betaalde en volledig gecustomizede LiveJournal (gratis gaat ook maar dan heb je minder ‘functies’ ter beschikking) terwijl de ander het houdt bij Blogger.

I mean, really! I swear I didn't make this up, all these questions have been asked by tourists during their visit to the Banff National Park. I feel sorry for the staff of said National Park...

1. How do the elk know they're supposed to cross at the "Elk Crossing" signs?
2. At what elevation does an elk become a moose?
3. Tourist: "How do you pronounce 'Elk'?"
Park Information Staff: " 'Elk' "
Tourist: "Oh".
4. Are the bears with collars tame?
5. Is there anywhere I can see the bears pose?
6. Is it okay to keep an open bag of bacon on the picnic table, or should I store it in my tent?
7. Where can I find Alpine Flamingos?
8. I saw an animal on the way to Banff today - could you tell me what it was?
9. Are there birds in Canada?
10. Did I miss the turnoff for Canada?
11. Where does Alberta end and Canada begin?
12. Do you have a map of the State of Jasper?
13. Is this the part of Canada that speaks French, or is that Saskatchewan?
14. If I go to B.C., do I have to go through Ontario?
15. Which is the way to the Columbia Ricefields?
16. How far is Banff from Canada?
17. What's the best way to see Canada in a day?
18. Do they search you at the B.C. border?
19. When we enter B.C. do we have to convert our money to British pounds?
20. Where can I buy a raccoon hat? ALL Canadians own one, don't they?
21. Are there phones in Banff?
22. So it's eight kilometres away... is that in miles?
23. We're on the decibel system you know.
24. Where can I get my husband really, REALLY, lost??
25. Is that two kilometres by foot or by car?
26. Don't you Canadians know anything?
27. Where do you put the animals at night?
28. Tourist: "How do you get your lakes so blue?"
Park staff: "We take the water out in the winter and paint the bottom".
Tourist: "Oh!"

Abyssinia

So I accepted nutmeg4077's Halloween challenge...

A challenge!

To share your favorite ghost stories or legends...or not even ghosts. Just creepy things. You get the idea. Anyone who knows me knows I love ghost stories, and spooky shit. I get most of my info from all my ghost books, but you can read about them online too, of course. I mean, it's the internet.

Come on! Post this in your journal, then post links to stories, or your own stories, or anything you like. It's Halloween. Don't be a spoilsport and be all "oohhhh that's so not scary blah blah blah"...we're allowed to have a little goofy/scary fun, right?

( The challenge, right over here )

I honestly don't know what to write here. I know, it's only a test journal so basically whatever I write doesn't have to make sense. For all I know it doesn't even have to be in English!

But the challenge, my friends, the challenge is to actually fill up this blank space... to put words on the screen, a story, ramblings, whatever. As long as something gets written, that's what all the fuss is about. I could go on typing BLABLABLA BLABLABLA or some hideous sh*t like YADAYADAYADA LALALALA but I refuse to do that.
Yes, I'll just go on ranting. I love to rant. Gibberish, you say? No. Not at all. Why, you can rant about just about anything, mate! The weather, your neighbours, school, family. Friends, too. Anything. And in the meanwhile you'll find that this awful blank space grows smaller. Instead, words are now taking up some space, neatly looking like a neatly typed text.
I could've made up something that looks like Latin. I could've typed SEMPER FI SEMPER FI SEMPER FI and keep it up for another five minutes. No, thanks. For once I can write totally stupid things and who's gonna groan because it's gonna appear on their friends list? No one.

If you like my layouts, please go to LJ Layouts. I'm a designer there. So far I've made 5 layouts and 3 friends only banners.

One little warning though: I do NOT accept requests. I'm sorry but you're just going to have to settle with the stuff you'll find over there.

Ciao