Dare to be different and learn to be lonely

Hello! In the old days this post at the top of my LiveJournal & Dreamwidth would be called the "comment-to-be-added-post", these days it's a sticky post; I make a new one every year:)
My journal is not locked; you are welcome to read all my posts. I am a hermit, but I do like to interact here with fellow fangirls or passers-by and I encourage you to comment on any of my posts at any time. (I especially love responses to my artposts; it's NEVER too late to tell me what you think of those *grins*)

If you find my journal's dark background hard on the eyes:

you can watch any page on LJ and DW in your own journal's style by adding ?style=mine behind the url.

or if you add ?format=light, you get the standard lay-out with the white background.

(If the url already contains a questionmark, use an ampersand (&) instead:)

Also: I made a step-by-step post on how to back-up your LJ [DW]

Despite my occasional use of harsh language and posts about sensitive or personal subjects, I chose to not put an age warning on my journal. I will not censor what I choose to share online. I'm a green left voting atheist woman, HEAR ME ROAR!

I was an active participant in several fandoms, as a moderator and artwork creator; there are links in my sidebar if you want to explore any of the fancommunities I played in:)
If you're curious about my creations, you can check my Artmasterlists, that are also on top of my LJ & DW. I made so many fanworks over the years, I had to split the list in two:
Artmasterlist 2010-2018 [DW] | Artmasterlist 2019 and beyond [DW])

To remind myself there is more to life than being online,
I keep my booklist at the top of my LJ. That's ironic, Alanis.



( What I'm reading in 2025 )

Happy Reading! ~ J.

What I read in 2024 [DW] / 2023 [DW] / 2022 [DW] / 2021 [DW] / 2020 / 2019 / 2018 / 2017 / 2016 / 2015 / 2014 / 2013 / 2012 / 2011 / 2010 / 2009 / 2008
My old archive of alphabetized book reviews / Readingcommunity thej2bee LJ

This was my sort of comment-to-be-added-sticky-post for 2023.
Now it's just a list of the books I read this year.
You can find my current reading-list on top of my LJ and DW:)



( What I'm reading in 2023 )

Happy Reading! ~ J.
What I read in 2022 [DW] / 2021 [DW] / 2020 / 2019 / 2018 / 2017 / 2016 / 2015 / 2014 / 2013 / 2012 / 2011 / 2010 / 2009 / 2008
My old archive of alphabetized book reviews / Readingcommunity thej2bee

Having been in the SPN/RPF fandom for a long time, I didn't think I would still be discovering new authors 2022, but I did! Even better; it's someone who writes my favorite rare pair OTP, or should I say OT3? Because it's Jensen/Jeff, but Jared gets to play too. (And then it's Jensen/Jared with Jeff watching, woohoo! Plus they are all nice to each other, which I love the best of all:) It gets even betterer than that: there's a whole new series of short fics (~4500 words each), that can be read as stand alone or as a big fic that explores polyamory and Dom/sub relationships, including negotiations and after care. *clutches heart*

If any of this is relevant to your interests, go check out amill22's I'm gonna teach you some french series. So far it's four parts (noir, blanc, bleu and vert) and that's plenty, but there's a promise of even more!

There's excellent new stuff for fans of Dean/John too by amill22, I recommend let me feel you: He’s strong, muscle built from hard work, but right now, the expression on his face makes him seem fragile, the unbridled need for reassurance in his eyes making John almost feel sick to his stomach. It makes Dean look so weak, breakable. Fortunately, this is something John knows how to fix. How to make Dean feel connected and wanted and most importantly, not alone.

Last but not least, a golden oldie rec that I reread recently (and a LOT) Across the Line by ashtraythief: Jensen put himself through college as a phonesex operator. It didn’t really do much for him, except for his Friday night regular JD. When Jensen takes a new, more respectable job after he graduates, he comes face to face with the man whose voice he only ever heard before.

Go Read!

Got some recs for me? My comments (and DM's) are open!

J.

X-posted to https://beelikej.livejournal.com/573371.html

Wahey, first week of the 2021 is done! The Netherlands is still in lockdown, until January 19th at least, when the new COVID measures will be announced. Vaccinations have started; with the current schedule I'm up sometime in April. Fingers crossed everything goes according to plan. I expect the current lockdown will be extended, since the amount of infections is not going down. I don't think my office will open up in the near future anyway, so even if we're getting out of lockdown, I expect I will continue to work from home for the next couple of months.

In my spare time I've been reading loads of books and I got a whole pile of new books for Sinterklaas and my birthday to look forward to. Currently I'm in the middle of Lady Susan by Jane Austin; you can find my reading list on top of my LJ and DW.

As for fandom creativity, it will be interesting to see what Supernatural challenges will continue now that the show has ended. Somer and I handed over the reign of smpc to new mods, but I will continue to occassionally play there as an artist. I plan to open up a new round of the quicky_bang soon(ish). I should also start brainstorming on my artwork for spn_meanttobe in February!

Before I do any new arting, I want to properly round up last year, so here's the final bunch of graphic designs I made for landofart.

First up: three animations for Round 5 of Ph14Ch3 - Hide & Seek:


( CSI gifs for Animated )

( Ph15Ch09 - A Halloween Contest )

For the last challenge of this Phase we had to make snowmen in three parts, so in the end we could mix them up!
( Ph15Ch15 - Frosty the Funny Snowman )

Aaaand that's a wrap for 2020; onwards to more artworks and graphics in the new year!

J.

After spending the first day of my autumn trip exploring Haarlem in the rain, my second vacation day was going to be a mostly indoors day, because I had planned to spend my time lounging (and bathing:) in my luxurious hotel suite:) I only went outside in the morning to buy a bubble bar at Lush and get some buns for lunch, before staying in for the rest of the day. Here's a small picspam of the short walk, and my fancy dinner:)

( Of bathbubbles and fantastic food )

J.

Want to get a good look at that Royal Suite? Check the video from Day 1 [DW]

X-posted to https://beelikej.livejournal.com/563161.html

Had a wonderful night in my hotel in Haarlem; the bedroom is next to a quiet garden and I slept very well. Because of Corona measures, breakfast is in timeslots and I'm assigned 10-11 a.m, which is fine with me. I want to make the most of my time in this fancy Presidential Suite, so I'm in no rush to leave my room and thus start my day with another soak in the hammock bath, haha! Beware of my smug bubblebath pose below;)

Although I already did a bunch of sightseeing yesterday, there is still a lot of exploring left to do. So, let's have a hearty breakfast and go!

( Haarlem DAY 2: Monday July 20 )

Day 1 in Haarlem [DW]

And then I spent a whole day making picspams, haha, it truely felt exactly like days worth of traveling:)

J.

X-posted to https://beelikej.livejournal.com/561519.html

I had an extralong weekend because May 5th is a national holiday and I had saved up loads of overtime training new people in the past few weeks, so I took Monday the 4th off as well. I had planned to do another Japan picspam, but then I spent all Sunday on the couch with a book and loved that so much that I did that again today.
Yesterday I caught up online, cleaned out my Gmail box and did another landofart Challenge. So once again I didn't get around to selecting photos from the final few days in Japan, but you can see a little travel sneak peek in my previous LoA post when I made photocollages of buildings, which also includes pics of London and Dallas, from when I did that roadtrip in the USA in 2015!

Below are my latest Land of Art designs for Round 2 of Hide & Seek, which is a long running challenge throughout Phase 14, where you make graphics based on given themes. You create art to vote for that theme to be included in the next round. The themes I voted for are: Looking Up / No Eyes / Shapes / Sharp & Blurry / Vintage / Yellow /
See if you can see which is which;)

Skam Sigtag, featuring Isak Valtersen (Tarjei Sandvik Moe)


( Five Tumblr Graphics )

Hide & Seek Round 1

J.

P.S. I reread Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, and followed up with The Testaments. Still don't feel the need to watch the TV series, no need to convince me. These are the kind of books I love for what they are:) <3 Last time I spent all day reading a book from beginning to end in a day was when the final Harry Potter book came out. I missed being able to do that:) Book recommendations are always welcome!

Last week was Bookweek (Boekenweek), and even though I currently have a massive to-read pile, I still stuck to my tradition of buying a Dutch novel for the occassion:) It's the only way to get the Boekenweekgeschenk, the bookweekgift, a free book written by a well known author especially for bookweek. Even though I am not a fan of the theme they picked for this year and the lack of female authors they ask for this event, I still wanted to show my support for this promotion of reading (and I always buy a book written by a woman, preferably a debut).
The Bookweek is sponsored by the National Railservice and they offer free trainrides when you bring the bookgift with you on the last Sunday of Bookweek. I love trains and I love reading and both are even better together, so of course I was going to enjoy the free travel.
I had a big book to get through so I chose the furthest destination on the map and that happened to be a town in the only Province of the Netherlands I had never been before, triple win! I went to Vlissingen in Zeeland, all the way in the South-West, 3 hours and 48 minutes away. I had a great day, both on the train and in between. Have a picspam!

( Strolling in Vlissingen )

I should do this more often!

J.

Hello! This was my sort of comment-to-be-added-sticky-post for 2018.
Now it's just a list of the books I read this year.
You can find my new reading-list on top of my LJ:)

( What I read in 2018 )

Happy Reading! ~ J.
What I read in 2017 / 2016 / 2015 / 2014 / 2013 / 2012 / 2011 / 2010 / 2009 / 2008
My old archive of alphabetized book reviews / Readingcommunity thej2bee

Oh hey, I just realized I hadn't updated y'all about my earinfection yet. You know, the one I mentioned at the end of May? IT'S STILL NOT OVER!
The headcold I had back then fortunately only lasted a week, but it was rough; besides the snot and the barking cough I had an eye-infection and I couldn't open my eyes for two days. (I listened to the soothing voice of Stephen Fry reading me Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban).
Three days into the headcold I went to the doctor's because the earinfection wasn't supposed to last that long, I was told not to worry. She prescribed eardrops and gave the advice to get nosespray as well.
But even after all the other coldstuff was over, my ear still felt stuffed. So off to the doctor I went again. This time I saw my own GP (who had been off schedule on my first visit). She said it would probably take about three more days of eardrops and promised me there would be improvement. There wasn't. Not even after five days. So then I saw doctor number one again and she concluded I had the type of earinfection that would probably last several weeks if not months!! Oh. Thanks for that.
I got a prescription for antibiotics and "sour" eardrops for a week, I had to take a dose of both three times a day. Yesterday I had a check up on that. I'm still deaf, but she told me the ear does look better. I should continue with the eardrops and get back in ten days for a follow up. *sighs*

I'm glad I have the kind of quiet job that I can do while being half deaf, but it is a nuisance. Luckily I have planned my vacation at the end of August, I should be alright by then. RIGHT?

Anyway, the reason I was going to post tonight was to tell you our BB date has been postponed from June 26 to July 12th. Can you handle the suspense? ;-)
But if you are in immediate need to see art of mine and many others, check out the artmasterlist of the quicky_bang: HERE!

I also wanted to do the bookmeme I saw in amberdreams journal. Mmm, books. (Of course my answers are way too long, prepare for babble!)

( BOOKMEME! )

And here's a question for you: what book should I add to my bookpile?

Also: I was nearly through my bookpile and I treated myself to a new book, so I updated my readinglist! DW and LJ (there are links to previous booklists too, that should give you an idea of the books I like;)

J.