It's not a cry you can hear at night, it's not somebody who's seen the light...

My name is Lara. I love Joy Division, which is totally the most important thing about me. You should also know I am quite sarcastic without having a firm understanding of sarcasm. True story.

I was born in Seattle, Washington, grew up in Kalispell, Montana (AKA HELL), moved to Melbourne Australia in 2003, and Christchurch New Zealand in 2010. I studied half a Bachelor of Fine Arts~Theatre Studies in University before switching to German so I could study abroad in Vienna (2001). Hence, I have studied English, German and Latin at a University level.

I am currently studying a Postgraduate Diploma of Social Work at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand while living in a flat affectionately known as the Lesbian Flat of Doom, with my friends _honeyspider and phfa and my cats, Ariadne and Echo and Alison's cat, Helios (they don't have LJs, they're not old enough yet), all of whom I love dearly.

I'll add anyone to my f-list if they ask, so feel free! I spend most of my time writing, talking about writing, or thinking about writing while watching Most Haunted or something Tim Minchin, Hugh Jackman or Dylan Moran related. Or singing. I love singing, and I'm actually good, which tends to help! I can play the flute and the piccolo, the guitar and the ukulele, and I used to play the viola but then I sold it to a 3-fingered man. True story.

( A very important thing to know, is that I ramble. So there is more under here! )

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I just watched Casanova with David Tennant in it. BRILLIANT even if the timeline is all muddled. Now I want to watch the version with Heath Ledger to compare them. And I downloaded his memoirs to read on my Kindle App.

At the beginning of the translation there is a note that says, "Caution, these works are not intended for children and may outrage readers who are also offended by Chaucer, La Fontaine and the Old Testament."

LOL.

If you're offended by the Bible, DON'T READ ABOUT CASANOVA'S SEXINGS. I suppose they DO have a point; if not a weird one.

Oh and Merry Christmas :)

Recent history being what is has been, I feel like none of my entries lately have shown my trademark silliness. This is for obvious reasons, being that it's hard to be silly when there are still soldiers barring you from entering your city, you keep having panic attacks, and you spend most of your time sleeping. But I do miss writing ridiculous things that probably only I giggle about.

So getting this out of the way, I went to sleep last night at 8 and woke up at 8 in the morning. I struggled to stay awake until about 11 when I finally gave in. I decided it would be best to have a whizz before I crawled back into bed, and I was so tired that the energy it took to go into the bathroom made me cry. So then I slept until 8 tonight. And I am still tired (my head feels too heavy to hold up) but I haven't cried yet, so that's...kind of like progress! And I have tuna melts. So it's progress with melted cheese.

Speaking of tuna melts, my housemates are trying to kill me in really subtle and underhanded ways.

Leah did all the dishes (bless her). I usually do them, but since I have been sleeping...the effect there is obvious. I think in revenge she removed the wombat-shaped oven mitt from the kitchen. This may seem like it is of no consequence, but it is of huge consequence when you have tuna melts in the oven getting blacker and blacker and you can't find the damn wombat-glove. And my sleep-addled brain didn't think to just get a dishtowel and hope it was thick enough to save me from the burning sensations. No. I ran around in circles until I remembered we had other less awesome and less chompy oven mitts. They were nowhere to be seen either. I opened the drawer where the clean things live, usually known as the drawer where nothing is. And lo and behold, non-chompy oven mitts.

So ha HAH, Leah. Your crafty plan to burn me to death has FAILED! And my tuna melts are only a little overdone, so you haven't even ruined my dinner. Muahhahahaa!

I have been reading Japanese Ghost Stories, a book I got from www.bookdepository.co.uk (FREE WORLDWIDE SHIPPING!) and have been dismayed to find that it contains very few actual ghost stories. Most of the book is about psychic phenomena, which is interesting enough in and of itself, but should be found in a book called Japanese Psychic Phenomena so it doesn't mislead unsavvy collectors of ghost books like me into buying it. And I would be more interested to read about the phenomena if the book were written by someone with an unbiased eye. Like, say, not someone who considers themselves to be a freaking shaman. There's nothing wrong with saying "hey, I'm a shaman. I will heal your ass and write books about that girl from the ring and her photographs". Call yourself whatever you want, as long as it doesn't hurt anyone (I'm a pretty airplane! Board me!). But he doesn't exactly look at both sides of the issue. So all 'facts' presented could really be bullshit, or hopes, or wishes, or ~dreams~. By the same token, I always enjoy ghost books written by randoms more than the ones written by the people with ghost tour companies, because you can never tell if those ones are making shit up to get you to go on their tours.

I wanted to read about onryo and Oiwa-san, not faith healing. There IS a chapter about modern hauntings but one chapter out of many is disappointing. Next I shall move on to my Queer Hauntings book. I am excited. And since it wasn't written by a guy claiming to be a gay ghost, I think I will enjoy it much more than this one.

My books came *squeals* I got The Legends of Saint Patrick with a prettier cover. It is a reprint from 1889 and full of ridiculous myths which I love. I don't think he turns any blasphemers into foxes like he does in Jocelin's 'biography' (we shall use that term loosely) but it's still amazing.

I also got The Life of Saint Patrick another classic reprint. They're so sexy, you guys. Sosexyomg.

Helios is chewing on my FOOT. Little bugger.

But boooookkksssss. *glee*

Now I am going to go make some salsa and watch Most Haunted while fondling my sexy books.

I don't know.

I posted a thingy on Tumblr last night which was metaphorical of how I'm feeling inside, even though I was talking about something else. It's here in case you feel like reading it. Behold how goddamn deep I am, you guys, omg.

I just feel really fragile. I managed to actually write something I didn't hate. In fact, I really love it. And that made me want to watch Michael Collins so I could Irish!historygasm. Yeah. If you're feeling fragile, watching Michael Collins WILL make you sob for two hours straight. Just, you know, FYI. But GOD that movie. I love it. It is so well done. And it amuses me to see Jonathan Rhys Meyers in one of his first film roles. Where he gets to use his actual accent!

I'm just worn out. And people keep asking me questions I have no way of answering and it pisses me off when it shouldn't. But I don't know when my course will start again and I don't know when my placement will start again and I don't know when real life will resume. We only just got water on at full strength and considering the way it's been going on and off for days at a time, who knows if it will stay that way. Some of the city is still without power and water at ALL, let alone the people who lost homes and families and lives. So yeah, I don't know when classes will resume again.

Stop asking.

...so this morning at like 5 am, I may have thought it was a great idea to order like 4 books on Saint Patrick from Amazon.com

I am not even Catholic. Though one was How the Irish Saved Civilization which I have wanted for a long time, so that makes me feel a little less like a loser...

Shut up, I love history and roleplaying.

Oh man. History FTW. Not that it's pleasant! Today I learned about the Easter Rising and STUFF and tomorrow is the trip to Malahide Castle and the coast *unrestrained glee* And then I'm going to go BACK to Kilmainham Gaol because I gave up on it today. You can't go through without a guided tour and I didn't want to wait for the 5:30 pm one when I have the ghost bus (:D) at 8pm. Tomorrow it is not an issue. If I have time I'll go to Dublinia at Christchurch Cathedral, but I'm not fussed. It's just spend time really. I'm more interested in the gaol. I really like this city too. Not in the 'omg I have to live here' way like Vienna and London and Melbourne, but in the 'this is really a wonderful place to visit' way. It'd probably be even better if I gave a crap about stout. SO MANY PEOPLE were lined up outside the Guinness brewery. Stinky!

So now I am relaxing with coffee, listening to Amanda Palmer and Lennon, writing My Boys, and gnerally wasting time until the ghost bus tour. Speaking of My Boys Look! I SWEAR I didn't arrange them like this, I found them like that and SQUEALED and got dirty looks...

Oh god, I had the BEST lunch. This two course thing with calamari and steak for 8 euro. Freakin' awesome! And I went into St Patrick's Cathedral which was incredible and the history is amazing, but I still think the one in Melbourne is prettier. It just IS.

I'll post more after the Ghost Bus because of the writing I am wishing to be doing. Plot bunnies, you are my FRIENDS never leave me?! Oh, and Neil Gaiman is a genius and now I have mentioned both Neil and Amanda in the same post because I love them both and SQUEEE.

PS I also love Michael Collins, but I think most people knew that?

PPS Do you think my singing is disturbing other guests?! Not that I care, they're getting a free concert. Because I'm a freaking diva. (That was partial sarcasm...)

PPPS Scout, there's a Fitzwilliam square here and I tried to find it for you and FAILED! But I'll try again tomorrow!! Let's see if my lame map-reading skills can help me out here...

Photos! I added descriptions to the ones yesterday because I found out what they are ;)

I am freaking moving to London. Just so you know you're relocating, Baby :D Dear LORD I love it. I love it so much, I hate that I have to go tomorrow DESPITE THE FACT that I have wanted to visit Ireland since I was BORN. Not that I am not excited, by the way, because OMG Ireland omg. But really, I have had the BEST time. I adored seeing Clare, Lisa, Jess and Muz, and I got to do so many awesome things! Clare is a blast and I am keeping her so :P

Today we went to the Globe theatre where Peter got married! He didn't get married IN the theatre, there are rooms in the complex you can rent and he got married in one of them. See, I didn't make it up! That was the room he got married in and, CLARE! I found out it IS the room with the tree! So we DID go there! MUahahahaaaa tree (which you can see in the side of the picture on the site I linked! ...and you can see the prop room we saw. Hot). That's why it has a stage, which was where they would have gotten married omg yay! (Yes, they are fake. Shut up, so is Sherlock Holmes and I took a picture of 'his' toilet :D)

The stage was awesome, and the tour guide was HILARIOUS. She said things like "they would come and have their beer and that's why the stage is so high. You can imagine what it might have been like. One of the crowd gets staggering drunk and he decides he should give Hamlet a hug because he hasn't been having a very nice time, the actors could just kick them back down again". She was AWESOME. Fabulously entertaining. I loved seeing the place AND I bought two shirts, one with Ophelia's crazy song, and one that says 'Something Wicked This Way Comes' :D I love Shakespeare...hardcore.

After that, we took a riverboat cruise with a 'tour guide' who wasn't actually a tour guide, but HE was hilarious too "From here you can see Shakespeare's Globe where you can see Romeo and Juliet and...and...and...one of the other ones". From Westminster where the boat dropped us off, we went to see Westminster Abbey, which is incredible, and then I wanted a picture of the guards with the fuzzy hats. Which saw us heading to Buckingham Palace and then me choosing a way to go which was WRONG and we walked ALL THE WAY around Hyde or Green park (one of them) before ending up about 200 metres from where we started and there the guards were. Ooops. My bad... But I got the pictures! And Clare didn't kick me, YAY!

From there we headed to Covent Garden and had the MOST AMAZING COOKIES and saw the opera house where the Royal Ballet Company performs and I squealed, and then we headed to a cafe to drink more drinks (I love pineapple juice). And when Muz joined us, we went for Mexican food! LOVE! And then I had to say goodbye! I am totally bummed because I already miss Clare and I LOVE it here. I didn't expect to find a place I love as much as Vienna, but there you go! I did. And it has nothing to do with Darker London, either, because I can write about a place and not love it. I just love being here. I love the feel of it. I love the city and the history. It's amazing. Oh, and I got a sunburn. Stupid Irish skin.

Which brings me to Ireland. Tomorrow I head to Dublin and I finally get to set foot in Ireland and I am SO excited. London was about Peter, Darker London wise, and Dublin is about Flynn and Quinn. Well, and Deirdre since she is actually FROM there, but pffft, my boys are way more important (if you know her, you cannot imagine the sound she just made ahahhaa). It's going to be amazing, I know it. I can't say goodbye to London yet, though. In the morning, I'm going for a last walk in Regents Park. I'm getting up early to do it. It's just something that has to be done.

:D New photos start here

I’m on a train! I’m headed for London, which is very exciting and I can see the ocean which makes me very, very happy! The ocean is Lara’s favourite :D Apparently I'm in Somewhere-on-Tweed. It's pretty! And I cannot express how pleased I am to be leaving Edinburgh.

Now that I think about it, Edinburgh or where ever I happened to go after Vienna, was always going to suffer from a case of the Not-Viennas. I really wanted to love it, but I just didn't. That isn't to say I hated it, with the exception of the TERRIBLE hotel I was staying in. Dear Lord, never again. It was called the Herald House Hotel, but I have another, more colourful name for it which rhymes with (Don't look, Mommy!) Schmidthouse. I couldn't shower, the thingy was so small (though I gave it a go!). Ridiculous. And I think there was mould on the ceiling. But as I didn't know the festival was on when I booked, I didn't know to try to book accommodation in advance. Ah well.

The town itself is beautiful. My tours were incredibly enjoyable as was the visit to the castle. I will NEVER, and I say EVER return to Edinburgh during August again, however. The festival was impressive (I got chewed on by a zombie!), but there were people everywhere and they were all around me and shoving flyers in my face (Eventually I yelled 'JUST LEAVE ME ALONE' to one because I waved him away and he persisted by saying "oh, you'll love it" and then felt bad because he looked horrified...) and ARGH I couldn't take it. It was hard to find a place to eat or sit because of all the people. Never again. Though I did see the lovely Wes Snelling!! It was strange to run in to someone from Melbourne, even though I knew he would be there. I don't think an arts festival would be complete without the Wes. He yelled "LARA MOSES" and blew me a kiss because I was on a tour and therefore couldn't stop to chat :D

I walked down the Royal Mile from the Castle to Holyrood Palace and abbey (OMG Mary Stuart) but by the time I got there I couldn't be arsed to go in. So I took two photos through the gate and then sat outside and had Devonshire tea and figured the world could go screw itself! The scones were wonderful though, and I found a bus which took me to the Edinburgh dungeon which was GREAT fun! And then I found a pub and tried haggis, despite saying I wouldn't. It was actually good, though I wouldn't go out of my way to have it again. THEN I needed to find a place to hang until my next tour so I found a place advertising desserts and asked for the dessert menu only to be told 'this is a restaurant, get out'. Ooookay! Bastards. So I went to Starbucks, TAKE THAT! I guess they were worried I would take a table away from them where they could be selling a dinner, but it was 8:30 PM AND several people heard as they were coming in and they turned and walked away. MUAHAHHAHAH Jerks. I am not riffraff, and I don't think I look like it... So weird and RUDE.

The second tour was creepy and I can't imagine ever spending more than 20 minutes in the Blair Street vaults. Doors opened and closed (there really was no one there, we were STANDING RIGHT THERE) and we heard shuffling and screams. And I got locked in when I was on my way out all by myself, but I REALLY don't want to talk about THAT. So freaking scary... Then I returned to my hotel by walking uphill at night, by myself, because I couldn't find a taxi. TOO MANY PEOPLE. Oh and then this morning, my suitcase BROKE. So I taped it with crappy tape I bought from random-cheap-shop-owner-man, and the tape doesn't stick and it looks ridiculous and just maybe I want to scream but in a few hours I'll be in London, so what can you do, right? (STUPID SUITCASE, I HATE YOU AND YOUR STUPID FAULTY ZIPPER) I guess this means "I think I want to buy a new suitcase in the US" just became "I have to buy a new suitcase in the US if not before..."

All in all, I know the experience was not the place, so I won't hold it against Edinburgh, which really is an amazing city full of mostly friendly people. I do want to come back when the festival isn't on sometime. I think the owner of the Mexican restaurant said it best though, when I was trying not to sob into my mariachi burger. "You're not really here, are you?" I replied, "no, I'm in Vienna". It really wasn't all bad by any stretch of the imagination, I'm just grumpy from being woken up at 6 am by the Scottish workmen rebuilding the next door building and yelling. The hotel had NO sound proofing OR air conditioning OR fans to drown out sound...yeah. The hotel did a lot to taint what could have been a lovely experience. I still remain glad I went because it was worth it to see the old town AND to go down in the vaults even if it was scary!!

Oh and I bought a teddy bear with a kilt, and I am totally in love with him. His name is Quinn (despite Quinn not being Scottish. His Uncle/adoptive daddy is) and I want to buy an Irish bear in Dublin now, to name Flynn, (despite Dublin not being in Northern Ireland where Flynn is from) so they can be fuzzy gay teddy bear lovers.

Wow, there are a lot of sheep. (I am obviously no longer by the ocean...) Bring on London and Clare and Lisa and Jess and a NICE hotel. *deep breath* I'll upload photos when I'm not on a train ;)

Oh, and I didn't see Dylan (he lives in Edinburgh), but I'd like to think it wasn't because I didn't try... :D I'm going to go back to listening to Amanda Palmer and writing because that makes me happy.

OH MY GOD MY FEET ARE DYING!

I got to Schoenbrunn at around 11, only to discover that apparently THE POPULATION OF A SMALL COUNTRY decided to go to the palace today. Stupid people. Don't they know it's MY freakin' palace. So rude, wanting to partake of the history pfft. Anyway, the line actually moved relatively quickly for reaching across the palace grounds. And I had company anyway. Two Scottish men I met by accidentally punching one of them in the dingaling while walking with authority and swinging my arms. I was horrified, but he laughed, because apparently a girly punch to the mandingo does not worry a big, burly Scottish man. They told me things to see in Edinburgh and made me laugh until the line reached the thingy and we could buy tickets. They were going on a different tour, however. Alas. I so think they were lumberjacks. They were HUGE and I am tall. They called me 'wee lass' and said things like 'oh aye' ahahah LOVE!

When I had my ticket, it was then I found out you have to wait a half an hour before you can go in. That was so not the case last time! And this is someone who HATES having time to waste. I am supremely bad at it. I have to have something to do or I go mental. So I bought a souvenir book and read YAY.

The inside of Schoenbrunn is incredible, though I could take no photos to prove this. I can show you the book if I know you in person ;) It takes and hour to wander through with one of those audio guides, and I got to hear allllll about my beloved Sisi. That's Empress Elisabeth. Though Schoenbrunn was done up by Maria Theresia, so the tour seemed to center on her, as she deserves. That's Marie Antionette's mummy, by the by! She was born at Schoenbrunn!

Lara, stop it!

Then I went to the Hofburg which houses the library which is just amazing. And from there on to the Sisi museum and the Imperial Apartments. THAT tour was all about Sisi and her husband (COUSIN) Franz Jozef (who declared WW1 when his nephew Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in Sarajevo). By the time I got halfway through, I was done due to severe footache. I did finish the tour and then I came back here to sit. I'll find a nice place for dinner, and then walk around a bit more to say goodbye.

Tomorrow is Edinburgh and it's a darn good thing I can spend the day sitting around because I have a walking tour at 9 pm, and I want my feets rested. The hotel I'm staying at charges for internet, so I won't post anything until I'm in London, unless I post something tonight! But I'll be taking photos aplenty.

:X!

Oh man, how does one say goodbye to a place like this? I just love it here so much. And I can't wait to show it to my Lewi :D It's so strange leaving after so short a time because I lived here for three months and even after 8 years, being back is so natural. Like I never left. I guess that is how one would say goodbye. 'Until next time.' How German! ;)

My socks are patterned like cows.

New photos start here!