Arrivederci, au revoir, auf wiedersehen, etc.

Sorry I've kind of been persona non grata for a few days - I've been playing Atelier Iris 3: Grand Phantasm (which ROCKS, btw) and madly preparing for my European trip. I've also been crappy about checking other folks' LJs/blogs, which probably won't change before I leave for my brother's in Memphis on Tuesday morning. (We leave for Rome on Thursday.) As such, if anyone wants to contact me before the 1st of July, your best bet is probably e-mail; I won't check LJ probably until I get back, and I won't even bother trying to catch up on 3 weeks of entries probably. I probably won't be able to check e-mail regularly either, but certainly I'll probably hit an Internet cafe sometime during my week in England near the end at the very least.

I've also been rereading a lot of Elizabeth Peters mysteries to prepare for my trip, which are all about travel to exotic locations and solving mysteries; even better, they're usually about ACADEMICS doing said traveling and solving (after all, Peters' true identity is Egyptologist Barbara Mertz). I'm especially enjoying her Vicky Bliss series (featuring a tall blonde art historian who reminds me, at least physically, of eikitty) and her Jacqueline Kirby series (featuring a bitchy snarky but awesome librarian-turned-romance author as a protagonist). However, this reading is perhaps giving me a distorted idea of what my European trip will be like; ideally none of our fellow tour attendees will get brutally murdered, but if they do I will be mentally prepared for it:



Anyway! I'd kind of like to send postcards to folks, so if any of y'all would like me to send you a postcard during my trip, leave your address here by, say, late Monday evening (Central time) and I will send you one. I can't promise cards from specific locations, just because I'm not sure how much free time I'll have in each place, but it will be from somewhere along my trip (so, Italy, Switzerland, France, or England). I'm screening all comments y'all leave on this entry with addresses and such, so they won't show up for anyone but me (to protect your privacy).

And I will be back in early July (in Memphis on the 1st or so, and back in IC around the 4th), with probably a billion pictures from my trip since I got a new digital camera that actually takes decent pictures. So hopefully that's something to look forward to! :D

Edit: Oh, and plainjanesdubc: leave me your cell phone number! I'll give you guys a call if my brother and I have free time from our tour on the 21st and maybe we can get together. Also, satsu, I'll drop you an e-mail once I get into London and we can make plans to hang out maybe.

Sadly, it looks like I probably won't be getting together with my friend Colin - at least, he hasn't let me know what would be a good time to get together. D:

Memetime

Er, also, because I was tagged by youkofujima:

List seven songs you are into right now, no matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they're not any good, but they must be songs you're really enjoying now. Post these instructions in your LiveJournal along with your seven songs. Then tag seven other people to see what they're listening to.

Because I'm awesome, I will include YouTube links for each.

Amy Winehouse, "Tears Dry On Their Own" - A really awesome song that I believe samples the original "Ain't No Mountain High Enough." What I like about it is that Winehouse takes this cheerful, ecstatic love duet and turns it into the aftermath: one person singing about having lost another. While it doesn't have the ebullient happiness of the original, it has its own tested but resilient strength.

Fall Out Boy, "Dance, Dance" - To be honest, I don't listen much to the lyrics, but it's peppy and catchy and fast-paced (also, it's included on Dance Dance Revolution Supernova, so I've heard it a lot XD).

Jesse McCartney, "Beautiful Soul" - SHUT UP I KNOW I HAVE BAD TASTE IN MUSIC OKAY. Seriously, though, the lyrics are inane but a nice thought, and I like the mildly funky backing music. (Also, Jesse McCartney is MAI SHOTATO because he voiced Roxas in Kingdom Hearts II.)

McFly, "That Girl" - I love McFly; they're like a British Beach Boys meets blink-182, pretty insubstantial but nevertheless poppy fun. This is one of their earlier songs, but still really good; it's pretty mundane material (boy meets girl, boy likes girl, boy loses girl to other boy, boy is sad about the one that got away), but it's just FUN for a song about a story that ends so sadly.

Peter Cetera, "The Glory of Love" - Naysayers to the contrary, Peter Cetera ROCKS, whether in Chicago or doing solo stuff. This song is just gloriously cheesy, in the best way possible, and always makes me think it should be the theme for some over-the-top Arthurian romance film. I AM A MAN WHO WILL FIGHT FOR YOUR HONOR~~

James Marsters, "Rest in Peace" - I recently rewatched the Buffy musical, from which this is taken; it's Spike, rocking out with a love-hate ballad. I believe that's enough of a reason. (I often like to sing this in the shower, because I know all the words by heart, as with all the songs from that ep; ...yes, I know, I'm a dork.)

Akira Yamaoka, "Theme of Laura" - For some reason, Silent Hill music is great for traveling; I love listening to this or "Silent Hill" and just looking out the windows of a bus as the sky darkens. This is just an awesome song, with the guitar and all.

Too lazy to tag anyone; anyone who wants to should do it!