KSena's Journal

I am home sick today. Ugh. Every time I get sick, in having a cold, it effects my throat. Everytime. I sound like shit (if you follow me on Instagram/Snapchat you've heard my horrible voice.) It started on Sunday when we were at my cousin and mom. And then it just got worse and worse... :-P Monday and yesterday was really really bad. I was really short of breath and it... "whistled"... when I was breathing? And it was hard to breath. Not to the point I felt a need to go to the ER, but it was still not very fun. And I was coughing. SO MUCH! So now my ribs ache. :-P And I had a fever. Because why not. It's a good thing the kids/teens are off school this week what with Easter, or I would have felt horribly guilty as well. Bah. But as it is, no school this week so I can be at home and get well in peace.

Yesterday though I'd taken a day off and had planned to go shopping with Alexandra. And we did! But man, my breathing was so bad when we came home I had to sit down and focus on my breathing for a moment when we came home. After that though, I've just taken it easy. Taking care of me. I know I'm bad at that. But I get when I'm beaten by germ. *raises fist at fucking germs*

Anyway, since I'm home anyway, I'll just finish off this challenge that I started. I'm late as all hell, but I WILL FINISH IT DAMMIT!!!



♥ Day 1 ♥ Day 2 ♥ Day 3 ♥ Day 4 ♥ Day 5 ♥ Day 6 ♥ Day 7 ♥ Day 8 ♥ Day 9 ♥ Day 10♥ Day 11 ♥ Day 12 ♥ Day 13 ♥ Day 14 ♥ Day 15 ♥

Day 11

Share a book/song/movie/tv show/fanwork/etc that changed your life

Oh dear... This is a hard one to answer, since I've been around for quite a lot of years. *LOL* Old farts unite! I'm allowed to call myself that when I'm 40, right? ;-)

Anyway, well... If I go to books I've reread the most, I'd say there's a few series that kind of changed my mind. That I can say opened my mind and set my imagination on fire when I was young.

First off there's CS Lews Narnia series. It was the first fantasy-series I read, and it was very much an AHA-moment for me when I read them. I was... 11-12 when I read them the first time, I think. And when I reread them today, I still enjoy them (although I see the issues today to... Because there are quite a few.)

Then there's The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien. NOT The Ring Trilogy, actually. To be quite honest, I think they're boring. But The Hobbit I love! Same thing there, it just again showed the width of the imagination for me.

And then there's all the comics I've read through the years.

Donald Duck and C/O is the first comic I ever got a subscription on when I was 6 years old. I'm still subscribed to it. Get a comic in the mail once a week. I can't imagine a Friday without it, to be honest. :-)

And then there's Elfquest. I found the first two issues in a corner in the public library, broken and worn, but they spoke to me and I could NOT get enough of them! They stopped publishing them in swedish, but I now have nearly everything published in english. I don't know what it is with that comic, but I can not get enough of it. When I was young I saw one thing when reading it and as an adult another. Pretty incredible.

When it comes to movies and TV-show, the first one that really knocked me out was... Xena The WarriorPrincess. I do remember that there was two things with Xena. One: There's a woman that's far tougher than any man! And Two: She was the bad guy first!

Then there's Buffy, and it's the same thing there. A bad ass WOMAN in the lead. And vampires. Which I've always had a thing for. Just like with the others it was one of those AHA-moments.

I think all off these gave me AHA-moments. I could go on, I suppose, but these are the main ones. :-)

Day 12

In your own space, create a fanwork. Make a podfic, an icon, a sketch, a meta, or a rec list. Arts and crafts. Cross stitch. Draft an essay about a particular medium. Put together a picspam or a fanmix. Write a review of book you love, a ship manifesto, a you-should-be-listening-to-this-band essay. Create something.

I'm not a contributer to fandoms, so I don't have anything in particular. I just read, watch and listen. :-P But I do try to comment all the things that I do enjoy. Especially fanfic, for some reason. And fanart. Because that's people that write/draw something they are passionate about, and they should know there are more people that are passionate about the same thing.

I did create a list about my favorite YouTube channels once, I guess that's as close to something I've done. :-P

Day 13

In your own space, set some goals for the coming year. They can be fannish or not, public or private.

My goal is to just do what makes me happy. If you're in a fandom, or a fan of something/someone that does not make you happy, then why do you do it? So yeah. I'm not going to force it. I'm always so tired after work anyway, so I don't even have energy to talk to friends. So why should I do/read/watch anything that just makes me sad or upset me? I mean, really? My time is worth more than that.

Day 14

In your own space, create your own challenge. Whatever your challenge is, and have fun with it!

My challenge to any writer and/or artist is to write/draw a character that is the least popular in your fandom. Try it. Maybe you end up like it.

Challenge for me is to be more social. To dare to be online and talk to people again. And not be ashamed if I end up zoning out. It's fine to do that, even if whoever I talk to have to remind me of their existence. I'm a 40 year old mom working full time. I'm allowed to zone out in the evenings.

Day 15

In your own space, write a love letter to Fandom in general, to a particular fandom, to a trope, a relationship, a character, or to your flist/circle/followers. Share your love and squee as loud as you want to.

Dear fandom,

Without you I would not have discovered so many things about myself. Without you I would have been so lonely. Without you I would not be who I am today. Without you I would not have so many friends for life. And for all that and more, I will be eternally grateful.

Yours truly
// KSena

This entry is cross posted between LJ and DW. Comment where you are comfortable.

And onwards, I should probably say. Because it’s not like I’ll stop doing either of those things. :-)

Here goes…

I do track the books I’ve read on Goodreads.Com, so you can always track me there if you’d like. And if you want to see my year in books the way they’d tracked it, you can do so here: KSena’s Year in Books 2017.

I only read 12 books and graphic novels. But I’m a slow reader that usually feel too stressed to read, so that would be the reason why there. I have, however, started to listen to audiobooks, which makes me feel less stressed. I can listen to audiobooks when I’m on the bus or when I do dishes or vacuum or whatever.

And there I’ve punctured the myth of librarians reading a ton of books… *LOL* I, obviously, don’t. :-)

These are the books I’ve read (link to my review in the title):

• Making the rounds with Oscar - about a cat in an elderly home that can sense when a patient is about to die… and the doctor that tries to figure out why that is. REALLY interesting, even if you’re not a cat-person.



• Endometrios: Mensvärken från helvetet - a swedish book about how it is to live with Endomatriosis and how you can tackle doctors and nurses and tips and ideas for those living with endo-sufferers and just… a lot of really good info. This book needs to be translated to english stat.



• The story of my life - about the life of Helen Keller. I’ve always been curious about her since seeing a movie about her. And even though this was in her words and interesting, it was also… extremely dull here and there.



• Street Cat Bob - also a story I’ve been curious at. Listened to this through an audiobook service here in Sweden, and it worked really well! A really good book, heart wrenching story! Seen the movie to!



• Trump och vredens Amerika - some seriously effective finnish journalists who wrote a book about Trump and how he managed to get a hold of power the way he did. They also try to figure out how he ended up the man he is. It was VERY interesting and I like how they’d split up the book in various sections.



• Monster - a biography by and about the biggest YouTube star in Sweden, Joakim ‘Jockiboi’ Lundell. And I was RAGING when I listened to this audiobook!!! I read it since I wanted to know what the deal was with this guy, and why the kids/teens at the school I work was all over him. The fangirling/fanboying over this guy is off the charts. And he puts both Edward from Twilight AND infamous Mr Grey to shame… My GAWD! What an absolutely HORRIBLE guy this man is! o.O Aptly named book...



• Ibland mår jag inte så bra - a biography by and about the biggest female YouTube star in Sweden, Therese Lindgren. My expectations was way low when I started listening to this, and it turned out to be a really good book about mental health!



• Kris vid trekaffet - about a retired couple and their daily lifes and how they deal with their children and grandchildren. Sounds dull? Not in this graphic novel! The dialogue is great, and the odd style in the drawings just match up. A lovely little gem.



• När mammorna blev kära - a very easy to read book for 8-12 year old kids about two divorced mothers that fall in love with each other and how their daughters deal with it. A VERY important book! I read it once it had arrived to the library, and it was really good! It’s been read aloud in a few classes at the school, and the discussions have been both wild and civil. So important with LGBT+ books for ALL ages!!!



• Spelet är spelet - a book I bought for the library since a teen at school (almost or nearly a hooligan…) wanted to read it. So I did to, or listened to the audiobook. It’s written by Leo Carmona and is heavily based on how he grew up, how he ended up a criminal extremely young and why and the issues that Sweden has today (we do, although not as bad as a certain president and his supporters claim…). This was good. VERY good. And very eye opening to me. I have a greater understanding for my hooligans after reading this. I don’t condone what they do or how they act, but I can understand why. Makes sense?



• Hungerhuset - was just a LOVELY little horror graphic novel! The images was GORGEOUS! Detailed, sharp and black and white. Swedish comic-artists are SO GOOD at horror! Seriously! And this one was definitely one of those really good ones! Such a nice read!



• Svinet - was seriously a feel-bad story (instead of a feel-good one). And Åsa Grennvall is SO GOOD at this! Especially at showing emotion in her characters faces. And it’s some scary emotions in this. A lot of mental illness among the female characters, and then there’s the man that is in the center of the story… Extremely abusive and manipulative man. I feel the most for his mother, in this story. Even if she is… not quite well or OK either. I don’t know why I like Grennvall’s stories, they are really horrid stories. But I do love them. For some reason.

So that’s what I’ve been reading this year. I know orangerful for example read more than that in a month. But I’m slow and I can’t really settle down and relax with a book. *shrug* Thank heavens for audiobooks. Goal for 2018? Read more than 12 books, so I can beat 2017 at least. :-)

I might take a leaf from orangerful and make a post as soon as I’ve read something? Don’t expect to see that to frequently though. ;-)

When I haven’t been reading I’ve been watching TV-shows and listened to podcasts.

Podcasts are really my new love! Seriously!

Mostly I listen to swedish podcasts through the app that Sveriges Radio has (Sweden's national publicly funded radio broadcaster). They make a lot of good radio shows and they are ALL saved in their massive archive so you can listen to them whenever you want.

Brilliant says I. :-) So I listen to a few of my favorites.

• Ligga med P3 - A pod/radio show about sex. Plain and simple. And they are do not sugarcoat anything. They talk about EVERYTHING!!!! :-D And they are great fun to listen to, not taking themselves seriously at all. A GREAT listen!



• P3 Dokumentär - A pod/radio show that is like a documentary you see on TV. I mean, it’s SO well made! They put sounds to it as if it was a movie and they make sure to interview as many as possible…. And it’s just… so well made. The BEST pod/radio show that Sveriges Radio has to offer, according to me!



• P3 Historia - I’m a history-nerd and this pod/radio show is ALL about history! They take a historic person or event and then they nerd out as much as possible about it/him/her during the show. It’s great! Really really good to listen to!



• P3 Spel - This is about games to consoles and to computers. All the games all the time! It’s really good and the hosts are SO FUN to listen to! Any interests in games whatsoever, this is the one for you!



• Radiosporten Dokumentär - I’m not into sports usually, so I don’t listen to all the episodes to this one, since this is the main sport-channel that Sveriges Radio has and this is their documentary show. But since I do LOVE documentaries, this pod/show is really good to, since there are quite a lot of sport personalities that are really interesting as well! So some of these documentaries are really good to!



• Sommar & Vinter i P1 - This is a classic pod/show, especially during summer. P1 invites a certain number off more or less famous people to talk on air for 1½ hours about… whatever they want! And the person gets to choose the music to. During end of December and beginning of January they do the same thing. I don’t listen to all, only those that I find interesting as people. But it’s a good pod/show!

Then there’s my second favorite from Sveriges Radio:

• USA podden - It started out as a podcast/radio show to report on the latest election in the USA. But since it got so popular and since Trump won and everyone here in Sweden wants to know what is going on… It has continued even after the election. The hosts doing this are experts on US-politics in one way or another and most have lived or do live in the USA their job being to report back to Sweden what is going on. So it’s very interesting to listen to.

Not a podcasts from Sveriges Radio, but there is another favorite I have, but it’s on hiatus right now for obvious reasons, and thats…

• Tronspelet (meaning literary game of thrones) - These hosts watched the Game of Thrones episodes as soon as they could here in Sweden (long live HBO Nordic!), and then they sat down and discussed it, as many itty bitty details they could think about. And the sense of humour among these, my GOODNESS!! X-D They are HILARIOUS! And I so hope they’ll continue once Game of Thrones comes back with it’s last season!

There’s ONE english speaking podcast that I follow with regularity and that’s:

• My Favorite Murder - I know, I know… A comedy show about murder? How does that even work, you ask? I can’t even describe it. It’s all about the hosts, Georgia and Karen. And the way they discuss and tell about the murders they’ve researched for each episode. It’s awesome. I’ve ALMOST listened to every single episode now from start. And I’m definitely a murderino (fan) by this point. :-D

I’ve listened to a couple of other podcasts as well, but just an episode here and there. Oh My Heck needs a mention (about how the mormon church works form an ex-mormon, in english), Död Mans Podd (school librarian doing a horror-pod), Spår (going into detail during several episodes about a swedish crime) and Mordpodden (similar to My Favorite Murder, but in swedish). I haven’t listened to all the episodes here, and I probably should. Maybe I will when I’m all caught up with My Favorite Murder? Who knows?

When it comes to TV-shows (and Netflix shows), there’s one pretty obvious one…

• Game of Thrones - Oh my anything holy shit! That is ONE well made TV-show, that’s for sure! I have no words. To me, it just keeps getting better. Unfortunately I have to wait until 2019 to see the end of the whole thing. But man. What a STORY!!!! And no, I haven’t read the books. :-P

And there’s these that are worth a mention:

• American Horror Story Hotel - I was hesitant since I get nightmares easily, but I saw a series of gifs with Lady Gaga and since I DO love vampires… Well, I watched this season, and it was REALLY good! Here someone have done their own take on the vampire-myth and they did it CLEVERLY. Really good!



• Frontier - Totally blame Jason Momoa for this, but really. This show is so much more than him. That things were rough in North America when the europeans invaded, that I knew. And I bet they’re not far off with how harsh and gory it was here. The twists and turns makes my head spin sometimes, but overall, a great watch!



• RuPaul’s Dragrace - Not much need be said. X-D This is my guilty pleasure. And when I’ve felt really low, this show has picked me right up!

I love documentaries and true crime, can you tell, so…

• Making a murderer - how a crime can grow into an avalanche that is unstoppable… even if the convicted is innocent to start. This was really interesting. US? There’s some really fucked up things going on in your justice system. *shakes head*



• Killer couples - A british show that tells the stories about couples that murder together… and it tries to figure out why and how and so on. Really interesting!



• The Keepers - Just started this, and oh my world! It’s SO GOOD! Catholic priests school girls and choir boys, I tell you…. *shakes head* About the murder of the nun Sister Cathy, and it’s so good. So horrible and so good, I can not get enough. I am sure I’ll return to this in a post once I’ve finished it. :-)

Right, so… That was my lists! Kudos if you managed to read all that. :-) I’m sure there’s trailers and info all over the internet for all these, but I’m sure you all know how to use Google to find out more. ;-)

I’ve seen the Snowflake Challenge here and there on my friends journals, and I admit that I’m considering joining in.

Shorter posts then, I’m sure, but just to get back into the habit. :-)

This entry is cross posted between LJ and DW. Comment where you are comfortable.

I... What? How? Wait... I'm... I'm... speechless... o.O

I really don't know where to start... o.O And hence it’s taken so long to post this…

( If you don’t get that it’ll be spoilers under here, I don’t even know… SPOILERS!!!! )


This entry is cross posted between LJ and DW. Comment where you are comfortable.