We'll re-open on September 21. Leave a message in the comments, and we'll get back to you.

Okay, I just saved all my comments using LJ-archive, and copied my entries to GreatestJournal and InsaneJournal. Both accounts under des_pudels_kern.

And what's with JournalFen?

If you're looking for the account creation page, we don't have account creation turned on at the moment. If you know a paid user, you can have that person request a journal for you, though.

Huh? Oh well. Two back-ups should be enough, right?

Panicking? Me? No!

...

Okay, yes. I'm afraid something will happen while I'm away.

I like it here. I'm comfortable, know my way around the basic stuff, have icons, music, mood for every entry, comments, friends, communities.

Most of this I can't just copy and paste.

And you know what's the really sad part? How I feel I couldn't live without this, when a year ago I didn't have anything to do with LJ.

And back to rl arrangements.

EDIT: Ha, I knew having several journals had to be good for something! *has just uploaded a bunch of icons over at GJ* Icons are love.
Now if only I knew a way to export my layout.

EDIT THE SECOND: Got a Journalfen account, same name. Thank you esteven!

12-characters-meme, as seen at Grace's.


List twelve characters! Don't read my answers until you've listed your own characters if you’re wanting to fill this out later:

1. Stephen! Everybody has to pick Stephen, right? (MandC)
2. crazy!Felix (Melusiné)
3. A Klingon from the Original Series back then they all looked so much better… (Star Trek: The Original Series)
4. DEATH (Discworld)
5. Cadsuane Sedai (Wheel of Time)
6. Steve the Wraith (Stargate Atlantis)
7. Drizzt Do'Urden (Darkelf)
8. Basil the puppy!demon (Don't ask. Or, ask rahmi.)
9. Jayne (Firefly)
10. Ian Malcolm (Jurassic Park)
11. Artemis Fowl (Artemis Fowl)
12. James Norrintgon (PotC)

( Here cometh the crack! )

And now I'll return to reading The Virtu and letting the boys break my heart.

Instead I lemming a quiz that's been going around *headdesks* I'm bad.

But I couldn't get anything done now if I wanted to.

I think I'm hung over. But just slightly.

( Some talking (and feel free to laugh at me), followed by a quiz. )

...

But look, the quiz is right!

EDIT: That book actually sounds interesting. And there are paperback copies available. Should I order it? On the one hand, I already ordered The Virtu earlier today. On the other hand, both are paperbacks and not too expensive. And Guns of August would actually let me learn something.
Opinions?

Just got a call. Our flight's deferred, we'll leave Friday next week. One person from our team has a slipped disc.

I don't know if than means we'll come back a week later, too, or if we'll only be gone five weeks.

Meeting tomorrow at ten.

Need to call Anne (Sabina didn't have her number to tell her herself), the family (because, well, family), and Tabea (who now won't have to record Prison Break for me).

Oh, more time! *thanks the deity of delays*

Then I'll leave Germany behind for six weeks and do what people like me like to do: Be hot, sweaty, and dirty.

...

I figured your mind would go there. Now get it back out of the gutter.

I'm talking about the excavation I mentioned frequently these last couple of months (and some of you chose to repress all knowledge of, I know, but it's time to face reality).

( A coupla maps )

I'll leave on August 3, and come back September 20.

There might be an internet café somewhere in our or one of the neighbouring villages, but we won't know that before we get there. So maybe there will be some posts from Lebanon.

Otherwise I'll send the occasional text message to esteven, she has volunteered to post and let you know how I am. Those messages will probably be of the "Am alive. Feel dead." kind, just so you know.

Now, if you would like to be able to read those mini-messages, but don't know esteven, I suggest you friend her, she's a very nice person and won't bite.

I also will try to send postcards. No guarantees here either, btw. But if you'd like one, send me your address if I don't have it yet, email's in the profile.

If there's anything, important personal stuff, fandomy squee, fics, pretty, downloads, you'd like me to know about, comment and leave a link. I seriously doubt I'll read through six weeks worth of fpage when I come back.

And this is not the last time you hear from me before September. I just thought I'd post this now and give you ample warning.

EDIT: That bombing map doesn't seem to do what I want it to. So, calm down. That map shows last summer's bombings. Last summer was war. We'll leave the country as soon as anything even remotely worrisome happens. This map is to show you that even if something happens, and even if we are not back in Germany by then, it is very unlikely to happen where we are, because bombings concentrate on other regions and big cities. Okay? There was no hit on our village, and only one in the area.

I came home early! Just for the MandC moot!

It was full of squee and fun (as was expected).

My stay at home wasn't quite as nice. My old dentist had retired, and the new one decided to take x-rays, because I didn't have any done for quite some time, just to be on the safe side.

...

Then he told me to make three appointments for when I'm back from Lebanon. As it turns out I have hidden cavities, in my back teeth. The kind you can't see with the naked eye. He'll have to drill open my teeth to even get to the cavities.

There'll be lots of ouch.

And why did he have to tell me? I must have had those for years and they didn't give me an trouble. But now that I know? *shudders* I hope I'll get through excavation without anything acting up.

But hey, MandC moot!

I'm packing for my mini-break aka visit with the family aka This is your only chance to sleep in for months, make good use of it!

I'm taking the laptop and some work. *mopedy-mope* And that's supposed to be my vacation. Anyway, I can't hook the laptop up to te family's internet without stealing cables and plugs from someone else's pc, and still would need my father to do computer magics so the system doesn't tell me I'm a stranger and strangers aren't allowed to go online. So I'll be dependent on the sister's pc for online time.

I'll be back on Sunday. rahmi, write me fic?

...

I hate packing.

Not much info.

Seems to be pretty safe and calm, we are in contact with the locals, and last week the prof was talking to some visiting Israelis, who said they don't think there'll be any armed conflict this summer. But still, should anything happen, we can cancel everything, or, should we already be there, pack our bags and return home at any time.

And we are to dress really decent. More so than we usually would in Lebanon, because people are still a bit touchy. Which is plain inconvenient. For work I'll wear plain white short-sleeved linen shirts for men, like I did in Syria. But as for 'good' clothes? Everything airy (linen or cotton) I already have or can find in the shops is either too short, has cleavage, or is too see-through. And that one shop that sold fabric closed some months ago, and the fabric section in the only department store in town that has one has shrunken enough to be of no use. So much for I shall make a blouse. It may be crappy-looking, but at least it will also be long, and loose, and not see-through.

I also need walking boots or something similar, not the airy sneaker-like cloth shoes I wore in Syria. Apparently walking around the Beqaa is quite different from the plains of Northern Syria. *mope* Luckily I do have a pair. My father bought them for me three years ago at a sale, saying I might need them one day for excavation. *ignores the fact that he's never going to read this* Papa, I love you.

And! Maybe, if we're lucky, there might be an internet café in the village. So maybe, maybe, I'll be able to post a couple of times from Lebanon.

Not much else to tell. Still a very busy dPK. Sometimes reading the fpage, sometimes not.

I'm about to rush through the last couple of entries on my fpage and leave one-to-ten-word-comments. So, no reason to be irritated, just me being all hurried.

It's from Grace!

It's of Biltmore House, which she visited with Jack, Stephen, and Sarah. And they went to the beach and were watching dolphins there! Unfortunately she didn't see a mermaid, but she drew one on the card. I'm sure it's a Mermaid of Temptation.

( Clicky )

Thank you dear! *squishes*

Papers on Bisotun and Pasargadae have to get done this week, lectures to be held on Sunday. Yes, Sunday. The joys of block seminar.

The one on Naqsh-e Rustam I hope to hold on Wednesday next week, you know, the extra meeting we scheduled because, well, schedule-wise? We lag behind. Miles and miles and miles. But that depends on when I get that book I ordered via interlending.

Some papers are getting cancelled for now, those will have to be done by October 1, because then our excursion book goes into production, can't have the book without the papers. Those lectures will only be held in Iran, on-site. And this is what I hope to do with my Taq-e Bostan paper, because? No literature. Waiting on another interlending, but I don't think that one will pull through before the weekend.

And I don't even want to think about the written Nabonidus that has to be done by the end of July, and the two articles Saskia and I will have to rework when I'm back from Lebanon.

Plus my father keeps mentioning the term "Master of Arts paper" every time we talk. Well, no, not the "Master of Arts" part. He always forgets what kind of degree my older sister and I are going to get. She - diploma, me - Master of Arts, and then dissertation. He thinks you just have to snap your fingers and voilá, you've found your topic. I love my father, but when he does that, I want to throttle him. It's like every time he talks about excavating, he makes it sound like some vacation. He knows it's not, I've explained the hard work part to him often enough. But somehow it doesn't register. *sigh*

I am aware of the fact that most of my entries are no fun as of late. Sorry. I promise, some day I will post without complaining about anything.

I'm just so exhausted. Block seminar is no fun.

Well, it is. It's just so long. And tiring.

We scheduled another meeting on the 18th, because we need to get through all the papers and are once again slower than anticipated.

So it's two more meetings, and I still have all of my papers ahead of me, not only the actual lecture, but also a lot of the preparation.

And a meeting to prepare the excavation still has to be scheduled. I'm afraid it won't be before semester break, and I wanted to go home and visit the family before Lebanon.

Plus I need a new passport. The Iranian embassy won't issue our visa until six weeks before the scheduled start of our journey. Wait much longer, and we might not get them in time. And the excavation group won't be back until four weeks before departure. So I need a second one.

...

Random question: Does anyone know how this posting via text message works? Could one post using one's handy from Lebanon, if one was to get a paid account?

And in case you hadn't noticed yet, not really having time for lj these days.

What did I learn today?

Next time a pair of jeans is too long, I'll have it altered. My sewing machine doesn't like the jeans thread (which is thicker than normal thread), and the upper thread wasn't tight enough, even when I had it on it's tightest. It's okay, but could be better. And those parts at the sides were you have to sew x layers? 'Nuther thing the machine doesn't like. And doing them manually isn't good either. Getting a needle through said layers of jeans hurts one's thumb.

But I'll just not let people scrutinize the fringe (or seam, or whatever you say). Because from afar you can see that I did keep the original fringe (which has the used washed out look), but not that the stitches are a bit off.

And tops only not shrink when you expect them to. Not even if you throw them in a pot of boiling water and come back two hours later. But I learned that some weeks ago. Only today I took the time to alter them.

And I can't alter that blouse yet because it turns out I don't have black thread. *hangs head* Black. Doesn't everybody have black thread?

I guess when I took the sewing machine with me the last time my father drove me home after I visited the family I should have taken my mother's sewing box, too. Funny that all the thread is hers, but the machine is mine. But I got it for Christmas ten years ago or so, and of course back then I used her thread, and when I bought some new, put it into her box. And since the machine was at the family's until a few months ago, it didn't matter.

I shall steal lots and lots of thread next time I get home.

Wanna guess how much I worked on my papers today?

From hyel.

1. Your Middle Name:
2. Age:
3. Single or Taken:
4. Favourite Movie:
5. Favourite Song or Album:
6. Favourite Band/Artist:
7. Dirty or Clean:
8. Tattoos and/or Piercings:
9. Do we know each other outside of LJ?
10. What's your philosophy on life?
11. Is the bottle half-full or half-empty?
12. Would you keep a secret from me if you thought it was in my best interest?
13. What is your favourite memory of us?
14. What is your favourite guilty pleasure?
15. Tell me one odd/interesting fact about you:
16. You can have three wishes (for yourself, so forget all the 'world peace etc' malarkey) - what are they?
17. Can we get together and bake a cake?
18. Which country is your spiritual home?
19. What is your big weakness?
20. Do you think I'm a good person?
21. What was your best/favourite subject at school?
22. Describe your accent:
23. If you could change anything about me, would you?
24. What do you wear to sleep?
25. Trousers or skirts?
26. Cigarettes or alcohol?
27. If I only had one day to live, what would we do together? (If you have no idea, just say something crazy, it'll entertain me!)
28. Will you repost this so I can fill it out for you?

...

Okay, back to work.

Okay, for information's sake, and because I don't have anything else to say (I could whine about the papers, but that's not very interesting) and want to post just to let you know I'm still around, just neglecting lj once again in favour of rl:

Excavation/Lebanon:
August 3 - September 20

Excursion/Iran:
October 18 - November 4

May still change, so no guarantees.

Of course people who are not a Rahmi can download, too.

( On the Way to Wonderland ) I shall retreat again. If anyone's looking for me, I'm the girl hidden behind the piles of books.

We got it! The money for Iran! Granted! Come, world, and let me hug you!

*hugs and dances happily and grins like the Cheshire cat*

My printer is working again. Okay, you didn't know it had stopped working in the first place. But it did, and now it's back. Turns out I only had to re-install it. Fatherly advice is a good thing. And if I had known it would be so easy I would have asked weeks ago. (I thought something was wrong with the cable and only now mentioned it to my father because the sister will be visiting this weekend and I asked if he had another cable she could bring)

It's cold and rainy. Where'd summer go? I had to wear a jacket today! A jacket! And jeans and sneakers! No more skirts and flip flops.

I got a GreatestJournal account. Same name as here. Didn't do anything with it but get it though, and don't plan to do anything either. It's just a safety blanket. Yes, my reaction to Strikethrough is a bit behind the clock. So what?

I'm toying with the idea of getting a paid account. Toying. Because, if I did, then it would be after my lj anniversary. I want to be absolutely sure I won't regret it once the novelty wears off. Though that probably would have happened by now. So I'll wait til December, which is when I wrote my first entry, and then decide if I want to get one for 2008. Might depend on whether there are material goods or money for Christmas.

Paid accounts are good for icons. Icons are fun. I need more than 15, because right now I don't keep them very long. And it always hurts to part from yet another one. And lookit the new icon!

Going to bed now.

Because papers are so much work, and the Nabonidus one just turned from oral into written.

See, we spend too much time during course with discussions, what I love, because you don't just sit there and let the prof and this week's contributor talk but actually participate, think things through, and feel awfully academically. But it means we lag miles behind as far as our schedule is concerned. Which results in those of us who's turn would be in the last two weeks of semester having to write their papers.

I'm tired. And it's raining. And my shoulders are tense.

Why isn't it August yet? I wanna be on excavation.

But I got a card from Sea and my inbox is clogged, both of which make me feel loved. *leaves laptop to make dinner*