Well, here's the weekly update from Mimi. XD I actually didn't realize it was Thursday until now (Wednesday evening), which means I had to scramble with my editing job today, although I'm sure it doesn't sure it doesn't show regardless of how much time I do spend. Lol.

I think I can blame the rather hectic week with confusing my mind. Firstly, I finally, finally got to go, albeit on very short notice, to Montreal on the weekend and had a lovely time, as always. Bought months' worth of postcard for the postcard exchange club, only because they're so pretty, but that's about it. Still, it was fun, although I must admit it would have been much better without that nasty jungle-like weather. x___x It's probably the ten millionth time I'm saying it, but I hate summer, I really do.

Anyways, there was a holiday right in the middle of the week, which also managed to mess up almost all of my catch-up from the weekend plans. Argh!! Almost as bad as a long weekend... :( But I don't think I'll bug anyone with my complaining anymore. I think all I need is a nice sleep... in cooler, less damp surroundings. *proceeds to weep* Erm, ignore that and uh, yeah:

( I'll leave you with this week's story! )

Title: Okuribito (Departures)
Year: 2008
Country: Japan
Director: Yôjirô Takita
[IMDb Link]

Weee, yes, another (physical) trip to the movies for me, which is pretty amazing considering I haven't gone in months before this. Anyways, this is the film that won this years Best Foreign Film at the Oscars along with a whole bunch of awards at various film festivals, which means that it's something I was really waiting to see.

That being said, it was given 3/4 stars by the critic from my usual, most trusted newspaper and I have to say I agree. I almost feel like there's way too much hype involving the movie, which doesn't mean I was disappointed with it; far from it, but at the same time, a lot of the themes/conventions used rang too heavily of Hallmark Hall of Fame TV movies. :/ It was an amazing movie though, I just thought it went a little overboard with the sentiment. Or, maybe that was mainly because of the lady two rows behind me who just drove me mad: for the first half, she was exploding from laughter, and I mean somewhere in between snorting and crying, but loud either way; then, for the second half, she was sobbing and wailing and argh, it got on my nerves. -__-

Still, the storyline was beautiful, as well the way it was filmed. The actor playing Daigo, and the boss were excellent, although I must agree with one user on IMDb that said the wife was acted by too immature and shallow an actress. The portrayal of of all the grieving people really was heartbreaking, since I'll admit that I too couldn't get myself to refrain from crying. ^^;; Some parts, however, were a tad predictable and in fact, when the wife says, "I have some news for you," someone in the back whispered, "She's pregnant" and yup, that she was. XD The profusion of showing funerals of younger people, through either accident or suicide, seemed like more like a way of getting you to react more than showing a more realistic portrayal, but boy did it work. Nothing gets to you like weeping of that sort, I have to say. Actually, the theatre was a total mess at the end; people (yes, men and women) were blowing their noses, wiping their eyes -- it was chaos. :D But yeah, beautiful, beautiful film and if you're the sort that loves crying over movies, this one you can't miss!!

Erm, as mentioned on some of the rotation posts I was working on, I don't quite know how intelligble this post here will be this week as I'm so groggy and flu-ed up, it's not even funny. Didn't do much on the weekend, because I felt bad then and well, it's not going away so soon. Of course, to make it all the more cruel, the male members of the household are going to some soccer tournament in the US. That's right, it's a vacation for them, while me and my mom are both still suffering from my youngest brother's virus-spreading. ;____; Hopefully, hopefully, I'll improve in these two days and I'll finally be able to go out and see Departures, the movie I was going to see last week. It's the foreign-language Oscar winner, so I've been waiting since then to see it (and still waiting for all those that were nominated to be relased here). I'll let you know afterwards how it goes. ^^

Hmm, pretty long and... coherent for today. I'm surprised. There are times when it's more nonsensical and I'm feeling perfectly fine. ;D Anyways, onto the story~

( Which is under the cut, as usual! )

Yeah, so I thought I'd give this little thing a try while I had a little time tonight (so I can't rant very much XD) and what better way to begin than to write about a movie that I actually went to the theatre to see. *gasps* Honestly, it's exciting stuff, because I've been waiting since before Christmas to go to the movies, but the lack of foreign films released here is really sad, and then on top of that, what little was here, just didn't seem to appeal to me. Of course, being the biggest fan of Scandinavian cinema, it's my duty to see everything that comes out here (which isn't all that much), so I went to this one. ^^



Title: O'Horten
Year: 2007
Country: Norway
Director: Bent Hamer
[IMDb Link]

Okay, I must admit that I wasn't expecting very much. In fact, I was anticipating more bad to come out of this than good, since, first of all, it was considered a "comedy", which is the biggest turn-off for me there is. I loathe comedies and the idea of going to see a movie where everyone's laughing at something stupid, while I just don't find it funny wasn't a nice one. Secondly, lol, I wasn't too thrilled on the whole plot focusing on old people and "aging gracefully", mainly because I can't exactly relate to it, but I went because I had seen the director's other movie, Kitchen Stories, and thought it not so bad. Also, the reviews were really good, and as I've learned from previous experiences, the critics are usually right (for what I see, anyhow).

Oddly enough (pun unintended ^^), I found this to be so... sweet, although that's mainly because I don't see it as a comedy. My movie partner (my mom XDD) didn't think it was a comedy either, even though I caught her laughing at many points through the film. That's mainly because, yes, there were funny moments throughout the film that were funny because they were so ridiculous and quirky, but not because they were stupid. In fact, I thought the movie should be called a drama, since it dealt with real issues (such as what do you do with your life once you're retired) but in a light-hearted, silly sort of way that made the whole movie strangely adorable. It was basically a series of vignettes featuring the main character, Odd, and his interactions with different people, which often got pretty weird. O__o Seriously, though, it was funny, even for me, knowing that my brother, being the railway nerd that he is, would have enjoyed seeing this, if only because the train drivers were exactly like him, although he wouldn't appreciate this. :D

Anyways, gah!! can you tell I suck at being short and at not actually providing a summary (because I so can't do them, and knowing that it's highly unlikely that anyone will make much use of this... seeing that this movie is not new though (I love how foreign films here get released here like years after their original release *sighs*), maybe someone has it on DVD or can get it.) Whatever, I had fun writing about it, so I might uh, keep going and do some ones I've watched in the past week on DVD... to the total horror of your friend's pages. XDDDDD

That's it... for today. *evil laughter can be heard from somewhere*

Hmph, quite honestly, I have nothing much to say this time. I think I might be going through with my movie reivew idea, at least for now, since I saw a really good one this past weekend, so uh, look out for that. Ha ha I have to sit down though and type everything out, and like always, it's bound to be waaaay longer than intended. .___. Um, this weekend was pretty uneventful except we finally decided to make the long overdue trip to Little Italy. I got the intersection wrong, so we ended up walking way longer than planned, but eating the most amazing gelato in a long time made it worth it. :P Yeah, I'm just so shameless like that.... Anyways, it's June. It doesn't feel like June, but I'm already dreading the thought of nasty, sticky, hot weather. Did I ever say I really don't like summer, because I don't. -__-
Argh, but the worst part is that it's June and I'm still at 0% for my vacation. Of course, it's been moved from June to August and I've reserved my place (only because it took to putting your name down for date and room type without putting any credit card numbers and whatnot)at where I'm to be staying, but this is basically nothing. But~ I don't want to litter my own page with all this nonsense, so...

( I'll direct you to my story and leave you in peace XDD )

Oopsies~ late again. I swear, why do I keep forgetting it's Thursday? Answer: Long weekends do nothing but confused you. x__x

Weekend was a little disappointing, I guess. It was a long weekend which always does, and this time was no exception, means torture for me. :( Anyways, Saturday went in search of an apparently delicious Finnish bakery and bought some goodies, although, quite frankly, I was a little disappointed that we paid so much... for stuff that wasn't all that fresh. I think the trip to the deli awhile back gave better results (where we bought the same things), but both the cinammon buns and pulla (sweet bread) were yummy. ^__^ I can't resist... I don't think I can say anything bad about baked goods. *sighs*

Erm, anyways, random note: has anyone ever gone on Google maps street view? Whee, it is just so much fun! XD I only think it's a shame that so little of Europe has been done so far, but I was bored yesterday, though I *did* have better stuff to do with my time, so I went "driving" around Paris, and awww, it was just amazing! And addictive... I was prowling the streets for close to an hour. -___- But yeah, cheap fun. I recommend it, though this is probably just proving to everyone what a no-lifer I am. :DD

Ah, too much talk from me this time around, so I'll shut up and point all interested to:

( The story - under the cut! )

WOOOOAAAAHHHH! OMG! *starts flailing arms in every direction until she knocks something over* Omg, I think I'm just ready to weep from surprise at something good actually happening to me.
I received an email from the department secretary at my university congratulating me on receiving the French Literature Award AND an Italian scholarship!!! ^__________^

Weee, I'm just so excited right now, as I've never won anything (well, we can exclude the grade 11 French award, because that was pretty cheesy). I don't even know how it happened... both award winners are nominated by your profs and well, I don't think I'm award material and I could have sworn that none of my profs were impressed with me to such an extent. O_O I'm stunned and ashamed, especially considering that I'm not as good in French as I'd like to be and there are actually francophones in my classes. Why on earth am I getting it?? Still, I can't complain about something like that; I'm just, eeeek!! :D

Ahem, *calms down* except I know have a big problem (for a shy girl like me, it's huge, though others may, and do, laugh): I've been invited to the department's awards ceremony and I, being stupid and euphoric at the time when I got the email, showed everyone the message when they asked me to see it for themselves, so they all want me to go (read: are forcing me to go) and I don't want to! I have no idea how it's going to be structured, but the idea of going up on some stage in front of several hundred people (it's to take place in the school's biggest auditorium :/) is absolute torture for me (do keep in mind that, for the very same reasons, I skipped my high school's graduation ceremony, although I was screamed at for this for months aftewards -__-). But I was only wondering, since going up wouldn't be as bad as having to say something or whatnot, has anyone ever gone to something like this? Does anyone know if you have to talk or do something embarrassing? Do you, or how formally, have to dress up? The secretary, who I've always seen around and who seems like a nice lady, said if I have any questions that I can ask them, but ha ha ha, I'm pretty sure she doesn't mean something like this. :( Eeep, on the other hand, it's not as exciting as it seemed in the first place....

Bah! I knew I forgot something today... I should have put this up in the morning. Oopsies -_______-

Ha ha two days and accepting that things won't go necessarily as I was hoping for them to go has, strangely enough, brightened my outlook on the whole thing. Of course, I'm still not sure about anything yet, but I'm hoping it'll work out. Please? *looks up hopefully at this intangible thing called fate* However, I have been getting a whole bunch of coincidences come my way recently. The travel article is the latest French ELLE (well, latest for me... it's a few weeks back, since I take it out from the library) and the travel section in the newspaper both featured the same city, the one I'm thinking of going. Eerie? Okay... maybe not, but it is for me, so hopefully, this is my sign that I'm meant to go. *crosses fingers... and prays for a sudden boost in the bank account too* XDD

Erm, anyways, I'll shut up about that now... went shopping this past weekend. Naturally bought nothing. :D Didn't do that much else, I'm afraid. I should really just be quiet then.

( Want to come in and give the story a read? )

Erm, so scrap all that came before this message. :( I've regained some of my common sense and have pretty much given up on my crazy idea. In fact, I feel pretty stupid for having written something so dumb and ignorant here. I mean, it sounds all nice and lovely in my head, but that's because I didn't realize how impossible it was to do what I want to do. I'm almost surprised that no one laughed outright at my silly rants, because I think that's what I would do, given there wasn't that much that was realistic about them. I just... I feel like an idiot.

But it's not like I've given up on my trip, because I haven't, but it looks like I'm down to my last option and it's going it alone. It would sound a lot scarier if I hadn't done it before, but I went alone last year and did just fine, although then I did it to run away from the male part of the household while my mom went to visit family. This time, everyone's around and I just don't know if I can handle going alone to a new place. Bah! I'm so confused and this isn't the place to be writing it. *Mimi slaps herself* However, I currently have three options that I'm mulling over; probably won't mention them here because I'll get embarrassed again and regret it again. :D

And why did this turn out so long? Argh! *runs away... for now*

After being egged on by my mom to ask for help from other sources except Google (which is only getting me more frustrated), I was the coward and posted this question in my LJ, where lol, no one will bother to go through it all, let alone be specific enough to help me, but I thought I would start small and work my way up... until I go mad and lose hope altogether. :( And because I'm a little embarrassed at this, I thought I would put under a cut too, so:

( Are there any Germans or people with German connections (or people with connections in general XD) that can help me?? )

Nothing much happening with me, like usual. For the first time in three weeks, I've finally received a postcard for all that I've sent, so that was a highlight. Went in search of an Austrian pastry shop (mentioned on my trip to the Finnish deli, but to another location) and found it not as exciting as the original store. I think I'm starting to feel a little embittered in terms of finding a place online, thinking it looks amazing and finding it to be... not that exciting. That being said, I had a delicious apple pastry thing (in Germany, where I *sniffs* ate my last one, they were called "Apple Pockets") and got an equally scrumptious cinnammon danish (doesn't sound so exciting, but you have to taste it) from another bakery on the same street. Erm, not that anyone really wanted to know this. XDDD I'll be quiet now...

( And direct you to this week's story! ;) )

Weeee, done! ... Okay, say sort of. -___- School's officially over, in terms of classes, but I'm still working on two (hopefully, one will be done before Thursday) essays that are due next week. Argh! I've had enough already. :( Anyways, yeah, almost there, which at the same time upsets me a little, because summer plans are nowhere near concrete. But, then again, what else is new? XD Erm, not much else to say here... finished my fourth "novel" this week and quite proud of the fact, though lol, I'm sure that news is even less interesting than anything school related. :D But yeah,

( Come on in~! )

Harumph! Not much to say right now... my head feels like it's going to explode from stress, but fortunately, now two weeks until I'm free. x____x Erm, anyways, I'll talk about something else~ *thinks hard for a moment or two* well, there really isn't anything *to* say. Went on a short shopping trip Saturday, bought nothing, all the while two members of the family went on a hypocritical spending spree/vacation for a few days and had the gall to come back and complain to everyone else how much they spent. You know, as if it's our fault. *sighs* There really never ceases to be something that makes me all the more embittered.

Do I have any positive news to share? Not really, so I should shut up now...

( But of course, don't miss this week's story~! ;) )

*grins somewhat proudly* I'm still working on the rotation, making it as presentable as possible and, lol, actually putting something on it. Right now, there's a whopping three artists, so I don't think it's anything thrilling there yet, so ha ha be patient everyone!

As for something else happening in my life... I don't know. On Saturday, we went on a huge drive in an attempt to find the (only, I gather?) Finnish deli, and found it to be tiny, practically empty, and really selling nothing with the exception of smoked fish. I don't eat fish. Hence, it was a little... disenchanting, especially considering the website made it seem really exciting. We did get some sweet bread and some cinammon buns, but it wasn't anything thrilling... until while walking back to the car (it was absolutely pouring, by the way -- a wonderful day to go out and check out the little shops along the street), we came across an Austrian pastry shop. OMG! O__O And we didn't go in!!! *faints and soon calms down* Yes, if I have one weakness in the food department, it's sweets. So, I can't help it, but yeah, I'll go there someday. They've got another location not in the middle of nowhere, so I will return. :D

Now, wasn't that a tad humiliating to say? Yes....

PS. Yay! First. Time. Ever. I reached the 500 page mark for the first time with story #2, that is, the one that I'm posting right now. It's exciting to have a story go so far, but groan-worthy too... I'm far from done. -_____________-

( Just head in to story time instead, please )

*sighs* So I had my break off of school last week, and well, it was pretty craptastic. x__x Got sick on Monday (ie. first day off) and then it carried through to this Tuesday. LJ drama ensured soon after that. Then just general boredom, so I'm almost releived to be done with it, although at this moment I'm already missing my rotation. Aww, Wednesday seemed so... uneventful without having to spend my entire evening on reviewing, although I'm half enjoying it too. *bows head in shame* However, with this week... came mail!!!! ^___^ Yes, I'm just super excited with this right now... three postcards, although I was a little surprised to get two at once since I only sent one that was received. Oh well, I'm not complaining!! And imagine, this is all happening right after the post.. two weeks ago. Wow! :D

PS. And thanks again, callise!!!! ;)

( Story (and a larger chunk too) under the cut! )

*shakes head and tries hard not to seriously, in reality, break down into tears* I don't know what to do now. I really don't. This post will just be a bumbling bunch of nonsense, but I can't help it, because I need it out somewhere. Insulting and blaming someone won't get me anywhere, because clearly all that did was get everything from bad to worse. Maybe I'll just get to the point and then rant on and on about it afterwards; in short, I've decided to temporarily give up my rotation.

I don't do this by choice; oh no, I seriously didn't scramble all week to reup everything after my Sendspace account was deleted to end up having to get rid of the entire rotation, because the post was suspended by LJ. Now, whoever this is, they've got me; I give up! I don't want anymore trouble, because I don't want anything happening to my LJ. It's more to me than my silly rotations: I post my stories (and by God, those DAMN well belong to ME, even though hardly anyone takes a look at them) and I've gotten to know and write to so many amazing people that I'd feel stranded without it.

It's true that I myself have thought of it for so long, simply because it's become a lot of work for me and as the number of downloads went up, the number of comments went down, which did get very frustrating for me, but I certainly didn't want to be forced into it. I've been so sick (I've relapsed into the flu right on the break that's ending up becoming a really *wonderful* one) and yet I was trying to get everything up, because I thought it was the right thing to do after everything got deleted, so this is almost laughably cruel, it really is.

I suppose the goal of this little thing (meant for friends only, and should have been locked like that ages ago, and I absolutely loathe myself now for not doing so) of introducing international, non-mainstream artists so people like me can then go and support something both good to listen to and that we can believe in, that is, lesser known, underappreciated artists just backfired on me. And you know what's so frustrating for me? You're stopping nothing by getting rid of me; I got the stuff from the tens of thousands of sources out there distributing it: torrents, blogs, p2p programs, forums, and contrary to a lot of these places, I really did want to only review an artist by sampling from them (after doing considerable research) and saying what I thought, so that others can enjoy and get more of it elsewhere (quite possibly by buying the albums... I know I did). I mean, each and every link I ever put up had a maximum of 15 downloads anyways; if that isn't between friends, then I don't know what is.

Another frustrating thing is the fact, and I just want to cry from this alone, that they were all Swedish artists, and awww, if anyone out there knows me, I love anything Swedish. So, it hurts a lot. I don't know if I want to know who the offended party was, but I hope it was someone I *didn't* like, so then I never, ever inadvertently buy anything from them. There! That will be as close to blaming and insulting as I'm getting. Right now, I'm just so sick and tired of all this stress and drama, *especially* when I was having an amazing day before all this happened (escalating sickness aside), so thank you very much for that and believe me, I care too much about my journal that no one reads and my silly account to go against anyone. The rotation, nearly three weeks in the making, has been deleted; all recent rotations have been friends locked, though there's not a single working link on it.

If this rotation does return, and it will probably do so in a few weeks in as best a way as I see fit, it'll definitely, definitely be friends-only from now on. Please note this!!

PS. Sorry about the length and my thanks if you do end up reading through it.

PPS. I slept and thought on it and wanted to apologize for the huge rant above. I did think of editing parts of it out, but thought I shouldn't, simply because at the time, a few minutes after getting that icky LJ email, I felt this and so much more. And that above is not the most frustrating thing, because the fact that I really have no right to complain beats all that. I can bitch about it, but there's no point to it. I've been at this, almost every week, for almost 6 years; that's insane, even to me, so I should be thankful (and believe me, I was SO relieved to read it was only one stupid entry that was suspended) that it wasn't anything more. Also, I realize and know of a few examples where people just laugh off these things and keep going, but I'm too much of a coward to do that. Maybe I overreacted a bit in canceling it, but it's the best thing I can do for the least risk involved. I'll think more about the rotation and we'll see how it goes, okay? This is too much of my life to give up forever, I think. Finally, in all my anger last night, I didn't get a chance to thank my visitors; thanks for sticking with me through all the changes this rotation has gone through and for being so supportive. I checked my inbox this morning and found 27 comments there; I felt like crying! You guys are amazing and the number one reason why I regret putting it on hiatus in this way, but watch out, Mimi will be back!!!

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here through the comments are not necessarily mine. Don't uh, punish me anymore, because I've got some pretty great LJ-friends. ^__^v

So, I actually have more than one thing to say today. Firstly, next week is my official "spring" break, called here reading week, because admit it, there's nothing spring about the middle of February. However, along with the break comes the knowledge that half of the semester is over, and anoher half awaits. It definitely hasn't felt that way, but anyways... I'm actually quite frustrated that the first day of this vacation is a holiday here, and a stupid holiday at that, which means everything is closed, annoying, madness-inducing family members are home, and I'm practically forced to be imprisoned with them. So many people are complaining about this *useful* holiday (like, why February?) and as usual, no one seems to be listening. I've vowed to write a letter to the newspaper, but considering just how many times this has happened, you might as well just say it won't be happening. XD

Okay, second issue: my youngest brother has suddenly gotten into his head to contact soccer/football players from every possible country, as long as he knows them, for autographs and "fan packs", so right now, he's getting mail daily from Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, France, England, Scotland, Ireland, Austria, etc, etc. either with what he wants (autograph) or doesn't exactly appreciate (fake, printed autographs, postcards), but nevertheless, I can't help it: I'm so jealous! ;___; I want mail coming to me from different countries too!! In response to my sad, envious cries, he told me that I love SO many obscure, non-English singing bands that are only famous in their own countries that they'd be so excited to send something to a foreign fan (HIS words, not mine). Erm, how about no? Especially when, in reality, I will not -- and know it -- write to anyone, let alone a stranger making amazing music asking them for something. I possess my dignity and self-respect; I'm not like my brother, who not only blatantly asks for stuff, but encloses his address with his request. I mean, how can you do that? Is that just not so shameless and presumptuous of you to think that this person with better stuff to do will give you whatever you want? As many people on LJ know, I'm even terrified and ashamed of accepting someone's offer to upload something for me... I hate feeling like I'm a bother; I can't even bear to think turning this into a request by me that the other, in the end, has to pay for! :/ I still want mail, though, from different, fun places.... My mom suggested I send for some travel brochures to countries where I'm planning to, in earnest, visit this summer, and ha ha I did it, but I'll be upset if it'll just come from their North American office or something like that. :( But yeah, filling out a form to get some, albeit useful, brochures just isn't the same thing. Still, I'll probably get super excited when they come and that will be the end of things, because I can't think of anything else, or, more importantly, I'm not willing to stoop to any sort of begging. :(

( OMG, the mother of all comments *above* is followed by a somewhat-longer story *here* )

Bah! I don't really have much this week, yet again. Went shopping on the weekend and picked up my latest language-learning book. Yes, I've officially completed my learn Finnish book (and *gasps* did actually learn something from it) so I'm onto Swedish. Yay! Okay, yes, I'm sure I'm the only nerd to be saying that, but nevertheless... no, I actually have nothing else besides this to say, except maybe if someone knows where I can find children's stories (I was hoping for the Moomin stories) in Finnish online?? I need something to practice with, and lol, I don't think I'm anywhere close to exceeding a second-grader. :DDDD Any help would be appreciated, though I'm sure no one knows the existence of such stuff, no matter where they live. *sighs* Whoa, big note today (and a slightly embarrassing one at that), but ignore it and ~

( Head on over to this week's story! )

*sighs* What to say? I actually thought skipping a week would help me write something here of more interest. Um, no. XD I've been infected and am now in the midst of a very nasty cold or flu or whatever this is. Argh! That being said, I have nothing else to say and don't have the strength to think something up, so bleh! I'll go now. There is, however, a story this week. Ha ha I know, I know, but I won't say it. Here it is:

( Under the cut~! )

I sort of forgot to mention that I'd be skipping the story last week, but LOL I'm so sure that no one really cared or noticed that there's really no reason to mention it. But excuse me anyways. I've actually been contemplating putting up the story once every two weeks because I'm running out and I don't want to be presssured to get it done on time. Of course, it's something like 40 pages left, and I'm writing it on top on an on and off sort of basis, so it's progressing, it's progressing. I promise. ^^; *is greeted with the image of tumbleweed rolling across her screen* Yeah, I thought so. :DDD

Erm, and yeah, it was Christmas, now it's New Years, and back to educational torture next week (and uh-oh, I haven't exactly decided what I'm doing in terms of my courses yet .___.;;). Argh!! Anyways, I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, or at least better than mine (believe me, that's not saying much -__-), and seeing as it's the time: Happy New Year !!! to everyone out in LJ-land! May this year be filled with luck, happiness, and good health for all! And that it's way better than 2008, because, I'll admit, this was a pretty crappy year for me... so I'll drink to that. *cracks open some imitation champagne/sparkling wine and offers it to whoever wants it* ^___^v Have a great one, everyone! .... *overhears some grumbling* Whaat? You were expecting the real stuff? From me? O__O *explodes into laughter*

Ooh, oh dear, oops, went overboard again, so uh:

( Here's the story! )