Awake

There’s something not quite right when you’re awake earlier on your day off than on a work day.

I slept really badly last night. You know those nights where you can’t get comfortable, you’re too hot with the duvet on, too cold with it off and when you do sleep you just have bizarre dreams that kept waking you up? That’s the night I had.

I actually gave up on sleep somewhere around 3:45 and made myself a cup of tea. I sat in bed and read for a bit, then jumped online. I did a little bit of work on my wordpress site, joined a few fanlistings.

It’s now 10am and admittedly i’m still sitting in bed. I’m thinking about taking a shower, getting dressed and walking into town. There’s a few things I’d like to get and a few chores around the house I’d like to check of the list. Nothing exciting, it’s a ‘buy milk’ and ‘do laundry’ type of day.

This afternoon I’m hoping to knuckle down and make a start on writing – probably my jd_ficathon fic

Routines

I really need to work out a way of getting online into my normal evening schedule. Slot it in between somewhere after doing the dishes because I feel like I’m never getting online to post or to read or to comment. Or even to work on all the fic I’m wanting to write! I’m so used to my normal routine but I like coming online so more than one evening a week would be nice!

I also need to figure out things to talk about. Maybe I’ll find one of those ’30 day memes’ for August or something. I’m sure these things used to be easy but I really have no life and ‘I went to work, I did bank stuff, I came home, I cooked, I did housework, I watched TV and went to bed’ doesn’t exactly make for an interesting blog post, does it? LOL

Ben, the lovely boyfriend, came around this afternoon with a present for me which I’m very excited to play with. He got me a Colouring for Grown-Up Children – Colouring Book Set which he says was a reward for sorting out my paperwork and filing it rather than having it piled up on my kitchen table – that I now have something to use my kitchen table for.
Two colouring books featuring animals, flowers, butterflies and abstract images, and a pack of 36 colouring pencils.

Fandom Excitement

I have just signed up for my very first fanfiction exchange. The jd_ficathon which is in it’s 14th year and has some authors signed up who’s names make me go wordless and handflappy with fannish glee. And then there’s me. And OMG what if I end up writing for [insert someone exciting here]. And holyshit what if they end up writing something for me.

There’s prompts left that would be so freaking awesome to try and write for an some that make me really hope I don’t get matched for. So is the nature of the beast. Just the idea of being part of something so… *waves hands around* is just… y’know?!

It’s utterly terrifying and incredibly exciting and I am aware I sound like a total geek right now but I don’t care because *flails*

Speaking of fandom things that are awesome, you’ve all seen the announcement about the 13th Doctor right? A woman! I’ve never seen Jodie Whittaker in anything so I need to rectify that but I’m really excited about the prospect of a female Doctor and how – if at all – it changes her perspective on all the things that make the Doctor, well, the Doctor. I’d love a cranky William Hartnell style Doctor, but I’m also drawn to the eccentricity and energy of say Tennant or Tom Baker or Pertwee.

One of my favourite things about regeneration scenes is the Doctor’s reaction to his new body… I’m wondering how he’s going to react to a female body. I hope there’s some kind of ‘well this is new’ response from her and that she doesn’t become sexualised.

I’m also hoping for her to have a female companion. Platonic relationship, women vs time and space would just be bloody fantastic!

Hannah Nicole

Sometimes I feel like the only person who actually likes their name. I’ve never had, or wanted, a nickname or to be known as anything else. I don’t even like my name being shortened. Do I look like Han Solo to you?

Hannah. Its from the Hebrew meaning ‘favour’ or ‘grace’. Although to be fair, I’m not exactly a very graceful person. Mother of Samuel in the bible. Makes a lot of people think of a certain Disney show. I don’t mind though, I like the name. It’s my paternal grandmother’s name.
Nicole. Feminised form of Nicholas, from the Greek meaning ‘victor of the people’. St Nicholas was the patron saint of children, sailors and merchants – which seems like a strange combination but, whatever. Probably best associated with Nicole Kidman. It’s my maternal grandmother’s name.

There’s a naming tradition in my dad’s side of the family that the oldest child is named after the two grandparents. It’s been going back hundreds of years and I really like it, so if for some reason Ben and I have kids, I would totally use it. It would make my kids be called either ‘John Miles’ or ‘Judith Valerie’ – I really hope any first born I have is a boy… I can totally call a girl ‘John’ right? LOL

Carry a piece of the quiet

One of the questions my boyfriend and I get asked a lot is when we’re going to move in together. People always look utterly confused when we answer that right now we have no plans to – the same goes for having children, getting married etc. We’ve been together almost 7 years and we’re happy together, things are going well so wh would we change anything.

I love Ben to pieces, I really do, but living with him would drive me crazy. He’s always on the go, he’s always busy, he’s never… silent. Sometimes I like to just sit and, as the song goes, enjoy the silence. I like to listen to the sound of nothing. I like to meditate, I like to read in the quiet.

Yes, I like music. Yes, I like watching tv and movies. But I don’t have background sound on for the sake of it. But Ben does. He’s always got something playing. His alarm is the radio and it – or the TV – is on until he leaves the house for work. He has music on in the car. He turns He doesn’t appreciate stillness – and he doesn’t understand that I enjoy it.

Invest in myself

This month I want to try something new. I want to learn something new. I thought about knitting, about aquaaerobics – or however you spell the bloody thing, I looked into learning to play and instrument and I bought a couple of books on improvng my handwriting.

What I eventually decided I want to invest some time in is learning/refreshing some language skills. Many years ago I learned German in school and I got a decent grade in my exams. And promptly never used the language again. I barely remember any of it.

I’ve signed up for Duolingo and this is what I learned this afternoon:
Mann – man
Junge – boy
Frau – woman
Ein Mann – a man
Eine Frau – a woman
Ich bin Hannah – I am Hannah
Mädchen – girl
und – and
Kind – child
du – you
bist – are
So now I can say very useful phrases like Ich bin Hannah und ich bin eine Frau

Selfies?

I like taking photographs. I’m no photographer by any means and my camera of choice is part of my mobile phone. I take pictures of my cats, my boyfriend, places we go, things we see. I probably take far too many pictures of random pretty flowers I see when I’m out for a walk.

I’m not big on sharing the pictures I take either. I take them for me, they mean something to me, they have a connection with a memory – if that makes any sense

The one thing I don’t take pictures of is me. It’s not that pictures of me don’t exist – they do, they’re just taken by other people. My boyfriend takes pictures of me, he takes the odd picture of us both. Friends and family take and share pictures.

I just don’t get the selfie… thing

Welcome!

• My name is Hannah. I’m in my mid-30s, live alone in England with two cats. I’ve been with my boyfriend Ben for almost 7 years and we have no plans to get married.

• Please let me know if I say something that you find offensive or tactless, because I can be quite thoughtless when I say things sometimes, so I’d appreciate being told so I don’t do it again. I don’t mean it maliciously, I simply don’t think before inserting my foot into my mouth.

• I’m a huge fan of 90s/2000s alternative rock/grunge. I love Foo Fighters, Nirvana, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Green Day, Semisonic, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Radiohead, Muse, Linkin Park, The White Stripes, 3 Doors Down, Queens Of The Stone age… I have a last.fm account – it’s a new one because, like my old LJ, I’ve lost all the log-in details

• I love science fiction! My favourites are Doctor Who, Star Trek, Star Wars, Stargate, Farscape, Firefly, Battlestar Galactica, Andromeda. I’m currently really loving Dark Matter, Killjoys, iZombie and Stitchers.

• I sold my soul to Joss Whedon many decades ago and he’s never let me down. I have an immense love for that man and his work.

• The superhero films and TV shows of recent years are a current obsession of mine. I love both DC and Marvel, although Marvel possibly slightly more because I love how it’s all connected – it’s all one timeline whereas with DC there’s these shows here in this bubble, these movies here in this bubble. I’m liking the new Justice League era of movies

• I have a Bsc in Psychology but have never put it to use and work in a bank. People fascinate me endlessly and I have thought of doing some form of study in Social Psychology/Sociology or Philosophy.
I’ve just started learning German through Duolingo

• I used to be a big bookworm and I’m trying to pick that back up again. I love science-fiction, fantasy and horror, although I think my current favourite genre is young adult urban fantasy. I’m re-reading the Harry Potter series and have just started The Prisoner Of Azkaban
You can find me on goodreads (which is another new account, I mentioned losing all my log in details for all my social media, yes?)

• I think this is pretty much everything, although if there’s anything you would like to know, feel free to ask!