Nimavenl - Nicole's Random Ramblings

I'm a big sci-fi and fantasy nutter really - as long as a story involves aliens, magic, time travel, strange creatures, vampires, werewolves, dinosaurs, or really anything paranormal or supernatural - count me in. Think I've watched pretty much every episode of oh let me think... Star Trek (all series), Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Tru Calling, Dollhouse, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Primeval, Charmed, The Vampire Diaries, Torchwood, Supernatural, Earth: Final Conflict, Babylon 5... I'm sure the list is longer than this, but hey, you get the message. I'm a Trekkie, Trekker, Star-Trek nutter, call it what you will. And I'm proud of it! Deep Space 9 is my favourite series, however I also enjoyed Enterprise a lot. And Voyager. And The Next Generation. And the DS9 relaunch books. And the books set after The Original Series. And... Well, you get the point. Supernatural is currently in it's 4th season on TV over here, and while I read episode des...

Having watched the final episode of the 3rd series of Primeval, I'm left with a gazillion questions.

Being a huge fan of just about every sci-fi TV show I've ever come across, I've now become addicted to British show Primeval as well. Read recently that they'll be making a 4th and 5th series, and am over the moon! Almost through watching the 3rd series... Two episodes to go. Am hoping I'll stumble across another awesome tv show soon to fill Primeval's shoes... Now just really, really, really want there to be more Torchwood episodes some time soonish !!! Watching Doctor Who is awesome too of course and am catching up on episodes I've missed and enjoying that, however I do miss Torchwood just a bit! Might just end up re-watching more old Enterprise episodes, which, even though it's American, is still pretty good. And yes - it's Star Trek which makes it "pretty darn awesome" really !!! OK - rant over - back to watching Primeval !

Just had to share this photo as I love the pic! Fly Away... | Nimavenl

Very, very quick post after reading a news story about Lady Gaga... Apparently some narrow-minded people were protesting outside one of Lady Gaga's concerts about how she is very outspoken about gay rights, and LG sent a huge long message to her fans through Twitter basically saying to ignore the protesters and be glad to love instead of hate. "Don't waste your words, or feelings, no matter what you hear or see...   I wanted to make my fans aware of my views on how to approach, or rather not approach, these kinds of hate activists...   Be inspired to ignore their ignorant message, and feel gratitude in your heart that you are not burdened or addicted to hate, as they are..." (Source: Lady Gaga's Twitter page   ) Awesome to read a message like that - not a self-promotion or anything like that, simply a message saying "this is what I think, and this is how I think my fans should handle these people." By loving instead of hating. Awesome message. M...

So I've been playing around with the new blog editor thingie that Blogger's come up with. Love it. Well, I mostly do. The one thing that I'm still confused about is how to upload my OWN background image. I'm sure I just overlooked the option and will find it next time I look... I'm a photographer. Not by any means a professional one and perhaps not even a very good one, however I *am* one. I love trying to capture on camera the beauty that is the world around me and sharing it with others. I don't like to edit or Photoshop my photos much and usually don't change them other than cropping a bit here and there. The pictures I post on my blog as well as my display picture were taken by me, and I love them the way they are, and think they too are worthy of serving as a background picture for a blog - or at the very least for my own blog. [UPDATE: I've figured it out! Turns out it was right where I should have expected it to be...]  That said, I'...

I'm a huge fan of Goodreads.com . This website seriously has just about everything any book lover could want, and is a wonderful tool for keeping track of what I read. You can write reviews of books you've read, check what others have to say about books you're thinking of reading, and my favourite - answer tons and tons of trivia questions. Admittedly, I'm a bit of a nerd and when I'm not in front of my computer my nose tends to be stuck in a book, so it's no surprise really that I love this website. If you know anyone else who might enjoy it - pass on the address !!!

With my new Twitter account going and people deciding to "follow" me every day, I figured there might be a chance some of these people actually read what I have to say. I "follow" 200+ people, and I certainly can't read everything written by everyone, so I don't expect others to read everything written by me, however if some people read what I write and enjoy it, then that would be awesome! I tried to find a quote I liked to use for today's update. Something about how life is a train and we should enjoy not only the journey but also the destination. Or maybe something about how every cloud has a silver lining and how after rain there will be sunshine (Dutch saying). As I couldn't find a quote on any of those subjects I decided to go with something slightly different: "I have found that if you love life, life will love you back." ~Arthur Rubinstein Also true, and also a reflection of how I'm feeling today. As I'm still tr...

I'm a huge fan of Australian author Traci Harding. She's written quite a few books by now, has an online community dedicated to her work and the ideas that inspired her work, and would very easily qualify as "one of the authors who has inspired me the most". I came across her first book, The Ancient Future , some time in 2002. It looked like an interesting and entertaining story of a modern Australian woman, Tory Alexander, who accidentally goes back in time through a stone circle while on holiday in Britain, then finds herself in Wales some 1500 years ago where she meets and marries the love of her life, Prince Maelgwn Gwynedd. She becomes Queen of Gwynedd (in modern-day Wales), enforces new child- and female-friendly laws and teaches the ancient Britons a new way of fighting and with it, a new way of thinking. As the book unfolds, Tory learns that her coming to the 6th Century wasn't an accident but deliberate, and was orchestrated by Merlin - yes the Merlin...

I caved - Finally. Signed up for my very own Twitter account yesterday. As of right now I'm following 114 people and am being followed by 5 people. Random. Especially as I don't even know these 5 people. Still - it's kinda cool in a slightly strange way  :D I think I'll link my Twitter and my Blog, however still have to figure out how to do that exactly. While I do that - head on over to Youtube and enjoy this video showing how much we love OUR BOYS and how proud we are of them and their amazing achievement!!!! http://bit.ly/9b0Myf This is why I love being Dutch !!!

Hieronder een gedeelte van de speech van minister president Jan Peter Balkenende ten tijde van de huldiging van het Nederlands elftal in het Catshuis. Zie de link onderaan voor de volle tekst. Verliezen doet pijn, want een sportman wil winnen. Zo dichtbij en toch net niet.  Voor het WK zei Bert van Marwijk: “We hebben een beetje geluk nodig”. En dat hadden we dit toernooi. Tot die 116e minuut van de finale. De beelden staan ons allemaal op het netvlies. Dat Spaanse schot was een klap voor Nederland. Een klap voor de spelers. Een klap voor de Oranje supporters. Spanning maakte plaats voor stilte. Verslagenheid. Ook bij mij en al die duizenden en duizenden andere Oranjefans in Soccer City in Johannesburg.  Alles wat oranje is en van oranje houdt is terneergeslagen. Begrijpelijk. Maar ik hoop oprecht dat die teleurstelling snel plaatsmaakt voor trots.  Trots op de prestatie van dit Nederlands elftal. Op het hoofdpodium van het mondiale voetbal was zondagavond 11 ...

Went for a walk with a friend's daughter before the game on Sunday. We were gone for maybe an hour, taking photos of everything orange in the neighbourhood, of flowers and traffic signs, and of all the people dressed in orange. We were dressed in orange as well, singing football-related songs and running around happy as anything. It's been a long time since I spent time with my nephew, and haven't had much to do with children since then. My nephew's only 3, and while my friend's daughter is 9, she's as exuberant and joyful as my nephew is. It's easy to forget how much fun it is to spend time with children and how carefree it makes you. For a change, it doesn't matter what people think of you, it doesn't matter if you're running around acting silly and pulling faces - there's no pressure to behave a certain way or conform to social standards. It makes me wonder why we can't always feel that carefree and be that confident in...

Well, to say I'm disappointed would be the understatement of the century. Watched the game last night on a huge screen with friends and neighbours. The kids were all playing together, the grown-ups were all watching together, I talked to people I'd never met before and others I've known my whole life. It's amazing how football and the national pride we feel brings people together the way it does. For the duration of the World Cup, it didn't matter whether someone was a supporter of Ajax or Feyenoord or ADO Den Haag; things like race, religion and skin colour didn't matter. What did matter is that we all supported our boys, our team, our country. We all lived, breathed, and wore orange. Our dream to finally win the World Cup didn't come true. Spain won. We did not. We did, however, make it to the finals of the World Cup for the first time ever IN MY LIFETIME. For only the third time ever in football history, and for the very first time since 1978. We r...

Being female, people are often surprised that I'm a football fan. Some are still not quite convinced I actually enjoy the game even after asking about my favourite team and favourite players. They seem to think I only watch because apparently, football players are all "hot" and "sexy". Right... While I agree that some of the players do look good in shorts, is it really that hard for people to accept that "OH EMM GEE they're so cute" is not why I watch the game? Now that that's out of my system, on to today's random ramble... The Germany - Uruguay game for third place was held tonight (and daaaaamn I really was hoping that Forlan would strike gold... instead of the crossbar...), which leaves only one match to be played. The Netherlands vs Spain. And oh by the way - When it comes to football / soccer, I am definitely Dutch and I really really really hope we'll win. We've played in the finals twice before - in '74 and in '...

I'm a huge football fan. Football as in that strange sport where your foot kicks a ball... not American football. Not soccer. Foot-Ball. Just so we're clear. With the 2010 World Cup almost over and my country in the Finals for the first time since 1978 and only the third time ever (we made it to the finals in '74 as well), I figured it was about time to write about my love for this sport. It's 22 people on a field, 20 of whom run around after a ball, kicking it and often each other, and 2 who stand in front of a huge goal and perform the strangest acrobatics to try and keep this small round ball out of said goal. It's a reasonably simple game with simple rules. Well ok - the rules are simple when you grow up with them. They're probably ridiculously complicated and silly when you're learning them for the first time. It's also an entertaining and fun game, one we obsess over and one where the players make absolutely ridiculous amounts of money. No mat...