Cecille! Copenhagen!

 Visiting me in Falmouth, October 2009

 The last time I saw her in person, December 2010

Young and unexperienced back in August 2006

I'm so incredibly excited right now. I have a lot of other travel plans which will be announced shortly, but this one just came true as I got the tickets into my mail inbox tonight. I'm going to see Cecille on my way between a seminar in Oslo and Christmas holidays at Tenerife with my family - and while the seminar is exciting and I love my family, I haven't seen Cecille, one of my closest friends, since my last trip to Tenerife two years ago, when I also stopped in Copenhagen on the way.

I have this fear that we will meet and have nothing to talk about and everything will be rubbish, but that's hardly likely. EXCITE.

Mark Reads The Two Towers; Shelob's Lair

It's finally here! Explanation:

Back in January, my friend Ingrid introduced me to the wonderful Mark Oshiro of Mark Reads/Watches (and recently, Plays).

Since then, I've spent many, many, many hours going through his reviews on Harry Potter, American Gods, The Princess Bride, and most importantly, and most shared with Ingrid: The Lord of the Rings.

In May he started doing these videos for charity, where he will read fan fiction, bad fiction, or anything he has read before. In June he started selling them for $25 each, because they were so popular, and he has quit his other job to run his sites full time.

I sneakily discussed this with Ingrid, asking what she would like him to read. She came up with Shelob's Lair, which is a horrible, scary chapter in The Lord of the Rings.

And here we go! Happy Birthday Ingrid! Her birthday isn't until November 8th, but that is details.