Perfect

Every now and then you get a perfect day.

Sunday was warm and breezy and sunny. Kevin and I went for a 12.5 mile bike ride, so he could show me how to get to my office from home. It's the longest ride I've ever done, and it felt good. I may have even been able to make it all the way home, but I'm glad we decided to take the metro back. I still want to work up to that round trip slowly, especially since the way home is almost entirely uphill. Though I don't think it'll be as steep or even as continuous as I initially thought. There were some uphill portions on the ride to my office that should even things out. I'm not too far from being able to do the round trip. Or, more importantly, from being able to bike to work.

After we got home, we cleaned up the main floor and I spent a few hours organizing my library. I pulled a few more books to donate, and an entire box-full of Kevin's childhood books that are falling apart. We're going to see how badly his mom wants to keep them, and then have her take those back and throw out the rest. I just don't like having an entire shelf of spineless, musty books that can't even be read. I'd rather buy new copies when it's time. I also moved a bunch of books to shelves in the living room which means that, for the first time in years, there's empty space in my library. It has room to grow again. Though I'm going to try to be more careful about keeping it pruned from now on.

Connor and his girlfriend, Allison, came over for dinner. We sat in the backyard and grilled burgers because, as mentioned, the weather was amazing. I feel like we've usually grilled a lot more by this time in the year. But between rainy weekends and Kevin being out of town, we haven't found the time. It was nice to fire the grill back up and enjoy a cookout. Then we played monopoly on the fancy board dad got us for Christmas. I got destroyed and it looked like Allison was going to win when we stopped the game to go watch Game of Thrones.

It was everything a weekend day should be - the perfect blend of productivity and relaxation, or alone time and family time. It's nice to stop and smell the roses every now and then.

I Take It Back

I went on about an ASOIAF fan theory I thought was interesting and had some merit back in this post. I argued that maybe Jon Snow wasn't Ned Stark's bastard son, but was instead Lyanna's son by Rhaegar. I take it back. I was clearly wrong. Now that the Stark kids are starting to have weird wolf powers, and Jon is sharing in those powers, it's clear that they're all siblings.

I still have 20% of A Clash Of Kings left. A review will be coming later, maybe early next week. In the meantime, here's what I think so far:

• Theon is a jerk
• Tyrion is awesome
• Joffrey needs to just die already. Please?
• I feel so bad for Sansa. I want her to escape
• Arya is awesome, as always. I have complete faith in her
• Brienne is pretty cool, too.
• I hope the Starks win the war, but it's not looking good.
• I really want to see what happens with Dany. She's amazing and her story is awesome. But I want her to get her butt to Westeros. I imagine that won't actually happen until the last book, though.
• I refuse to believe that Bran and Rickon are dead. It's not true. They melded with Summer and Shaggy Dog or something. Or Theon's just trying to trick everyone for some awful reason. But they aren't dead.
• Actually, the next chapter is a Theon chapter, so I'm guessing their deaths will actually be confirmed soon. Boo.

Man, I've been reading this book forever. And it's the shortest of the series. I may have to take a break and devour a couple of shorter books after I finish this one.

Random Geek Stuff

First there's this video. Except insert Eliza Dushku for S Michelle Gellar.

She's such a dork. It's adorable.

 Apparently American Gods got picked up for SIX seasons on HBO. Tom Hanks' production company is funding this with a huge amount of money. But I'm not sure how they're going to turn one novel into six seasons of television, 10-12 hour-long episodes each. Unless this is true

I really hope this is true. And maybe one season will be dedicated to Anansi Boys as well.

I've been watching a whole lot of Supernatural lately. Like, a lot. It's basically two hot guys driving around the country slaying demons. It's very fun and kind of addicting. The guys are really hot. And it's a surprisingly smart show when it comes to knowing the ins and outs of the genre. It's less smart about women, but that's okay. It's mostly about the guys and the demons.

I've been re-reading the Sookie Stackhouse books in preparation for the True Blood premiere. It's in two weeks; I can't wait! I'm also planning on picking up the next book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series as soon as Game of Thrones ends (finale next week). I thought there was a nice bit of symmetry to that.

Finally, I saw this and kind of want one:

It's a trap door in your floor that leads to a mini wine cellar. Someday when I'm rich...

Geeking Out About Kings and Gods

HBO appears to be going after the geek demographic.  They started True Blood several years ago, which was a smash success and begins its fourth season in June.  This Sunday marks the premiere of The Game of Thrones, based on George R R Martin's book series A Song of Ice and Fire.  These books are epic and long, and I've only read the first one, but I look forward to reading the rest.  I'm sort of holding off until after the TV series starts, though.  Then, they announced today that they bought the rights to Neil Gaiman's American Gods and are going to produce a mini-series based on the novel, with Mr. Gaiman signed on as one of the writers.

Be still my geeky heart.

Anyway, it worked.  I convinced Boyfriend to add HBO to our Verizon subscription (by promising to pay for it), and I can't wait to see these stories translated to the small screen (which is actually pretty big these days).

American Gods was basically my introduction to Neil Gaiman.  I'd read the first Sandman graphic novel, Preludes and Nocturnes, and was saving up to buy the rest of the series.  Then an ex-boyfriend gave me American Gods because he thought I'd like it, and he was right.  I finished the book before I realized that it was written by the same guy as Sandman and immediately started seeking out his other work.

This novel isn't for everyone. It's a slow burn book. There's more introspection and philosophizing than action and adventure. It's based on the premise that all the immigrants brought their gods to America with them. Over the years, those gods have been lost or forgotten. They've been replaced by the newer gods of television and telephone (now being replaced by the gods of Google, Netflix, and Facebook, of course). And the old gods are pissed. They're looking for a fight. One last moment of shining glory before they are forgotten completely.

The protagonist is a man named Shadow, a former convict.  He is released from jail just in time for his wife's funeral, after which the mysterious Mr. Wednesday (Norse god Odin) offers him a job as an assistant.  Together they travel across America, gathering up the old gods and convincing them to fight in the impending war.  As I said, the story is slow.  But I'm in love with the premise.  I think it does a lot better on a second read through.

I've been meaning to re-read American Gods anyway.  I recently discovered that a version was released in 2005 with 40 extra pages.  My copy is from 2001, so I'm anxious to know what I'm missing.  Boyfriend kindly went and bought it, but he's reading it now.  I'll have to wait until he finishes.  Even though I could probably read the entire thing before he got around to picking it up again.  Oh well.  If you've seen my currently reading/to read list, you'll know that I have plenty to keep me occupied in the meantime.  As long as I get around to it before the series premieres on HBO.  Which, let's be honest, is probably years away and might not even happen.  (Fingers crossed it does)

In the meantime, I'll leave you with one of the most famous and oft-quoted passages from the books, Sam's "I believe" speech, which is available on a t-shirt

I can believe things that are true and I can believe things that aren't true and I can believe things where nobody knows if they're true or not. I can believe in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny and Marilyn Monroe and the Beatles and Elvis and Mister Ed. Listen — I believe that people are perfectible, that knowledge is infinite, that the world is run by secret banking cartels and is visited by aliens on a regular basis, nice ones that look like wrinkledly lemurs and bad ones who mutilate cattle and want our water and our women. I believe that the future sucks and I believe that the future rocks and I believe that one day White Buffalo Woman is going to come back and kick everyone's ass. I believe that all men are just overgrown boys with deep problems communicating and that the decline in good sex in America is coincident with the decline in drive-in movie theaters from state to state. I believe that all politicians are unprincipled crooks and I still believe that they are better than the alternative. I believe that California is going to sink into the sea when the big one comes, while Florida is going to dissolve into madness and alligators and toxic waste. I believe that antibacterial soap is destroying our resistance to dirt and disease so that one day we'll all be wiped out by the common cold like the Martians in War of the Worlds. I believe that the greatest poets of the last century were Edith Sitwell and Don Marquis, that jade is dried dragon sperm, and that thousands of years ago in a former life I was a one-armed Siberian shaman. I believe that mankind's destiny lies in the stars. I believe that candy really did taste better when I was a kid, that it's aerodynamically impossible for a bumblebee to fly, that light is a wave and a particle, that there's a cat in a box somewhere who's alive and dead at the same time (although if they don't ever open the box to feed it it'll eventually just be two different kinds of dead), and that there are stars in the universe billions of years older than the universe itself. I believe in a personal god who cares about me and worries and oversees everything I do. I believe in an impersonal god who set the universe in motion and went off to hang with her girlfriends and doesn't even know that I'm alive. I believe in an empty and godless universe of causal chaos, background noise, and sheer blind luck. I believe that anyone who says that sex is overrated just hasn't done it properly. I believe that anyone who claims to know what's going on will lie about the little things too. I believe in absolute honesty and sensible social lies. I believe in a woman's right to choose, a baby's right to live, that while all human life is sacred there's nothing wrong with the death penalty if you can trust the legal system implicitly, and that no one but a moron would ever trust the legal system. I believe that life is a game, that life is a cruel joke, and that life is what happens when you're alive and that you might as well lie back and enjoy it.

Also, allow me to geek out because Game of Thrones premieres this weekend!  This book was awesome.  There are a lot of characters, which can be a bit of a brain stretch.  The chapters switch off perspectives between several characters and locations.  But you end up with a whole lot of threads weaving together into an epic political intrigue.  With dragons (eventually).

Seriously guys, dragons make everything better.

Game of Thrones also has a bunch of strong female characters.  There are queens and princesses telling their story right alongside the kings and princes.  And all of them are interesting, fleshed out characters.  I really can't wait to see how this translates to the screen.  Here's a preview:

So much intrigue!  Here's a slightly less cryptic trailer:

That first scene was lifted straight from the book.  And the landscapes!  It all looks so gorgeous and wonderful.  Plus, Sean Bean!

Winter is coming...