It Started with a Journal

Jaime is in the Final Four! Go vote for him, or if you are so inclined, for Kvothe, his opponent. I haven't read Patrick Rothfuss's The Name of the Wind, but it's one of the books I've ordered. This is probably Jaime's toughest fight yet, because both he and Kvothe are big fan favorites. The other battle going on is Rand Al'Thor vs Drizzt Do'Urden. I haven't read any of the books they're in, so I don't have a dog in that fight, but if Jaime wins and faces one of them, it shall be an epic nerdy fake fight between fictional fantasy characters! I don't even know when I got to like Jaime so much. I disliked him throughout most of ASoIaF. But somehow, by the end of A Feast for Crows, he was one of my favorites.

I've just realized...I may not be online for the final fight! Nooo!

So last night, I finished my D/G Exchange fic. YAY! Okay, it's not really done done because there's still a lot about it I have to fix (and that's even before my beta reader gets her red ink all over it), but still, at least the draft is done. That's like 90% of the battle. Anyway, it might be really stressful and hard while writing a story, but the joy and relief after it's done is incomparable. I felt like I really deserved to read other stuff, do other things, which made doing them all the better!

I'm still noodling with my March Madness idea, though it's changed a bit in my head. Since chickfight is doing literary characters (though just female ones), it just seems repetitive to do the same thing. I think if I do one at all, it will be with a field of 64 of MY favorite characters, from any medium. It just kind of annoys me when I want to vote on some polling thing (like at Suvudu) and I don't recognize like 75% of the characters. It'll be easier to set up that way, too. I won't need to go through the long and tough nomination process. And I don't think I want to do cage matches. Characters with magic or supernatural powers will always have an advantage over those who don't. I think it'll just be based on favoritism. You know, who you think is actually the better character. But... I don't know if there would be broad interest in such a thing, so I'm still noodling.

On B.'s last day ( ... we had lots and lots of food. )

Okay, I'm finally done with A Feast for Crows. I've been on the last chapter for the past 2 days. I kept avoiding reading it, because I didn't want it to be over. But now it is. :(

( Spoilers. )

I took Talis to the vet today. He's had this ear infection for about a month, and the reason it took me so long to do anything about it is because he's perfectly normal otherwise, has a great appetite, is energetic, etc., and at times the ear seemed to get better...but then it would get worse again. I told my mom about it and she was like, you should have someone look at it, so finally I did. So now I've got all this medication and ear wash for him, poor thing.

Last night my mom and I went to La Rustica for their 3 for $30. It's like my mom's favorite restaurant in Seattle. But get this ... she was so hungry at lunch (my cousin tends to eat lunch late, and my mom is starving by the time they go) that she totally stuffed herself (it was an Indian buffet) -- to the point where she wasn't even hungry at dinner. She kept looking forlornly at the food and watching me eat everything up and going, "I so regret eating that much at lunch." It was like her mantra. Oh well. *I* ate well!

I am almost done with House S5. ( Random, spoilery comments. )

It's been a week, and so far there's been no significant, visible change to the garden. I know, it's only been a week. I'm just impatient! It's been raining a lot, which I don't think is actually a good thing ... it might be overwatered, some of the leaves are turning yellow, which I think I read somewhere means overwatering. Still, the plants are all still alive, which given my brown thumb, is a positive thing in itself. Also, I think the beet leaves look less pathetic than they did when I first planted them, so that's good too.

Speaking of beets, my cousin and I went to the 3-for-$30 at Anchovies & Olives last week, and ended up not doing the special at all but ordering off their regular menu, because the prices weren't that high and the items off the regular menu sounded more appetizing. Anyway, we got this beet salad with pistachios and anchovy dressing that was sooooooooo yum. We also got a fried baby hake with salsa verde, raw geoduck with avocado cream, and a seafood pasta dish. We both agreed that the beet salad was the best thing.

I'm about halfway through A Feast for Crows... ( Spoilers. )

How much does my new Back to the Future mood theme rock, lol? I LOVE the tired icon, haha.

Typing this is a little difficult right now, because I went to the eye doc this morning and had my eyes dilated. I'm also making a big fashion statement with the fake sunglasses they gave me.

Well my two big projects are over, and I'm enjoying the short lull before the next two start. Moderate cheer!

I am in love with a song called "Fireflies" by Owl City.

The last two days, romanticalgirl's hubby has been helping me set up a bed in my garden where I will hopefully start growing veggies! Yay! I think he's almost done, just need to fill in the top with some compost/soil, and then ... well, then I'm not quite sure how ready it is, what else I need to do before I start planting things, but it's practically the next step. So exciting. I wish it were spring instead of fall, though. I'm a total newb obviously, and since it's October, I'm probably going to just start by planting some garlic, which you're supposed to plant in the fall, and possibly some kale. I need to run to HPB and pick up a couple of gardening books. When the bed is done, I'm going to take pictures and show y'all what a great job he did! Wheee, garden!

Tonight my cousin and I are going to Union for dinner. They're participating in this month's 3-for-$30 deal, and she loves Ethan Stowell restaurants. We've said that we're going to try and go to as many of the participating restaurants as possible during the month, with a minimum of 4. :D

I don't know how many of you are like me, but I prefer hardback books to paperback. They're more satisfying (though less convenient) to read, somehow. Anyway, when I realized that I loved the ASoIaF series, I decided to get them all in hardback. I got a $5 copy of A Game of Thrones on Amazon or Half.com, and when it arrived, guess what I realized? It's a "silver first" that GRRM talks about on his site! I don't think it's worth as much these days, and my copy isn't in pristine condition, but still. The real silver first, by total coincidence. Doubt the seller knew what s/he had.

So anyway, speaking of ASoIaF, I'm more than 3/4 of the way through A Storm of Swords! ( Spoilers. )

I am very proud of something that happened yesterday. I beat Guitar Hero 3 on medium! I know, I am very impressed with myself. The reason this is a big deal is because when I first started playing the game, I breezed through Easy and every level of Medium except for the last. Then I was stuck. The songs I had to beat were, to me, impossibly hard. I was like, I can't friggin believe this is MEDIUM, it's insanity! (I SO cannot get through the Muse song.) Then, a couple of days ago, for the first time in months, I picked up the guitar again and played. And pretty much sucked. But then, yesterday by some miracle, I beat the last song I needed to beat (Metallica's "One"), and faced the devil dude, who I managed to beat on the first try! Victory!! Of course, then the first song on Hard totally kicked my ass, but I worked at it and managed to pass (seriously, that fifth "chord" or whatever is so hard). Woot. Small victories, guys. They matter.

Today I made buttermilk pancakes. I had buttermilk that needed using, and in fact still have a little more left. I don't know what else to do with it as I cannot just drink it straight up.

So I started A Storm of Swords... ( Two minor spoilers. )

My reading on this one may be delayed a bit because I have a library book due that I haven't yet read and I can't renew it because other people have holds on it. It's called The Calligrapher's Daughter by Eugenia Kim. If I don't get into it, then I'm not going to force myself to finish.

Speaking of library books, I really want to get some of that clear plastic film covering they have for their dust jackets. Specifically for my cookbooks, but other books also (because I'm anal that way). With my cookbooks they're in the kitchen a lot and get opened/closed/splattered/moved around, and I want to protect them. I asked two librarians and neither of them could tell me what it was called/what they use. Seriously, USELESS. I consider that kind of basic information, even if they don't do any of the binding themselves. Went to an office supply store and a craft store; neither had it either. Finally I had to go online and find something that I THINK is it. I wanted to be able to see it/touch it though, because there are also those really hard/thick vinyl type covers and that's not what I want.

( And now for a work gripe. )

P.S. State license plates up to 38!

P.P.S. OMFG Barristan Selmy can't possibly be Sean Connery can it?! GRRM, you and your mind games! Someone else suggested Derek Jacobi and that seems far more likely. Still, how awesome would that be??

P.P.P.S. Oh right, they're only casting for the pilot and it's unlikely Barristan would be in it. So the role would more likely be Ser Rodrik, which makes a Connery casting far less likely. Oh wells.

Today was apparently grrm's birthday. I was kind of hoping for some kind of update ... any kind ... on ASoIaF, but it was another long football post. Why do you taunt us, GRRM, why? I mean, it's his bday, he can talk about whatever he wants. And really, it's his LJ, so he can talk about whatever he wants. But can't he throw us a bone? I don't want to be morbid but he's 62 today! And he has 3 very dense books to write!

I am about 1/3 of the way through A Clash of Kings. This one seems to be going faster than the last, dunno why. The font size is a little bigger, but it has 969 pages (vs 807).

( Spoilery comments. )

I made mini pies today. 6 nectarine pies with a cream cheese crust, and 6 beef pies with a flaky lard crust. The recipes came from Rose Levy Beranbaum's The Pie and Pastry Bible. They were so much work and so fussy, but damn if they weren't extremely flaky and delicious crusts. But I must say, making them just for myself? Probably never gonna happen again. WAY too much work.

Last night I actually wrote some. My goal for myself is to write 1 word a day. That's an extremely low bar, one even I can meet. The hope is that I will write more than the 1 word, but if I don't, I don't have to feel like a failure and then avoid writing again for however many months.

Boy has it been an exhausting week at work. The fall is always a busy time, but damn, I miss the easy pace of summer.

Finally finished A Game of Thrones. Thoughts and such here. I decided to spare you all a million little posts about it and started just updating that one entry. If you like historical fiction, political intrigue, and/or fantasy, I totally rec it. A very enjoyable read. There's even sex and romance, and mysterious subplots about lineage ... which may be the most intriguing thing of all. :)) I'm going to start on the next book, A Clash of Kings, tonight.

License plate game update: Got Georgia! Missed Virginia and Iowa. Cry.

Made pear-caramel ice cream that is really yummy.

I don't know if I've ever mentioned this before, but Vietnamese cuisine is my favorite cuisine in the whole world (followed by French). I finally got myself a Vietnamese cookbook, and toyed with the idea of making every dish in it (it's MUCH shorter than Mastering the Art of French Cooking; that's not a project I'm about to take on any time soon), but the problem is that everything serves 5-6 people and isn't really conducive to being cut down.

It's supposed to be warm again this weekend, in the 80s. I'm pretty thrilled about that, since I'm definitely a warm weather sort of girl. But it is fairly unusual for these parts. Maybe it's the Eternal Summer! :D

I've been thinking to myself that I should get back on the writing horse. The problem is that I'm not really interested in any horses in the stable. Where are you, spark of creativity?

My experience over the years with eBay, from both sides of the fence, have been generally positive. I've been using it nearly since it came out, and these days it's even safer than it was before, especially as a buyer. There are lots of protections a buyer has. But every once in awhile, I'm reminded that eBay is still a risk, that less-than-upstanding people can screw you over in small ways.

I had one such experience recently, with the Le Creuset spatulas I was so excited about getting. I used Buy It Now and paid $11 + ~$4 for shipping. The auction itself said "two large Le Creuset spatulas" and nothing more specific than that. However, it also had a photo.

( Photo and details. )

Also, I've read some more of A Game of Thrones. I'm nearly 3/4 of the way through right now, and would have finished last night if I didn't have to get up early this morning. Grrr. As it was I had to force myself to put it down.

( More spoilery comments. )