Pretty much posting as an excuse to use this .gif

[katernater]

Bird news, now! And, you guys, I'm not even kidding, there's a fourth egg in that nest. I seriously don't know where this mother robin has been keeping them, or how long it takes an egg to form inside of a bird's baby birdy parts, but damn. The mother and father bird have been spending a lot more time sitting in the nest and do not appear to share my enthusiasm for me hanging out by my window all the time, waiting to snap photos of their home with my camera like I'm a paparazzo in bird Hollywood.

And, hey! I got a raise at work! All of the full-time teachers did. Enrollment has been up the last six months, which in turn means that home office is in the business of making magnanimous gestures. It doesn't kick in until August, but it's a sizable chunk of change and it will greatly help when my student loans come due, starting in June. I got the letter during the first class break this morning and instantly started thinking of ways to pre-spend it (break is coming up in two weeks and I thought I might take a trip somewhere), but then I thought about gas prices (it's $4.19/gallon here, which is absolutely unheard of) and all of the bills I have yet to pay, and pretty much every penny evaporated right then and there. Responsibility is the biggest buzzkill.

I've been watching Game of Thrones and liking it so far. I have discovered that I cannot read any of the reviews or commentaries, however, because I can't keep track of all the names. Hearing them pronounced is one thing, but seeing "And then Alyyyyyaui did this, and I can't believe Ryserys went all macho on Liyuliyuu like that, and did you see what Yyyyyyyyyyyyy was wearing? Tuh-RAMP!" somehow confuses the hell out of me. I'm like, okay guys, I'm just going to watch for the pretty, so you and your sticky 'Y' key can have at it on the forums without me. Similarly, I don't think I could read the books without keeping detailed notes, and that is simply not something I am willing to do. I'm reading Tony Blair's memoirs at the moment and I think the version I have is some special "Americanized" edition -- with footnotes and parenthetical asides that explain some of the details about British politics -- and I already feel talked-down to. (Not that I know a Shadow Cabinet minister from shinola anyway.) I just don't think I could take the indignity of being bested by epic fantasy. CHANGE MY MIND, O TRUE BELIEVERS.

And how about Doctor Who last week, huh?



IDEK.

Comments

[kate-andy.livejournal.com]

Game of Thrones is a freaking chore of a series to read. It's cool if you like that kind of thing but you practically have to keep a dossier (plus genealogical tree) handy at all times for when actual important characters show up amidst the hundreds of unimportant-but-still-every-detail-of-their-lineage-and-clothes-and-banner-is-described-at-length characters. The TV series is 1000X easier to follow, character-wise, because if some random one-time guy shows up on screen to hand somebody a letter or something, he is a random one time guy and yet in the book he would have at least two paragraphs describing his family and history and where the furniture in his home comes from. And then you never see him again. Or he dies two pages later. And his name would probably have at least three Y's in it.

Unfortunately having the books as a background makes the TV series a lot more subtly complex, because you are then adding nuances from your own recollection of the series. I can't honestly say how it comes across without that, by which I mean the quality of story telling. It's probably still fairly good although it's still in the millions-of-characters-introductions part, so harder to judge so far. The casting is great though.