Logic Aside . . .

And now for an update on the oven! My roommate used some logic of his own to remember that certain companies are sometimes the umbrella line to other companies. Instead of using the brand name for the stove, he used the serial number. This lead to an online copy of the manual and he was able to light the stupid pilot light! Crisis avoided!

I watched Lena Dunham's Tiny Furniture today. I liked the movie. Okay, I liked it in terms of the fact that it was well made and kept a good pace and was well-written and acted. The acting part of it is interesting because Dunham's mother and sister in the movie are played by her real life mother and sister. They're not playing themselves, but probably close versions. There is one part when Nadine (played by Grace Dunham, Lena's little sister) screams at Aura (Lena) about how disgusting and needy and awful she is. It's kind of cringe-inducing because it feels so real.

Truth is, a lot of the movie made me cringe. It made me uncomfortable because I could identify with the kind of girl Aura was. She was this smart, dumpy, heavy, somewhat charming useless and directionless mess. I watched as she would talk to guys and see how they would give off that 'tolerating you because you mean nothing outside of this moment' vibe and feel so horrible that she didn't process that was how they were feeling. Or maybe I reacted so badly because I probably missed that same vibe when I was here age. Ugggh. The whole idea makes me want to go hide in a corner.

Anyway, I think the movie is worth watching. It's a good movie, it's just not an emotionally comfortable movie.

A Poor Girl's Logic

There is a saying that if something isn't broken, there is no need to fix it. Quite a lot of logic in that. When you're poor though, there is kind of amendment to this. "Even if it is broken, you should probably determine HOW broken it is before you fix it. If it still kinda works, you should be okay."

There needs to be some statement about duct tape in there too. "If it is broken, see if you can duct tape it back together." You'd be shocked what I have in my life that's being held together by duct tape. Most of the living room furniture, for example. Any time something rips on it, we just tape it back together and toss a sheet over it. It'll hold. Mattress springs have to eat through a couple of layers of duct tape before we'll buy a new mattress. Even my vehicles have some taped up places on them. I can't afford the repairs, so tape holds everything in place.

Tape can't fix everything though. There is a chance the oven on our stove is going out. It could be as simple as replacing the part that handles the pilot light but I somehow doubt that because it's kind of a general rule that no repairs are simple. More than likely, the oven is gone. This is how the conversation went past that.

Me: How much would the cheapest new stove cost?

Roommate: At least four hundred and we'd have to have someone install it.

Me: ..........yeah, okay, the range on the stove is working fine and we have a toaster oven.

Roommate: Agreed.

Adjustments will have to be made. We won't be able to cook huge things anymore. We'll have to size everything to the pans we can fit into the toaster oven, but that is certainly doable and it's also certainly cheaper than buying a new stove that we can in no way afford.

Hmm, actually, even if the range on the stove had gone out, I don't think we would have altered the plan much. We just would have remembered we have a crock pot and an electric skillet and proceeded from there. Random Christmas gifts save the day, which is nice because I can't see any way a new stove could be purchased. I really can't even see a way a used stove could be purchased considering we'd still have to pay to have someone install it. There is no way that could happen.

Honestly, I'm okay with this. There will be inconveniences and limitations, but we will, as usual, work around them. We make due. We're actually fairly good at that.

Alone Again

In the midst of the summer, both the neighbors who lived next door and the ones that lived across the street have moved out. In both cases, the moving happened quickly and abruptly, like a bunch of trucks showed up and all the stuff was gone by the next morning. As someone who counts moving as occasions of terror and prolonged pain, I have to admire their efficiency.

Then again, I've never been in the situation where I was moving to avoid paying rent, which was the case with both sets of former neighbors. I will pause for a moment to be smugly like my grandmother and remark that it is interesting that neither could pay rent when both managed to make the whole of late June and early July a living hell with almost constant fireworks. Anyway, enough smuggery.

Ol' Boy who owns the house next to us was there the day after his tenants moved out.  He cleaned the place up and then decided that renting it was too much of a pain. Since this realization, he's been slowly fixing the place up to where he can just sell it. He's redoing some of the interior and then adding cosmetic details. He also added in a nice, huge bath tub. I kind of envied the future owners when I saw that going in.

So it could very well be months before anyone is in the house again.  He's in a bad situation because it's the nicest house in a somewhat questionable neighborhood. He'll want to sell it for more than he will probably end up making. In the meantime, it may sit empty for quite a while.

As for the house across the street, we have no clue what's going on. While we've seen a cleaning lady come by, they've not put the house up for rent again, nor has anyone come to look at it. The electricity is on and lights stay on at night. My roommate noticed there are even some items discarded in the yard that really aren't the kind of things one should just leave out in the open. It's strange. We really thought someone would be in there by the first of the month, but we're just days away from that and so far the house just sits, ghostlike, with no one around. It's possible they've just decided to abandon it. I hope not though.

Of course, I have my usual wish list for potential new neighbors. Quiet people who keep to themselves. I like neighbors who keep things clean, but don't bother everyone with constant buzzing and hammering. I like people who don't cause problems, have no to imaginary to very quiet children and pets. Yes, mostly I just want it to be quiet. That would be perfect.

The Dark Little Meanings of Life

I have some ongoing discussions with people about obsession. I guess this makes sense given that I was raised in the Bible Belt and know a lot of addicts. The common belief, of course, is that obsession is bad for you. It causes you to lose focus of the world around you and skews your priorities. Okay. Fair enough.

On the other hand, and this is where the post is going to get kind of dark, without obsessions, what do we have? Do we have focus or do we just aimless go about our daily tasks? Do we have our own, truly felt priorities or do we just parrot the priorities of those around us?

I wrote about Game of Thrones for 30 days and, as we all know, those weren't the first posts I'd written about it. I'm currently reading a multiple page analysis of some theories that concern about four or five chapters in the last book. I've been pouring over these theories for hours and having the best damned time while doing it! It's giving me so much pleasure.

Am I obsessed? Yeah, I would say so. I'm not extremely obsessed. When it comes to obsessions, I will dedicate thought and time to them but I won't like spend my last dime on them or kill anyone. I'm thinking once you commit money or violence to something, you're probably crossing the line into UNHEALTHY obsession.

Most people I know have been happier when they had something over which to obsess. A new love. A new favorite author. A new band. I've spent hours listening to people tell me about their favorite new song or showing me pictures of their favorite new character. I've listened to their hours of theories about super heroes or felt their anguish as they described the saddest part in a book. These things helped to give them joy, focus, and yes, meaning.

There are things I could never obsess about. I'm not into sports. I'm very disenchanted with politics. I don't actively participate in social movements . . . mostly due to the word movement. However, I recognize that these activities do bring a lot of sense of belonging, connection, and meaning to the lives of others. Some of them might get offended that I put them in the obsession category, but that is how I see them. Even some people's connection to their families can be seen as obsession. Certainly a lot of people's need for social standing can be viewed this way.

Honestly though, as long as you're not trying to harm others in the process, I really don't care what you're obsessing about. Have at it! Enjoy! Chances are, you'd be far more depressed without it.

Back That Thing Up

It's been a while since I talked about weight loss. That's still going on and it still continues to have its high points and its low ones. In many ways, weight loss can be a wonderful thing. Watching the changes in your body, feeling your growing strength, and having a moment of triumph when you stand for longer than you were able to the week before all fill you with pride. In some ways I think losing weight can cause you more joy than just maintaining a good weight to begin with. You have no idea what kind of bliss you can find in the slightest traces of renewed health.

On the other hand, there are times when weight loss can be a real pain in the butt . . . on in this case, a real pain in the thigh. Recently I've started having an issue when I sit down. This is very ironic because when I was heavier, sitting down was my favorite activity. Hell, on some days, it was my only activity.

Anyway, as I've mentioned before, one of the problems with weight loss is how it can distort your sense of balance. Some things are closer because your fat isn't keeping you away from them. Some things seem farther away. When you sit down, you get used to the chair being a certain distance from your standing position. Your body anticipates how far it has to lower before you are sitting in the chair.

I've lost some weight in my butt and/or back of the leg. Not a whole lot, of course, but just enough for it to impact my sense of balance whenever I'm trying to sit down. My body is used to the chair being at a certain point and now I'm having to lower more in order to reach it. Intellectually, I understand this isn't a problem, but for some reason, my body is panicking just a little whenever I'm not reaching the chair like I used to. The muscles in my left leg will tense up try to keep me from moving.

Somehow or the other, this muscle tensing has caused a sprain or a strain or something in my leg. Any time I sit down, it hurts. I know it own't last forever, but right now it's pretty painful. I never thought I would dread sitting down, but now I kind of do.

However, I know this is just part of the process of losing a lot of weight. My body has adjusted to deal with the massive amount of pounds I gained and now it's having to try and process losing those. It isn't always easy and sometimes, like right now, it's painful. However, in the end, I'm fairly sure it will be worth it. I assume.

Slut Shaming Agogo

So Miley did what young pop stars do on the VMAs. She danced provocatively in very little clothing. She shoved the fact that she has adult woman parts in our faces and made no apologies for it. Back in the early day of MTV, Madonna did this, humping the floor in a wedding dress. Brittany Spears did this when she was about Miley's age and trying, as Miley is, to break free from her Disney image. At one point, Madonna and Britbrit even kissed on stage. That was a different performance, of course. During all of them, people were shocked and outraged.

You know what shocks me? Some of the comments I've heard in reaction to this. "If she was my daughter, I'd grab her by her hair and beat her for acting like this." "I'd yank Miley off that stage and put tape over her mouth." "Someone should slap her for acting this way."

Do you see a pattern here? People are promoting violence as a measure to curb her behavior. It's interesting and more than a little disturbing that many of the same people who demonize other cultures for their restrictions of women's behavior and insistence on modesty are basically condoning that behavior when a girl has the audacity to go far enough to offend them.

When anyone tried to call people out on these statements, they often defended themselves by speaking about how Miley is a role model and they don't want their own daughters thinking this kind of behavior is acceptable. The language people use to talk about this is always telling. "I don't want my daughter to sell herself so cheaply." "I want her to see more value in her body than this."  As always, people, even without really admitting it to themselves, still view women's bodies as a commodity to be bought and sold.

I'm not a Miley fan. Her music is too McPop for my tastes so I didn't see her performance as all that wonderful. However, the role of pop music in our culture IS to make people rebel. It is to provoke. It is to push the limits. It is to make parents get upset and freak out and feel like the whole world is coming to an end because someone acted TEH SEXEH on the television. So, in that way, I have to commend Miley for continuing the long held tradition of getting parents's collective panties in a twist.

As for everyone else, I would like for you to ask yourself why you feel so much violence and anger over a girl's awkward sexy dancing. I think you should think about that for a long while and what it means in terms of how you view the worth of the women around you, and how you view your own.

Cat Territorial Politics

The cats have decided to camp out in my bedroom to avoid the August heat. They're also trying to avoid my roommate with his flea comb, but he usually finds them anyway.  I don't think they quite grasp that he can see them, even if they can't see him.

In the mean time, cats being cats, everyone has established their own territory within the confines of my room. Tink is the least likely to hang out in my room, but when she does, she's stays in the window at the back of the room. I have a desk in front of it, and I think she believes this gives her nice protection against me seeing/touching her. Again, this is because of that theory cats have that if they can't see you, you can't see them. I have no problem seeing her. However, I do have trouble trying to touch her because the desk and my fat keep us apart. Le sigh.

Rowan and Rhiannon are trying to share a shelf and that is causing all manner of awkward compromise. For a while, they both wanted to sit on the top shelf. We'd see Rhi sitting in front, with Rowan pushed up against and slightly on her, as if Rhi has grown a second head. While we found this quite amusing, they apparently saw it as beneath their kitteh dignity and after some hissing and batting at each other, decided to alter their arrangement.

Rhi now has the top shelf to herself and Rowan lurks on the shelf just below. For a while, they would sleep in the same direction, then Rowan started facing in the opposite direction of whatever way Rhi was sleeping. This proved to be a wise decision on Rowan's part because one day, Rhiannon decided to puke where she was sleeping. She always does that. The cat for some reason doesn't have the sense to go puke somewhere else. Anyway, instead of puking off the top shelf onto Rowan's head, she only got the tip of her tail. This made clean up easier for everyone! Plus, Rowan didn't feel compelled to kill her.

Cats are strange about these things. In two weeks, all of these favorite napping spots will be abandoned and wars will be fought over new ones. Sometimes, these spots are inexplicable places on the floor.  You can never tell where the cats will want to sleep. All that you can be sure of is that if one cat lays there, the other cats want it.

Back in Play

Hi there.

I feel like that is the first thing I should say, considering I've kept myself emotionally absent from the blog for a while now. I know that 30+ days was a long time for me to go without actually discussing my usual stuff. In many ways, I felt somewhat cut off from all of you. See, I really do feel a connection between my writing and you. It means a whole lot to me.

At the same time, I just needed the break. This summer has been stressful and it's coming at the end of a stressful Spring, as you well know, possibly the most stressful Spring I've had in many years due to the tax thing. I needed some time to do something constructive with the blog, something that wasn't a constant repeat of "it's hot" and "my life is sucky right now." It's summer. You've been with me during several summers now. You know that it's hot, I'm miserable, the cats have fleas, and it's still hot.

So with the exception of the night Salem died, I resisted the urge to complain or whine about what was going on. It's been good for me to do this. I've read repeatedly that one of the best ways to keep yourself out of feeling negative all the time is to practice and focus on NOT being negative. This isn't easy for me because I grew up around two of the most negative people in the world. Complaining was basically their default speech pattern. I don't want to be that way.

So what has happened with me in the last month that was good?

• I've had some really great visits with friends.
• I saw some wonderful movies and due to one of them, developed a fascination with looking at marigolds. 
• I successfully played my flute in front of others.
• I started listening to Welcome to Night Vale.
• I successfully made some knot jewelry.
• I found some new music.
• I thought of a great gift to make a friend.
• I wrote some fiction.

Anyway, like I said, it's good to be back to the usual way of things. I'm glad I did the challenge, but it's time to go back to my usual random discussions. I've missed my usual voice and I've missed connecting directly to my readers. Love you guys.

Game of Thrones 30 Day Challenge: Day 30

Day 30: Who wins the game?

To me, it's less about who sits on the throne and more about who is actually making the real decisions in  the realm. I have some theories about that. I'm not sure how they will pan out, but at the current moment, this is my thinking on the matter.

On the Throne: King Jon Targaryen, First of his Name. I do believe that Jon is the son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark. In the end, even Dany will realize that her older brother's son has a better claim to the throne than she does. She'll either marry him or go back to Essos to free everyone there. Either way, I believe her path is with her dragons more than it is staying in one place. She's never really done that and I don't think she'd be good at it.

Hand of the King: Lord Tyrion Lannister. Tyrion is the only person who ever proved somewhat good at being Hand of the King. Tyrion and Jon get along really well anyway, so I think this is an awesome fit.

Lord Commander of the Kingsgaurd: Lady Brienne of Tarth. My hope for Brienne is that she knocks boots with Jaime and gets pregnant. Maybe they even get married about it. It's highly unlikely that Jaime and Cersei will survive to the end, but I would like for some part of Jaime and Brienne's love to continue on. Anyway, Brienne will raise the kid, but not let that interfere with her duties as Lord Commander. It will be an unusual arrangement, but it's a good time for change and Brienne is probably the only person who can inspire the Kingsguard to clean up.

Master of Coin: Lady Sansa Stark. It would be only fitting that Littlefinger's student takes Littlefinger's place on the Council, hopefully after she kills him.

Master of Laws: Princess Arianne Martell. I can only believe that GRRM decided to introduce Arianne into the game as late as he did for a good reason. Arianne is kind of a loose cannon, but she has a lot of potential. Her coup with Marcella humbled her a lot and she does have her father's cleverness. I also think that Arianne is a good romantic interest for Tyrion. They're about the same age and enjoy the same kind of kink.

Master of Whisperers: Lady Arya Stark. After everything Arya has gone through, I can't think of anyone who would be a better spymaster than her. I think she'll serve the position well and bring a new level of straightforwardness to it that others in the past have lacked.

Master of Ships: Lady Asha Greyjoy. Despite being from the Iron Islands and having Balon for a father, Asha actually has a lot of sense. Other than Davos (who I think will either offer to be buried with Stannis when he dies or end up advising a certain young Stark lord), she's really the only person who understands the seas AND isn't insane.

Grand Maester: Samwell Tarly. I don't think that Jon would trust anyone else from the Maesters other than Sam. I think Sallara will end up ruling the Maesters in Old Towne and Sam will work with Jon from King's Landing. Their friendship has been the foundation for a lot of stuff over the years and I think this would be the strongest way for that to continue.

Let's see......

Lord of Winterfell: Rickon Stark
Lord of River Run: Edmure Tully and then his kid
Lord of Storm's End: Gendry Baratheon, legitimatized by Jon
Lord of the Eerie: Robert Arryn
Lord of the Reach: Willas Tyrell
Princess of Dorne: Arianne. She can do both
Lord of the Iron Islands: Asha's baby, with Rodrick Harlaw as a gaurdian
Lord of the Westerlands: Tyrion, again, he can do both.
Lady of Dragonstone: Dany

Anyway, that concludes my 30 days. Tomorrow we'll get back to my usual stuff. This has been a lot of fun though.

Game of Thrones 30 Day Challenge: Day 29

Day 29: Who is the best Game of Thrones player

The idea behind the concept of a 'player' of the game of thrones is someone who can manipulate people, resources, and events to set themselves (or someone of their choosing) as the person in charge. It's not enough to just put yourself (or someone else) on the throne. You have to be able to keep your person in power as well.

The short answer here is that no one is good at this. Just about everyone who has tried to play this game ends up failing miserably. It could be argued that Varys does a good job, but then, no one is exactly sure of his game so it's really impossible to tell. He claims that he wants Aegon on the throne, but we have no idea if that will happen or if Aegon is even really who they claim he is.

Other people might claim Cersei or Tywin are good players. Tywin did keep the peace for many years and managed to get his grandson on the throne. Tywin's problem is that he's too heavyhanded about everything. No one can really see him as a subtle player at all. Cersei is worse than he is. She had all of her power set up perfectly, but then began to make mistakes because she was a paranoid alcoholic.

While Tyrion was in power, he was very good at the game . . . however, he wasn't very good at keeping power.  None of the Baratheons are good at this. None of the Starks were either, though, two of the Stark children seem to have potential to be very good at the game.

I think sometimes people overlook what Sansa was able to accomplish while in King's Landing. Despite being constantly threatened by both Joffery and Cersei, she survived. Even though she was manipulated by Littlefinger into escaping both the capital and her marriage, she did do both of these things and now sits in a comfortable position as basically the Mistress of the Eerie. She could quite possibly inherit Winterfell, River Run, and Harren Hall. At this point, all she truly has to do is defeat Littlefinger.

Arya also has a lot of potential where the game is concerned. She has survived, practically on her own, since her father was captured. Arya can fight, she can stage coups, she can kill when she has to, and she has a good sense of when to escape a situation. She's also fell into league with a group of assassins and is learning how to master disguises, and probably a whole other range of skills. In just a few short years, she could be very good at manipulating the power players around her. She could become Master of Whispers, possibly without anyone even realizing who she was.

I think  this is one of those topics that really has to wait until the end of the series before anyone can truly answer it. In the meantime, I see potential in our Stark girls. I think every day the survive is another day where they become more dangerous.

Game of Thrones 30 Day Challenge: Day 28

Day 28: What faith would you worship

See, the thing is, I'm never really good at worshiping much of anything. That requires a lot more dedication that I possess. In fact, I've always got frustrated with most religions when it gets to the 'worship' part. If the deities want worship, they should make all humans equally interested in the process. For some of us, it just feels kinda fake and routine . . . well, unless there is a potluck dinner. Then it's kind of awesome.

With that in mind, I would be a worshiper, as it were, of the old gods. The old gods are nature gods who don't have names or rules or organization of any kind. They exist in the trees and the wind, they more or less take care of people and give some of them power when they need it. They do all of this without the need for any real active worship. Okay, other than the occasional blood sacrifice, but that's only if you really want a lot of power or to save someone's life. Otherwise, meh, just leave them alone and they leave you alone.

Aside from the ease of worshiping the old gods, they are also my choice by default because so many of the other gods are just terrible.  Out of the rest of them, the only ones who don't seem horrible are the goddess of pleasure who is mentioned briefly and the god who grants death. Yes! The god who grants death sounds better than the rest of these people.

Let's see.....

We have the Faith of the Seven. Actually, I don't have too many problems with the Seven, other than the fact that their followers have gone crazy and now want to punish people who don't live the way they think they should. Want to see how horrible a religion can be? Give it power. That's always the best test.

Then we have the Drowned God. The Drowned God is an insane religion where I think people may be worshiping Cthulhu. People get drowned in the ocean and then brought back by priests using a kind of CPR on them. This religion also advocates piracy, rape, and slavery.

The Drowned God fights with the Storm God. We don't know much about the Storm God, except that he tried to smash Storms End for years and did manage to kill Stannis's parents in front of him. Any god that helped to make Stannis even MORE dour isn't going to get my support.

The worst of all is R'hllor. R'hllor is this crazy fire religion that gains new members by purchasing slaves and forcing them to follow the faith. While it does have more visible power than most other religions, R'hllor worship is marred by blood sacrifices, burning people alive, hating all other religions, and allowing priestesses to gift birth to shadow demons from their hoohaas. Other than a very nice shade of red, there is nothing to like about this religion.

So yes, compared to all the rest of the craziness, worshiping the old gods is pretty simple and nonterrible. It's certainly the path I would follow. Okay, it's more the path I would occasionally look down and think, "I sure won't be walking THAT far," but you get the idea.

Game of Thrones 30 Day Challenge: Day 27

Day 27: Favorite Death

Is favorite death really a thing? Do they mean the character I was happiest to see die or the death I felt had the most impact on the story?  I guess either way, I'm going to go with the death of Tywin Lannister.

Lord Tywin Lannister was truly a magnificent bastard. The man ruled his family for a long time, pulling it out of the debt and dishonor his father had tossed it into. Tywin served as Hand of the King during the reign of Aerys Targaryen and managed to keep peace and prosperity going for about 20 years. Being peaceful for this long is almost unheard of in a place like this.

He was murdered while he sat on the privy.

Jaime had just rescued Tyrion and confessed to him that everything that happened in Tyrion's first marriage was a lie orchestrated by his father. Tywin hated the marriage because the girl was commonborn. Tyrion went to his father, who was trying to empty his bowels, and confronted him with a crossbow. Granted, it probably wasn't the best time to discuss such matters, but Tyrion was upset and in a hurry. They verbally sparred and Tyrion shot him.

While this is a very ignoble end for Lord Lannister, the consequences of his death are really the crux of the Lannister family past this point. Tyrion falls apart and goes on a drinking/self-loathing binge. He bounces around, consumed with guilt and anger and hatred and does his best to try and destroy himself. He becomes a much darker version of who he was, even though it begins to let up as the book is coming to a close.

Cersei, having recently also lost her oldest son, goes pretty crazy. In most people, this would be amusing and harmless. Cersei is Queen Regent. Her insanity is still amusing, but she causes a lot of problems for everyone. She has several people assassinated, burns down the Tower of the Hand, allows the church to regain military power, stays drunk all the time, murders people, and destroys the main alliance she has with basically everyone.

Jaime blames himself for his father's death. He is the one who freed Tyrion and gave him the reason to kill his father. As far as he is concerned, it was like putting the crossbow bolt into the man himself. He leaves King's Landing on a mission to try and make peace in the areas where war still rages. He questions everything about his life and goes forward with and alternately backslides in the process of redemption that began when he traveled with Brienne.

Varys famously says at one point that power resides where men believe it to reside. It's very clear that the Lannister siblings believed that power truly resided with their father. When he dies, Cersei feels she has no one to protect her and overcompensates by making decisions based on paranoia. When Tywin dies, Jaime has no one to he can finally prove himself to, so he loses direction and focus on what he is doing and who he is supposed to be.

Tyrion killed his father, this big, looming obstacle in his life. He is no longer under his father's thumb, he he also no longer has limits. With no limits, he has no idea how to function, how to control himself. I suppose Tywin's is my favorite death because it becomes such a wonderful device to study three of our main characters.

Game of Thrones 30 Day Challenge: Day 26

Day 26: Best Strategist

I don't think we will know who the best strategist is until the end of the books, so instead of that, I'm going to put down my top five WORST strategists.

These are in basically random order of when I thought of them.

1. Theon Greyjoy Just. Wow. Fairly much everything that Theon does is horribly thought out and awful. Listening to his father was dumb. Taking Winterfell was dumb. Listening to Reek was dumb. It's not until he's basically had the life almost beat out of him before he makes any decisions that are decent. Actually, no not even then. His plans then consist of jumping into the snow and running to Stannis, which was, albeit his only option, also dumb.

2. Balon Greyjoy Hmm. Starting your rebellion you couldn't win was dumb. Not securing the situation with your heir was dumb. Not either deciding to work with Robb OR with the crown but instead to just raid....yup. Dumb. Balon was a total idiot.

3. Robb Stark Robb won some battles and I guess as far as battle plans go, he was fairly good. However.....sending Theon back to his family was dumb. Marrying Jeyne was dumb. Going anywhere near the Freys after marrying Jeyne was insanly dumb. The worst part about the Robb situation is that the whole thing could have been solved back in book one. "Oh gee, you've arranged it to where I have to marry a Frey girl? Okay, let's do that right now before we go any further. That way I won't piss off Walder and I can secure an heir before going into battle." DUH!!

4. Eddard Stark I guess we really can't blame Robb and Theon too much for their bad life/ruling decisions when they were raised by this man. Not listening to the Night Watchman who told you there were Others out there? Dumb. Going South? Dumb. Basically every decision you made there politically? Dumb. Great, Ned. You kept your honor. Awesome. Now your family is homeless, basically dying, and lost.

5. Stannis Baratheon Yes, Stannisfans, I went there. Okay, let's see. Not informing Robert about Cersei's children before he died. Dumb. Not making a truce with Renley so you could defeat the Lannisters THEN fight between yourselves? Dumb. Wasting time getting your bastard nephew out of Storms End instead of directly attacking King's Landing while you still had the advantage? Dumb. Thinking you're unbendable when you're really not? Dumb. Neither just completely listening to Davos or completely listening to Mel but instead doing a half-assed form of listening to both of them in a way that makes both of them counter productive? Dumb!


Honorable mention to any Lannister that didn't listen to Tyrion. Some of the kids made bad decisions, but I will forgive them as they are children.

Game of Thrones 30 Day Challenge: Day 25

Day 25: Best warrior

I think the best warrior in the series is Asha Greyjoy.  Now, part of this has to do with the fact that Asha actually does participate in a battle that is written out and does well. She doesn't win, exactly, but she holds her own for quite a while, and it's cold, in the dark, and in she wasn't prepared to go into battle when it started. There are a lot of people who are warriors in the series who we hear about after the fact of the battle, but quite often don't see IN battle. We see Asha and she's amazing.

The fact that Asha is a warrior at all is unusual. She isn't just living in a culture that doesn't see women as equals, she's living in the crappy little island of harsh that longs for the 'old days' when women were routinely raped. One of her uncles beat his wife to death after she was raped by one of his other uncles. The Iron Born are deeply and truly horrible to women. And yet, Asha is a proven warrior from this culture.

At first you think that she is only accepted because her father is the king and he's making people accept her. However, Asha has the respect of her men and that isn't something a king can force on people. They truly respect her and follow her commands. They know she will hold her own against whatever foe they face.

A lot of her battle skill comes from the fact that she specializes in a weapon. Asha uses an ax in battle and understands its abilities quite well. She also keeps a dagger on her person at all times, but she favors the ax. Asha comes off as brash and reckless, but she shows a lot of practicality as the war continues. She understands they're losing and knows things need to change. When she takes hostages, she treats them well. When she becomes a hostage herself, she makes friends with her guards, knowing this will benefit her later.

Asha is also very tough. She marches on a broken ankle (has no choice in the matter) and survives no matter how difficult things become. I'm not sure she will survive to see Spring return, but she has a better chance than most people. And a lot of that has to do with her personality. Asha knows that when it comes to your survival, you use anything you can to make sure it happens. She isn't above doing anything to keep herself going. She is badass that way and I truly hope she makes it to the end of the series.

Game of Thrones 30 Day Challenge: Day 24

Day 24: Favorite place

The stone is strong, Bran told himself, the roots of the trees go deep, and under the ground the Kings of Winter sit their thrones. So long as those remained, Winterfell remained. It was not dead, just broken. Like me, he thought. I’m not dead either.

When this season of the show started, every time they would show the smoking ruins of Winterfell Castle on the intro, I would get teary eyed. As much as I can get allowed with some Starks, Winterfell is still my favorite place in the series. Castle Winterfell is the foundation of this story. It is the home of the Kings of Winter and has stood for 8000 years. It is the connection between the Starks and the land they rule. When they lost Winterfell, it was heartbreaking, but the idea that they will regain their home is what drives them to continue to fight and live.

Aside from the importance the castle plays in the story of the family, there are some things about it that I just love. To begin with, Winterfell has a lot of mysteries. There are many levels to it below the ground. Part of those levels hold the tombs of the past kings, but it is rumored to have other things as well. One of those rumors is that a dragon lives (or lived) below the castle. The dragon could be the reason the hot springs stay hot and the castle stays warm, even during the worst of winters.

The castle also housed a grand library with books in it that were hundreds of years old. It's possible that, even though the library has been destroyed, some of those books were put safely away before anything happened. That would have been thr prudent thing to do with precious tomes. It would seem that Bran the Builder would have kept all of his theories and projects written down somewhere, so his family could rebuild or make repairs as need be.

Oh yes. That is another thing I love about Winterfell. The castle was built by Brandon Stark, called the Builder. He lived during the Age of Heroes and not only built his castle, but also the Wall and Stormsend. He was a gifted architect and mage who could bring the elements to his command, somewhat like the Targaryens could do when they built Dragon Stone. Hmmm......

Finally, Winterfell is my favorite place because GRRM was able to truly make it feel like a home. The people who lived there (at the beginning of the story) were happy. They had a place there and knew they would be taken care of. They felt they had a purpose. The tragedy of losing Winterfell is that we truly sense that these people have lost their home. Not just in the physical sense of the word, but in all definitions of it. We want them to rebuild so they can not only regain their power, but feel complete on the inside. They need that.

Game of Thrones 30 Day Challenge: Day 23

Day 23: Character in most need of a break.

I think the character who most needs a break is Arya Stark. The child is only about 13 how and so far, she had to see her friend Myca die. She had to drive away her wolf. While she wasn't looking, she has witnessed her father die. She witnessed the man who took care of her after that die. She watched many people traveling with her die. She's seen people being viciously raped and tortured. She was on the grounds when her mother and older brother died.

Arya has been beaten, forced to work as a servant, threatened with rape, and used as a hostage by various groups of people. She has systematically been put in a position to erase who she is and her connections with her family. She has been treated like a pawn by various groups and used for her skills and her station.

No matter what, she keeps learning, she keeps training, and she keeps doing whatever she has to do in order to survive. A lot has been placed on her shoulders and, of all the characters in  the books, I am most fascinated to see what she will become.

However, in the meantime, I would love for her to be able to gain some connection with someone and know it would last. Everyone she meets, she has to let go of, either because she moves on, they die, or she's not in the position to allow herself to connect to them. There is this part where she hangs out with a cat in the last book and it just makes me ache because I know it's probably the strongest bond she has with anyone right now. She's lonely and she is losing herself. The kid needs a break.

Game of Thrones 30 Day Challenge: Day 22

Day 22: A character you feel like you have to defend.

Even though I guess I should have expected this, I still feel very disheartened by the fact that I have to defend Daenerys Targaryen. I shouldn't be surprised, I suppose. People love to criticize and destroy female characters. Any woman who has power or, worse, seeks power, is almost instantly hated by others. It doesn't help when she is beautiful and young. If she makes a mistake, it is almost instantly demonized.

People write articles all the time about how much they hate Dany. People do memes about how much they hate Dany. People dismiss her accomplishments and powers. Almost any forum you go to will have tons of posts about Dany and how much they hate her. People want her to die, actively wish for her to die. People will defend Roose Bolton and Tywin Lannister. They will love on them for being ruthless and hardcore. But Dany? NOPE! She shouldn't be doing bad things.

To me, it's always most interesting how offended most of these people will be when you bring up the fact that she's female. They will deny that her gender has anything to do with it! They will state that females with power are fine. Just fine. They will get quite excited and defensive about the fact, because, of course, they're not sexist. Some of them are even women, so of course they can't be sexist.

I would venture to argue that sexism does play a part in the Dany hate. While people may not be outright womanhaters, many people do harbor certain biases when it comes to what they see as acceptable behavior by women.  I find a lot of this in the 'anti-Dany' arguments.

"I liked Dany in the first book but then she got power and it went to her head."

Hmm. So. You liked Dany in the first book when she was a 13 year old girl who was being emotionally tortured by her brother and then raped by her husband. You found her personality to be acceptable because, of course, it IS socially acceptable for a woman to gain strength and defend herself against men who are abusing her. Women are supposed to do that. No MORE than that, but it's okay to defend yourself. Just don't let it go to your head.

"Dany was horrible when she was in charge of Mereen so now I hate her."

Yes. Dany is horrible at ruling Mereen. As I have mentioned before, Dance is a book about failure and Mereen is Dany's. I would like to point out three things here. 1. If Dany ruled well in Mereen, people would bitch that she is a Mary Sue. She had to fail so that she could grow as a character. 2. If Dany ruled well in Mereen, why would she bother leaving? She had to fail, so she could move forward. 3. Mereen is just too screwed up for anyone to change/rule well. It's really just the most illogical place.

"Dany just keeps getting distracted and won't go to the Seven Kingdoms so we can get on with the book so now I hate her."

Dany hasn't gone back to the Seven Kingdoms because GRRM couldn't let her yet. Now, he could have done other, more interesting things with her, but that's his fault, not hers.

"Dany just spends the last book having sex with Daario constantly."

You know, Dany is a teenager and likes boys. Daario is someone she finds attractive. He may not be someone YOU find attractive, but that doesn't mean you should hate her. People complain about his looks . . . the blue hair, the peacock personality, the gold tooth. Um, okay, have you ever seen most rock stars? They dye their hair and have grills and stuff? Yeah, some people clearly like this. Also, she doesn't have sex with him ALL THE TIME. I think their sexual encounters are mentioned like maybe three times. Stop making it bigger in your head.

"Dany has Plot Armor and nothing bad ever happens to her."

Dany was the product of marital rape. Her mother died giving birth to her. Her father was killed before she was born. She was exiled from her home and left in the care of a crazy older brother. She had to beg on the streets. She was often homeless, hungry, and lost. She has been given almost no education. She has very little connection to anyone. As mentioned above, she was sold into a marriage at 13. She has lost a baby. She lost the husband she came to care for. She has seen more starvation. People constantly try to take advantage of her, including those closest to her. How can you HONESTLY say nothing bad ever happens to her? What more do you want here?

"I wish people would stop thinking Dany is special. She's not special! She's NOT! She has no power and she's just some girl."

She woke up dragons from stone eggs. She is one of the main characters of this series. She will probably be one of the people who saves everyone from the White Walkers. Why does it scare you so much that she's special? Why is it so horrible that a woman is special?

"Dany isn't from Essos so she should stop trying to make decisions there/Dany isn't from Westeros so she should stop trying to think she can rule there."

Look. She was born in Westeros, so she is from there. She grew up in Essos, so she is also from there.  She can technically rule both if she chooses and has the capacity to do so. Why does she have to prove herself so much more than anyone else when it comes to ruling? And I do have to ask that because I never see anyone questioning why Stannis has the right to rule or why anyone else would. But Dany? We have to question the hell out of Dany because of course she needs to prove herself just all the much more.

You know, I could go on and on with this. Griping about Dany seems to be a hobby for people. They truly dislike the poor girl and, quite frankly, I hope she wins and is the heroine and marries Jon and is queen and lives happily ever after. Just to piss them off. Yes, I'm spiteful like that.

Game of Thrones 30 Day Challenge: Day 21

Day 21: A scene from the book you hope makes it into the show.

There are a lot of scenes that I dread. In some ways, I worry these scenes won't be handled properly and won't have the impact they should. In other ways, I just dread them because I know they will be deeply painful. Even though the Red Wedding was handled differently than it was in the books, seeing it was still very painful. There are deaths that I don't want to see but know I will. There is a lot of hurt in these books.

As for a scene I do hope to see, I really want them to include the scene where Sansa builds a miniature Winterfell out of snow. I love this scene because it's the first time Sansa really reconnects with her childhood home. She's finally escaped King's Landing, though in a way that somewhat puts her out of the frying pan and into the fire, but still, she's free. When she begins to build the snow castle, she is reveling in that freedom, in the reaffirmation of who she is and where she came from. Sansa has been in survival mode for so long that it's wonderful to see her actually spend to some time just doing something for her own enjoyment.

This scene is a real turning point for Sansa. As she builds the castle, a castle we know is, in reality, currently in ruins, we find ourselves having hope that one day her childhood home can and WILL be rebuilt. It's something we want to happen and even people who didn't like Sansa up to this point suddenly realize they love her. They have, after all, suffered with her through three books of hell by this point. We want good things to happen for her.

So yes, I want to see the snow castle be created. I think it's very important for her and for the fans.

Game of Thrones 30 Day Challenge: Day 20

Day 20, a character you used to like but now hate.

It's almost unfair to discuss a character who is not only dead when the books begin, but also only seen from the perspective of others. It a series of books where almost everyone is viewed through complexity, with both good and bad in them, it's even difficult to decide you 'hate' a character. Well, okay there are characters that GRRM writes about who are easy to loathe. Walder Frey. Ramsay. Thorne. Most Greyjoys. You do, however, more or less hate them from the beginning. It's more difficult to like someone to begin with but the later realize you kind of hate them.

I realize a lot of people say they used to like Jon or Dany or Tyrion, but now hate them. I could never do that with a character who is still living. As unfair as it is to decide to hate someone who is already dead, it's almost impossible to hate people who are very clearly in the middle of their stories. We're talking about people who are failing and making mistakes in order to realize what needs to be dropped in order to shift gear and head towards the climax of this story.

Jon Arryn was Lord of the Eyrie and served as Hand of the King under King Robert Baratheon. He is dead at the beginning of the story. In fact, his death begins the series of events that lead Ned Stark and his daughters South and end up getting him killed. We hear about Jon Arryn from Ned's perspective. Ned saw him as an honorable man, almost more of a father than his own father.

When a POV character loves someone, we tend to like them as well. Ned was a decent man so we assume that he will display sound judgement in the people he likes and respects. When we first hear about Jon Arryn, he seems like a wonderful man. He went to war to protect Ned and Robert from the Mad King and risked everything for them. Great guy!

However, on further examination, one begins to see evidence that Ned was quite mistaken about Jon Arryn. The man had a lot of serious flaws, flaws that are still destroying lives at present time in the story.

• Jon Arryn was a TERRIBLE Hand of the King. Under his time in power, he indulged Robert's vices, allowing him  to get fat, become a drunk, father dozens of bastard children, and run the kingdom into debt.  Jon Arryn was probably THE only human who had any kind of influence over Robert whatsoever and he used none of this influence to keep the man in line. This wasn't just his duty as a mentor and a friend, this was his duty as the Hand of the King. He wasn't just responsible to Robert. He was responsible to the kingdom. He failed both and because of his failure, Robert was a mess and the kingdom may never financially recover.
  
• Jon Arryn was a horrible judge of character. Tywin Lannister entered the war at the last second. He waited around until he saw the logical winner and only then made any kind of move. When Robert came to power, Jon Arryn should have realized this was probably THE only time that Tywin would ever be at a disadvantage. What did he do to exploit this? He acted like Robert was at the disadvantage and talked him into marrying Cersei. Even at 16 or so, it should have been clear that Cersei would never be a compliant and tolerant queen. But this wasn't Jon Arryn's biggest blunder in the 'misjudging people' department.
  
• Jon Arryn brought Littlefinger to King's Landing.  In Shakespeare's Julius Caesar,  poor doomed Julius comments that he wants to have fat men around him because fat men are content and happy with their positions in life. Then he adds that Cassius has a lean and hungry look. Littlefinger is a perfect example of the lean and hungry ambitious untrustworthy slimeballs.  There is basically a giant neon sign over Littlefinger's head that reads "WILL BETRAY YOU!!" but for some reason, Jon Arryn ignored this and kept giving the man more and more power.
  
• Of course, the person who put Littlefinger in Jon Arryn's path was his third wife Lysa Tully.  Lysa is another reason why I hate Jon Arryn. Okay, for one thing, he was an old man when he married her and she was like 15 or so. She'd had an abortion already and it should have been clear to anyone that she was in love with someone else. It should have been equally clear that she was unstable. And yet, Arryn marries her anyway, because he needs an heir. Lysa has some miscarriages, but when she finally does have baby, Jon Arryn commits what is probably his worst crime.
  
• He fails to protect his child from Lysa. Like I said, it's abundantly clear the woman in crazy. Yet Arryn, as he does with Robert, indulges her insanity and allows her to basically destroy their child. He doesn't even try to stop her from breastfeeding, and at 8, the child is still doing this. He makes no attempt to try and prevent her from spoiling the boy, which leads to the child being almost impossible for anyone to handle. This is the man's heir! He knows he lives in a harsh world and his son will have to be strong to face it. Yet he does nothing to try and educate him. His only attempt to try and make the boy's life better is to consider fostering him  to Stannis. Really? Stannis? Stannis, who is even more socially awkward than your son? How do you think that would have helped?

See, the thing is, Jon Arryn was either deeply stupid or living a life or complete deprave difference. He either had no clue as to what he was doing or just decided "fuck it, let's see how bad this can get." Either way, his actions and more over his lack of action set up the perfect storm that is the mess everyone is suffering through now. If he would have reigned in Robert, had him marry someone trustworthy, sent his son to be fostered in a sane place, and shot Littlefinger in the skull, everyone would probably safe, happy, and calmly preparing for Winter. The man was a useless Hand, a useless Lord, a bad father, and a complete idiot. Too bad he had so much power.

Game of Thrones 30 Day Challenge: Day 19

Day 19: A character you used to hate but now love.

Okay, you have to understand that I read the first book and then watched the first season of the show. I read the second book and the third, then watched the second season of the show.  I got through the next two books before the third season and went into the third season with my love for Theon Greyjoy firmly in place.

When the books started, I hated him. Theon, from the perspective of Jon and Bran, was an arrogant prick who was too hot for his own good. He was lustful, cocky, and brash. Even though Robb seemed to adore him, everyone else found him annoying. And I found him annoying.

As I began to watch the first season, my perceptions of Theon began to change due to Alfie Allen's portrayal of him. I didn't like the casting at first. Theon, as I mentioned, is tall, darkhaired, and beautiful. Alfie is shorter, odd looking, and has lighter colored hair. His face is very animated and it just didn't suit the Theon I had in my head, the one, you will remember, I still hated at this point.

But Allen added a depth to the role than I wasn't expecting. In my head, whenever people would make comment about how Theon wasn't really part of the family, he just sneered and went on with his life. On the show, you see the depths to which this really tortures Theon. You witness his pain, so everything he does as the story continues begins to make more sense. He doesn't see himself as a Stark. He doesn't get a wolf puppy. When he returns to his family, he is rejected by them as well, but at least he has a chance to prove himself.

Theon fails so badly in the second book. He helps to ruin the North's chances and sets things up to where people will die. He kills people he grew up with and he helps to almost destroy the Stark name . . . all the while leading himself deeper and deeper into a place of horror.

I'm posting Theon's last scenes from Season Two. These scenes capture so much about Theon. His anger, his pain, his despair, even his humor. They also capture how charismatic he could be if he'd been trained in the right way. Moreover, you see his hopelessness and his growing sense of failure. It's beautiful and painful all at once.

Game of Thrones 30 Day Challenge: Day 18

Day 18: Least Interesting POV

Okay. I love Brienne. I do. She is a wonderful character. It think it's great that she's so brave and strong and honorable. I love what she has inspired in Jaime. I love that she was friends with Catelyn when she truly needed someone to be friends with her. I love that she's trying very hard to fulfill a mission for a dead woman because she honors her memory that much.

AND . . . I found her POV chapters to be dreadfully boring.

It wasn't that they were uninteresting, exactly. They were interesting. Cool stuff happened. I like Brienne's relationship with Podrick and with fairly much everyone else she meets. In fact, I even love her chapters . . . which is to say, I loved them after I read them a second time, because the first time I read them, they made me want to rip out my hair.

See, this second time through, I enjoyed them because I knew what to expect, or rather, what NOT to expect. I knew that Brienne was just touring the area and seeing how horrible it was. I knew that she would be facing a lot of sadness and devastation during her journey. I let my mind slow down and really enjoy the details of what was happening.

But the first time I read it, it basically came off like this.

I'm Brienne. Of Tarth. I'm tall. And ugly. And teh menz don't like me. And I'm hungry. And Jaime. And Renley. And honor and fightin an stuff. And Jaime. And have you seen a young girl of 3 and ten with long red hair? She is my sister and I am looking for her. And now I will walk over here. Hey. Now I will walk over here. Jaime. 

It drove me CRAZY. Her POV 'voice' just drove me bonkers! I was so annoyed with her. But finally, I got past that and really looked at the meat of the chapters and enjoyed them more. I have to tell you though, it was work.

Game of Thrones 30 Day Challenge: Day 17

Day 17: Most Exciting POV

If you're not familiar with GRRM's style for these books, every chapter is written from the third person perspective of a POV character.  The chapter title will be only that person's name, and people tend to distinguish between them by labeling them according to book and the number of that chapters that character has in the book. For instance, if we're looking at A Game of Thrones and reading Bran's fourth chapter, people would call that Bran 1:4. It may be like the 15th actual chapter of the book, but it's only Bran's fourth.

So far, there are 14 major POV characters, 10 minor POV characters (who might become major ones in later books, aside from the people who are dead), and some prologue and epilogue characters. Almost always, the prologue and epilogue characters die.

To me,  the most exciting POV character is Tyrion Lannister. For one thing, Tyrion has the bulk of the chapters, as of his sample chapter in Winds of Winter, he's up to 48, which is six more than anyone else (Arya is next at 42, but actually Tyrion's is very impressive considering he is skipped completely in one book, where Arya isn't).

I love Tyrion's chapter because his story plays like a Coyote story. He is always getting put in prisons or captured and always manages to talk his way out of it. He has to maneuver around his family's rules and manages to use wildfire to get himself out of a war. He's funny, lustful, and as bad as he is good. People accuse Tyrion of having 'plot armor,' but from my perspective, he is just doing his job as a trickster.

In fact, in the last book, he basically goes through shamanic death. He spends many chapters lost and broken. He even has to subvert his personality for a while. By the end of the book, he's beginning to be his usual self again, but it takes him going to possibly the lowest point he possibly could. He probably needed that shamanic death, because things are about to get scary and serious. Well, you know, MORE scary and serious . . . if that's possible.

Goodbye, Sweet Boy

This afternoon, our cat Salem passed away. He was 16 and had been getting weaker for a while now. His death was peaceful. He wasn't in pain or scared. He got to be home with us and one of our other cats was sitting right by him. He'd been petted and held today and he knew he was loved. I am happy he had a peaceful end to his life, but it is heartbreaking to know he's gone.

Salem wasn't always my cat. He was born in a house in Heavener, Oklahoma to the stepchildren of a friend of mine. My current roommate and his THEN roommate decided to adopt some of the kittens. The former roommate picked out Salem's brother (who would be named Julian) and my roommate picked out this lovely ball of tuxedo fluff. The children cried when we took them. Even as kittens, they were loved.

They were also infected with ringworm, which transmitted to my roommate, his roommate, and me. I'd never had ringworm before and plan to never have it again. Sometimes when cats give you gifts, it's not something you'd really want to keep. I adored the kittens and would play with them (as much as they would let me) whenever I could come over. They were fairly indifferent to me, except for that time Julian stole a hairband out of my hair.

Salem soon gained the nickname Fluffy . . .because he was fluffy and it suited his personality. Even though I knew his name was Salem, in my head, he is always Fluffy or Fluff. He liked to be brushed. You know, that's always iffy with cats. Some love it, others would rather claw your eyes out than be brushed. He would sometimes go to the brush and rub his face against it and purr. Any time you wanted him to come to you, all you had to do was hold up the brush.

He also had a list of food he loves. Yogurt, cheese, ice cream (especially chocolate), ribs, tuna, and french fries. He only wanted the french fries that were soft though. Whenever we'd get them, we'd pick out the soft ones for him and toss them over. He was always deeply happy with that. Fluff was pretty independent of us, though he did enjoy some cuddle time. He was very social with the other cats though. He tended to be the first one to warm up to any new cat that came in the house and would purt and talk to them before the others. For the most part, he was a pretty happy cat.

It's difficult to even begin to process how to make the transition in your life when you've known someone for 16 years and suddenly you'll never see them again. I ache about it. It's a huge loss. I'm comforted by the fact that I know he's at peace, but he will be very missed by me. Goodbye, Fluff. I hope where ever you are, there is a great hairbrush for you. Love you.

Game of Thrones 30 Day Challenge: Day 16

Day 16: Favorite Free City

My favorite free city is Bravos. Bravos is a more recent city in the history of the world, having been founded by escaped slaves and hidden by magic while Valyria stood. Bravos looks and feels a lot like Venice, as it is full of statues and canals and places of worship. It also had a very strong connection to what is happening in the Seven Kingdoms, actually making it tie in closer to the main story than even Dany does so far.

The Iron Bank of Bravos is shaping up to be a possible player in what is happening to secure the Iron Throne of Westeros. The bank has been lending money to the kingdom for a while now, an arrangement made by Littlefinger (who is only a couple of generations removed from Bravos) and as it stands, the royal debt is significant. Cersei ignored the bank representatives so long that they finally decided to back Stannis's claim to the throne. Stannis was given a nice loan, once he promised to pay back not only that loan but also the ones currently connected to the throne. It's really the first bit of support Stannis has gotten from anyone recently, so he jumped on the chance without really considering the consequences. We'll see how that works out for him.

Bravos is also the home of the Temple of Black and White, where Arya is training to be an assassin. Arya found refuge in Bravos after leaving her homeland when she felt like everyone she loved was dead or in a place where she had no way to get to them. Through her eyes, we have seen the city come to life, as she worked selling fish to actors, sailors, and whores. Even  though Arya is somewhat forgetting herself while she is there, she's also healing from all the trauma she's experienced in the last several years. It's been good for her and that makes me very happy.

Most importantly, Bravos doesn't seem to have this undercurrent of horribleness that a lot of other cities tend to possess. There is no open slave market. There is no crazy laws where you kill the city princes. There isn't a caste system so severe that people really can't move out of the place they're currently in. It is a stable city and seems to be ample in supplies and abundance. It seems like a rather wonderful place to be.

Game of Thrones 30 Day Challenge: Day 15

Day 15: Favorite Bastard

When I was a young girl, I read Michael Moorecock's novels about Elric, a sad, brooding albino prince who basically destroys his people and becomes an incarnation of the Eternal Champion. Also as a young girl, my favorite Dragonlance character was the white haired mage named Raistlin Majere, a sad, brooding lost soul who basically destroys himself to try and correct the mistakes he made to gain power. Raistlin didn't start out with the white hair, but he had it by the time we met him in the story. His eyes weren't albino red . . . they were yellow, but he still helped to fuse the archetype in my head. I like me some magical brooding white haired menz.

With that in mind, my favorite bastard in the GRRM novels is Brynden Rivers, otherwise known as Bloodraven.  Bloodraven is one of the four Great Bastards, children born to King Aegon the Unworthy with women of noble birth. Brynden's family, the Blackwoods, worshiped the old gods, giving him connection both to the old ways and to the Targaryen line. He was rumored to be a wicked sorcerer, and served as Master of Whispers under one king and as the Hand of the King under another. A third king locked him in the dungeons and a fourth sent him to the Wall. Once he was at the Wall, he rose to the rank of Commander and lead for many years. Then he disappeared into the wilderness.

At the current time of the story, he's something like 125 years old. He is part of a Weirwood tree and serving as the Seer of the old gods and as the Three Eyed Crow. He has lured Bran to him through dreams and visions, perhaps to make him his successor as the person who is connected to the Weirwood.

I adore Bloodraven because he fits my white haired brooding sexy guy archetype. I also like him because has tried very hard during his long life to do the right thing. Every time he has tried to do the right thing, he's been met with resistance and mistrust. He keeps on, however, because he knows there are more important things to consider than his own self. Winter is coming, after all.

So yes, my favorite bastard is Brynden Rivers. I doubt he will make it to the end of the novels alive, so I mostly just hope he finds peace.

Game of Thrones 30 Day Challenge: Day 14

Day 14: Discuss a romantic pairing you like.

I have to admit, I'm fairly moral when it comes to my pairings. I don't like ones where someone violated someone else and now they should be all happy to be together. I don't like ones where people have huge age differences. I will never ship Sansa and Sandor because she was 11 when he met her and started having creepy feelings for he. Eleven. Gross.

I also don't like pairings where one person clearly has an advantage over the other. Penny has helped to clear a lot of things up for Tyrion, but she's also somewhat mentally addled and he's a clear and clever person. She would always be at an emotional and intellectual disadvantage to him. I would actually be somewhat bothered by Sam and Gilly if Sam were less of a sincere person. Sam is socially and educationally at an advantage over Gilly. However, it's clear the boy truly does love her and it's possible she could gain the education that she lacks.

What do I want in a good romantic pairing? Hmm.

• Likable characters.  If a character annoys me, I do not want them to find love. In fact, I want them to find the sharp end if a blade, kthanx.
• Mutual respect. This doesn't have to be there from the start, but part of what makes a couple attractive is that they begin to respect each other.
• Equity. If both parties in the relationship can't experience at least reasonable equality, I don't support it.
• Chemistry. The characters have to have a certain power that radiates from the relationship, a certain excitement about it that makes you interested in reading more about it. If that is lacking, why bother?
• Story advancement. See, this is very important to me. I don't like relationships in fiction that serve no purpose to the advancement of the story. A relationship should serve to help the characters grow, to make new and better decisions that lead to fun plot twists, or that help the characters to see the world or themselves in a new light that aids in their decisions. If this doesn't happen, the relationship is gratuitous and taking up my time. Stop it.

With all of this in mind, my absolute favorite pairing in the books is the relationship between Jaime Lannister and Brienne of Tarth. Jaime did not start out as likable, but he becomes likable as we learn more about him. Brienne starts out as gruff and awkward, but she's loyal and kind and tries to be a very honorable person. She has a kind heart and tries to do the right thing, even though that's usually impossible.

Brienne and Jaime do not start out liking each other. He sees her as a big ugly woman who wants to be a man. She sees him as a lying, dishonest dishonorable smartass who had children with his sister. And you know what? All of this stuff is true! However, these things aren't all there is to these two people. Jaime begins to see the grace and beauty that exists inside Brienne and she begins to learn the reasons behind his actions. They find common ground and a friendship develops between them, one that is based on respect.

On the surface, it doesn't seem that Brienne and Jaime are equals. Jaime is clever and rich and beautiful. Brienne is, while a noblewoman, of lesser rank than Jaime. She's cumbersome and unattractive and tends to not say much. But they find their equality in other ways. When Jaime loses his hand, he begins to realize how much of his value was placed on shallow and physical things. As he begins to understand that HE is more than what others see, he also realizes there is more to see in Brienne. As she watches Jaime suffer and encourages him to live, Brienne looks past his misdeeds and reputation, finding a man who is a lot like on the inside.

The chemistry between these two is undeniable, and this is further emphasized by the actors who play them on the show. Brienne and Jaime are electrifying on screen. Their swordfight is more flirting or dancing that battle. Their barbs and insults to each other are perfectly timed. It's so much fun to watch them.

Most importantly, the developing relationship between these two really does a lot to advance the plot of the story. Brienne helps Jaime to see that he CAN be an honorable knight and once he goes back to King's Landing, he begins to try and behave as one, which sets all kinds of things into motion. Jaime is the first warrior peer that Brienne has had who truly believes in how amazing she is. He gives her a sword and sends her on a quest, partly to get her out of his twin's sight and partly just to allow her to prove herself. They become each other's strength and their fate is one of those things that keeps me wishing the next book would get published.

The showrunners have made a lot of changes in the translation from book to show, and I hope one of the things they remove is Jaime and Brienne taking separate journeys. I think it would be great if they stayed together and did the next leg of their quest by each other's sides. Of course, that could just be the wishful fangirl thinking. Hee! I do hope it happens.

Game of Thrones 30 Day Challenge: Day 13

Day 13: Your Favorite Quote.

I've posted this before, but I think it is worth repeating. My favorite quote comes from the first book and it's said by Old Nan when Bran smarts off to her about stories and fear.

Oh, my sweet summer child," Old Nan said quietly, "what do you know of fear?
Fear is for the winter, my little lord, when the snows fall a hundred feet
deep and the ice wind comes howling out of the north. Fear is for the long
night, when the sun hides its face for years at a time, and little children
are born and live and die all in darkness while the direwolves grow gaunt and
hungry, and the white walkers move through the woods”

GRRM can write some beautiful passages. He can write things that stick to your soul and become part of you. However, this is my favorite of all of his passages because it's one that always plays in my mind as the books continue. As wars rage and people die, as everyone is starting to get displaced and more and more is lost, people think they've seen how bad things can truly get, but they haven't.

Everyone knows winter is on its way. People should have put aside their differences and concentrated on doing as much growing and harvesting as they could before it got cold. They should have been working on repairs to homes, stockpiling supplies, chopping wood, and making sure everyone had enough blankets. The priorities were not there. It will soon be cold. It will soon be the return of the Long Night, when Winter will last for years and years with no hope of it ending in sight.  The devastation seen up to this point will be nothing compared to that, and no one is even paying attention.

Old Nan's quote is important because it sets the tone of the foreboding that lurks around the edges of these books. Things can get worse. Things can get worse. Things can get so, so much worse. At this point, we're not even sure if there is anyway to keep them from getting worse, as everyone who is trying to take steps to make things even remotely better is silenced in one way of the other.

Game of Thrones 30 Day Challenge: Day 12

Day 12: A character you would like to slap.

Oh this is so easy. I want to slap Jorah Mormont for being the selfish, creepy uncle of the series, and that is saying a lot, considering some of the other old pervs out there.

Jorah met Daenarys Stormborn when she was 13 years old. At the time, she was being sold into marriage to a man who was twice her age. Jorah watched as she endured night after night of forced sex from her husband. His advice to her was 'it will get easier.' It did, but only after Dany took things into her own hands. All the while Jorah was around her during those early months, he was spying on her. When she got pregnant, he sent work to King's Landing and started the series of events that led to the attempt on Dany's life and Khal Drogo's death. Did Jorah save Dany in the midst of that? Yes, he did. But that doesn't change the fact that he spied on her.

So here is Dany, a 13 year old, then into her 14 and 15th years. He's seen her be victimized. He's seen her threatened with death. He watched her grieve for those she lost. He watched her miraculously awaken dragons from stone eggs. He is supporting her in her quest to become queen . . . because it really does help his chances of going back home. He also fancies himself to be in love with her.

People say Jorah is in the friendzone. However, I think the basic concept of the 'friendzone' implies that there is the reasonable possibility of the two people being in a relationship together but just aren't due to the lack of attraction on the part of one of the people. Jorah should realize there is no way in hell Dany would ever be with him.

For one thing, he's 29 years older than her. In a culture where an 11 year old thought that a man of 24 was 'really old,' a no 14 year old is going to think that a man who is 43 is a reasonable life partner. Do some very extreme age difference marriages happen? Yes. Though they usually only happen when the older person is of a much higher rank than the younger person (Walder Frey and any of his wives) or when the younger person is at a disadvantage of another nature (Sansa being forced as a hostage to wed Tyrion).

Dany is neither disadvantaged socially or otherwise to Jorah. In fact, she outranks him and has more power than him in every situation. Even if she just wanted to marry for political reasons, she wouldn't consider Jorah as a husband because she gains nothing from marrying him. And these things are of a concern to her, because she thinks about them in terms of her relationship with Daario. She loves Daario, but he isn't of her rank and couldn't work as a husband to a queen.

Dany is also out of Jorah's league physically. People who just watch the show perhaps don't see this as much, because the actor who plays Jorah is rather attractive and has a beautiful voice. Jorah in the books is thick, very hairy, gruff, and whines all the damned time. He's paranoid and possessive of her. He mistrusts every man who comes near her and tries to emotionally blackmail her.

Oh, and also? Jorah is still married. His Dany lookalike wife may have left him, but they're technically still married.

So yeah, he needs to be slapped. For thinking it's okay to have sexytime feelings for a girl he met at 13, he needs to be slapped. For thinking he could be nice to her and be rewarded with sex, he needs to be slapped. For getting so strung out about his feelings for her that he began to undermine what she was doing, he needs to be slapped. For being king of the Uncle Creepies, he needs to be slapped.

Mostly he just needs to be slapped back into reality.

Game of Thrones 30 Day Challenge: Day 11

As I'm starting the second ten days of this challenge, perhaps it would be good for me to make few observations.  It's really hot right now. Hot and muggy. I've been very emotional and fairly stabby. A lot of people in my life are going through rough times and their own levels of emotional challenge. I've also started a new workbook in therapy that is making me deal with some nasty stuff. Due to all of this, I felt like it would be best if I did something structured with the blog, something that isn't all about my day to day life. As you can tell, a lot of this has to do with the fact that my day to day is fairly much a quagmire right now. Almost everyone else I know is in that quaggy little place as well. It's best that I don't add to their burdens, or my own.

So with that in mind, we get another 20 days of Game of Thrones stuff. Yay!! By the time I'm finished, we'll be almost out of August and starting to see the light at the end of the hotter than hell tunnel.

Day 11: Talk about a character that you would like to kiss.

This was difficult, because a lot of the characters in the books are either too young for me, dead, annoying, or probably horribly filthy all of the time. I thought about various people who might be a possibility. I just felt too moral to really accept anyone like Jon or Robb because they're teenagers. Even though Jaime is beautiful, he's really not my type, plus there is a part in Storm when he talks about lice falling off his head. That's a big turn off. Ned was too loyal. Robert  was too filthy. Davos was too in love with Stannis. Khal Drogo, while quite physically attractive, probably smelled horrible. You couldn't pay me enough to kiss a Greyjoy.

But then I remembered Jaqen H'ghar and realized he would be perfect.

Most importantly, Jaqen is can be clean. While he was filthy when we first met him, there is actual textual evidence that he bathes! This is a big improvement over a lot of these people. I realize this is my modern sensibilities talking, but bathing puts him up at the top. He doesn't have to bathe everyday, but at least once a week or something is better than nothing.

Second of all, Jaqen has a very musical voice and an interesting speech pattern. When he is with Arya, he would never say "I'm thirsty. Can you tell me where to get some water." He would say, "A man thirsts. A girl should tell him where to find water." He was also kind to Arya, more so than he had to be as he was fulfilling his debt to her. He even helped her after she tricked him.

Jaqen is an assassin for the Faceless Men. This means that he can look like anyone (so I would never get bored!) and he has more than likely had some level of actual training in the arts of pleasure. So not only would I be receiving a nonnarsty kiss, I'd also be receiving one with some skill behind it. This is awesome all the way around.

So yes, Jaqen is my choice for kisses. Probably my only choice, as everyone else is way too young, way to dirty, too much of an ass, or kinky. Oh, or Stannis. No one wants to kiss Stannis.