I had a fun weekend. On Saturday, my wonderful friends jaydk, soulmate815, and drujan took me to Shakespeare in the Park for my birthday (which is tomorrow, June 29). We saw "Much Ado About Nothing," which was very good. Jimmy Smits was in it, as was Sam Waterston and, um, this woman from Third Rock from the Sun. Okay, I don't actually know much about any of the actors, but still, it was fun. I'm not really a fan of plays or of being outdoors, but I still liked it. So that was cool.

Plus, jaydk got me a set of X-Men DVDs that I spent much of Sunday watching, and drujan got me Pirates of the Caribbean, so now I can see Captain Jack whenever I want.... >:)

On Sunday jaydk went with me to eat Indian food and see Harry Potter 3 again. This is the, um, fifth time I've seen it. I can't help it--I'm completely in love with Gary Oldman's Sirius Black, even more than I love Sirius in the books. And the Sirius/Remus reunion scene is just so wonderful. *sigh* And the movie itself is great, too--there's something new to notice every time you see it.

Hmm ... what else? I finally finished my (third? fourth?) re-read of A Game of Thrones. That book is so complicated; I feel like you have to read it several times (after reading the later books in the series) in order to fully appreciate the nuances. George R.R. Martin spends a lot of time exploring themes I'm interested in, so I really enjoy it. (Like how morality is grey, not black and white, and how being rigidly stuck on honor just gets you killed, and we all have freedom of choice, that kind of thing....)

Also, I updated my website again. Twice in one month ... okay, that's just sad.

Still haven't found a roommate. At this point I'm ready to give it to the first person who gives me a deposit, as long as they're not a serial killer or something....

This evening I'm heading to the Moonlight Rising convention. I'll be back sometime Monday, so I won't be making any website updates until then. Anyone else going to the con?

I am still trying to catch up on my website, honestly, it's just that the other night I picked up A Game of Thrones and got sucked back in. This is the third or fourth time I've read it, but the mythology is so intricate that I pick up something new every time. I adore this series--the strong and varied female characters, the unbelievably wrenching plot twists and the fact that no character is sacred, and especially the increasing greyness of what seemed at first to be a black and white moral universe. (Plus, I'm just so completely in love with Jaime Lannister....)

Anyway, I will get back on track with the website eventually.

rabid1st wrote Spike/Captain Jack Sparrow slash. Hehehe. Go read, if you haven't already.

I just started reading the slashficathon stories; my favorite so far is wiseacress's schmoop written for eliade. Read it here. Some silly people I know don't like to read wiseacress's fic because it's too dark, so if you're one of those people, try this anyway. It's sweet and in-character and fun and entertaining; not too angsty at all.

I saw Pirates of the Caribbean Friday night with jaydk, soulmate815, and drujan. (Isn't it cool how I met these people through online Buffy fandom, and now we hang out and do stuff together? I can't get over how neat that is.) I loved the movie, which surprises me, since it's based on a Disney ride and all that. But Johnny Depp gave an amazing performance, Orlando Blood was very pretty, and the plot and characters were all quite entertaining.

I finished the George R. R. Martin "Song of Ice and Fire" books (well, the three that are out; I'm looking forward to the release of the fourth). I liked them a lot, and as expected, I did end up loving Jaime Lannister in the third book. He's a very Spike-like character. ( spoilers for all three books )

So, now I'm re-reading A Game of Thrones, the first book, because it makes so much more sense now that I know who all the characters are. The first time I read it, it felt like I was just having hundreds of names thrown at me without reason; it was terribly frustrating and made it take forever for me to get into the book. But now that I know who they are and what most of them want, it's so much more interesting. (Is there SoIaF fic? There's got to be Renly/Loras slash, right?)

I spent so much time this weekend reading (books) that I still haven't caught up with LJ for the week that I was away. I'm not sure if I ever will, so I'll just ask: If you posted fic, or you read a fic that you really liked, and you think it would fit AllAboutSpike, can you let me know? I'm sure I must have missed quite a bit, so I'd appreciate any help. Also, sometimes I find out months later that authors were mad at me for "snubbing" them (even though it's usually just that I haven't had time to read their work yet, or to contact them yet), so if you're an author wondering why I haven't contacted you, please feel free to contact me first.

I'm facing another busy week this week. Tuesday (dear god, that's tomorrow!) my former favorite band, Uranium 235, is playing a reunion show at Don Hills in NYC. I'm going with my old friend dizenchanted and hopefully I will get to meet up with many of my other old friends at the show. For those who don't know, U235 was my pre-Buffy obsession; they were a very talented electronic/industrial/goth type band who mostly played along the East Coast. I'm rather nervous about seeing ... some people ... but I will go anyway because I want to see friends that I haven't seen in ages. (And man, I so miss getting all gothed out and going to a show!)

Then Wednesday jaydk, queenofthorns and I are going to see Pirates of the Caribbean again, because queenofthorns missed it the first time. And I'm happy to see it again (Johnny Depp! Orlando Bloom!).

And then of course, this weekend is the Tampa con! jaydk and I are flying together, and we're staying with some people I know and some people I don't know, and I'm finally going to get to meet so many people that I currently only know online. I'm so excited. And I'm making a promise to myself to ignore anything stupid that JM says, forgive him because he's pretty, and focus my attention on the friends that I'm going to be hanging out with.

Hey look, I'm back. Thank god. *gives NYC a big hug and promises never to leave again*

I may write about my vacation later, or maybe not; I'm trying to be less whiny, and I have very little to say that is positive. One good thing: there is an amazing new vegan restaurant in Fort Lauderdale called Sublime, which just opened, and which I encourage anyone in that area to try. Even my dad, who has never once liked vegan food in his life, enjoyed it. We went there the evening of my birthday, and had a very nice dinner.

Unfortunately that's just about the only positive.

I've not yet caught up with my friends list, and I'm loath to start posting without doing so (I have this compulsive need to be thorough, and it feels wrong to post without first catching up with my friends list). Is there a way to display posts in chronological order? That would make it a lot easier ...

However, I'm not going to catch up with LJ until I finish the book I'm currently reading, which is the third in George R. R. Martin's "Song of Ice and Fire" series. I finished the first two on vacation, and got this one yesterday. I'm greatly enjoying the series, and like I said, I'm obsessively thorough; I'm not going to be able to do much of anything until I finish this book. (I'm the type of person who reads all night and into the next day, because once I'm into a book I cannot stop until it's finished).

I also re-read Stephen King's "The Gunslinger," which is the first book in his "Dark Tower" series; he re-wrote bits of it, and it has improved quite a bit (I always thought that "The Gunslinger" was the weakest in the series, but I found it immensely engaging this time around). If you have a chance, I strongly recommend the series. I'm not a big King fan at all, but I love this particular series; it's very different from most of his other work. I'll probably be re-reading it as well, as soon as I get a chance.

And I will of course be catching up with my website; I had only about 30 minutes of internet access for the entire vacation (and was getting yelled at by all the people in line behind me), so I managed only minimal updates over the week. (And they were cheats, actually; I'd archived those stories before I left, but hidden them; I just put them on the home page and sent updates while I was gone. So it looked like I'd done some archiving, even though I actually hadn't).

Anyway, must go work now, and I'll catch up with LJ and fanfic and websites and all that as soon as I finish this book. (Everyone tells me I'm going to love Jaime Lannister, but right now I'm finding Tyrion the most engaging; he's an outcast and a freak, and just about everyone hates him, yet he's smarter and better-hearted than anyone in his family. Jaime is very Spikish though ... I've been having all these thoughts about different ethical systems, one based on rigid principles and the other based on love and personal connections, and how they connect, and how they are gendered, and how they relate to the Buffyverse ... so if I get more free time I'll type that up into an unpolished mini-essay as well.)