A Game of Thrones!

I love fiction. Let me just throw that out there for people who don’t know me. Almost my entire book collection and the art that I do (if not all) is fiction. And not just any fiction, mostly fantasy and science fiction. I wouldn’t really call myself an escapist, but I spend all day in my real life, so I don’t always want to think about it when I get home. :)

I love, love, love books. So much that I almost refuse to purchase an e-reader because there is nothing better than sitting down and having the weight and feel of a book in your hands. The bookshelf that I purchased when I moved into my apartment is overflowing. I have two rows of books on two of the shelves now - I can no longer see what is behind some of them.

However, even with my insane love for fantasy and books, I was somehow late to discover George R. R. Martin and his Song of Fire & Ice saga! I stumbled across it because a friend of mine liked the HBO rendition of the first book on Facebook (although he had obviously read the books as well).

So there I was, discovering a fantastic book series that started 15 years ago, because the first book had been made-for-TV. I watched the entire first season (10 episodes) within three days, hooked on the characters, the drama and the lore. You’ll never catch me just watching TV though. My hands have to stay busy, so I was working on a (secret for another month or two!) project at the same time. Needless to say, once the first season ended, I absolutely had to read all of the books. Someday, if they ever make a Pern movie/show, someone will pick up Anne McCaffrey’s entire series :)

The day I chose to purchase the book series was the same exact day the fifth book came out. Oh, how tempted I was to pick that one up as well, but to be honest, I’m not a fan of hardcover books. They’re expensive, I hate having to pull off their delicate covers while I read and I never own all of them, so a few of my series look strange. For example, I own Paolini’s Inheritance Cycle and my copy of Brisingr is hardcover while the other two are paperback :(

I didn’t realize how many pages were in Martin’s novels until I went to buy them. A Game of Thrones, the first and smallest, clocks in at 800 some pages. The rest are over one thousand a piece. As I hauled them all up to the front counter at Borders, the clerk looked at me funny and made a comment. She asked me “are you going to power through all of those?”. I didn’t quite understand why she asked that. Perhaps she thought I wanted to read the fifth book that had just came out. But I do know that I want to finish the first and second book before HBO’s second season arrives!

At this point in time, I’m only part way through the first book. Someone may roll their eyes at me, and I may eat my own words as I progress further, but I feel as though the TV series is fairly true to the book. So far there have only been a few minor changes, but most of the dialogue and imagery is the same.  I highly recommend the show and/or the book for anyone interested in a medieval period piece. The books speak of kings, nobles, swords, struggles for power, monstrous things beyond the Wall and much more. A warning though - if you are not able to keep track of hundreds of characters and their relationships to one another, the series may get confusing rather quickly

Blogging

So despite the fact that my site has not been updated (or even completed) in ages, I feel as though I have a lot on my mind as of late that I’d like to jettison into the vastness of the Internet. I thought about creating a new blog outside of this domain, believing that if I ever decide to make a career out of my personal hobbies, I may harm myself in some way. But in reality, the type of people I would want to work with would be open-minded enough to dismiss any “offensive” ramblings I may do here.

Inspired by my Geek Sister-from-another-Mother in Crime, Erin (visit her blog.. go.. now!), I’ve decided to actually try blogging. This will probably end up like most of the projects laying around my apartment - half finished, but I will eventually get to all of you, I promise. I know that with blogging, you’re really supposed to stick to topics within one field of interest, so that you provide consistency to your readers, but frankly, I don’t expect to have any readers so I’m probably going to deviate from tech topics, to art, to books, etc.

I am typically all over the place. My craving for knowledge and drive to learn new skills is insatiable. I have a ridiculous number of hobbies, some of which make no sense in relation to one another. I have been gifted with the ability to pick things up quickly and for that I am thankful. I can’t say the same for my attention span, but you have to take the good with the bad. My blog, if I continue to write, will probably stray from topic to topic in much the same way as I do myself.

Site Update

I’ve finally taken the time out to update the site. It’s funny, I look back at my last post about a year and a half ago saying I’d probably never get around to doing it. I’m one of those people who, once I get started, won’t stop working on a project until it is complete. I just had to motivate myself to get started :)

Anyway, welcome to my blog / updates / ramblings. I’m hoping to post some useful information in here when I can.

Under Construction

This site is pretty much under permanent “I’ll Get To It Later” status. I mostly use it as storage for photos, media, etc. One day I’ll actually complete the front end :(