An Encounter with Lightening, GoT, True Blood, & the EURO
[mood: 
Excited for a long weekend]
[music: Gavin DeGraw - Sweeter]
I'm not sure what it is about Memorial Day and my home, but the two have been at war for the past three years or so. Last year, we had a microburst that felled 15 of our trees, tore off/twisted part of our metal barn roof, and took out our power for five days, and this year, lightening struck our tall pine! Most heart-stopping, rattling boom of thunder I've ever experienced. The lightening bolt stripped off the bark and tossed it across the driveway like it was no big thing, also frying our garage doors, phone lines, our internet, and water fuse in the process. We spent the next couple of days reconstructed as much of the bark as possible with tree wound, so hopefully our big, beautiful tree will weather the attack. Sheesh, Mama Nature, why you gotta be like that to the treehugging family in the neighborhood?!
In other news, we had company from Indy last week--had fun taking my uncle to some of our scenic sites. We went for an old-fashioned paddle boat ride, which is really pretty this time of year. It's amazing how much moving with or against the wind current affected the temperature on the boat. Very chilly on the ride down, but we were melting on the way back, ha!
I was all amped for TV watching at the end of the week since with company gone, I was finally going to have a chance to watch:
a) the Game of Thrones S2 finale
b) the premiere of True Blood S5
c) Spain and Italy duking it out in Euro 2012
And watch I did! Mostly...
a) Enjoyed the finale. Much less violent and horrifying than I was expecting, but still heartbreak. Much less cliff-hanger-y than last year, but it felt rounded with proper set up for many of the storylines moving forward. Some silliness (I've had two conversations with you, we're getting married!), but some really nice surprises, too (spoiler: was not expecting the Drogo cameo and that maddeningly cute Drogo/Dany baby, but thought it was wonderfully done).
b) I was disappointed by the True Blood season 5 premiere. Spoilers: Tommy Mickens was a fairly central character in S4 with a very violent death affecting multiple characters and plots, but he isn't even shown in the recap of S4? Really? We couldn't have had a two-second clip of bloodied Tommy saying "I'm going to disappear like I never was, just the way I want it" as the set up for the bit with Marcus and Alcide? Also, I really dislike some of the character choices in S4 and S5 they've made with Hoyt and Jessica respectively, especially Jessica's flippant, casual behavior of intimacy in regard to Jason given the horrific rape and abuse he went through just a few weeks ago given the season timelines. I was so excited to see Newlin back, but I'll be incredibly disappointed if that's all we're getting of Jason/Newlin interaction. The saving grace of that episode was Sam being so immediately willing to suffer pain and even accept death to protect Alcide. More of that, please.
c) That awkward moment when the Spanish national team is banned from using social media during the EURO, and you're relieved because it indirectly frees up your time, too (i.e., I'm caught in a whirlpool of Spanish manlove, send help)...aaaaaand it lasts approx. a day. I checked back in when I saw a photo that appeared to be tweeted by a player and realized either part of the team had gone all "Fuck da management, I tweet what I want!" (performed as Eric Cartman naturally) or the ban had been reversed (it was the latter). So, I guess we're not going to find out if Sergio Ramos could survive without Twitter after all.
Anyway, I had grand plans to watch the Spain v. Italy match. I was so excited. Most of the players of whom I am fooooond were called up to the Spain NT. I'd been looking forward to it all week, but what happens? I miss it. Entirely. "European Central Summer Time" can go suck a cactus. Well, at least I didn't have to listen to commentators harp on Torres for being unable to finish the scoring chances he created. I caught up on what happened online and am set to actually watch the Spain v. Republic of Ireland game when I get home from work tonight. Hoping Fernando Torres gets some game play to finish a spectacular goal to a) get the pretty constant barrage of hate to tamp down and b) give Sergio Ramos another opportunity to exuberantly grope him publicly.
Excited for a long weekend]
[music: Gavin DeGraw - Sweeter]
I'm not sure what it is about Memorial Day and my home, but the two have been at war for the past three years or so. Last year, we had a microburst that felled 15 of our trees, tore off/twisted part of our metal barn roof, and took out our power for five days, and this year, lightening struck our tall pine! Most heart-stopping, rattling boom of thunder I've ever experienced. The lightening bolt stripped off the bark and tossed it across the driveway like it was no big thing, also frying our garage doors, phone lines, our internet, and water fuse in the process. We spent the next couple of days reconstructed as much of the bark as possible with tree wound, so hopefully our big, beautiful tree will weather the attack. Sheesh, Mama Nature, why you gotta be like that to the treehugging family in the neighborhood?!
In other news, we had company from Indy last week--had fun taking my uncle to some of our scenic sites. We went for an old-fashioned paddle boat ride, which is really pretty this time of year. It's amazing how much moving with or against the wind current affected the temperature on the boat. Very chilly on the ride down, but we were melting on the way back, ha!
I was all amped for TV watching at the end of the week since with company gone, I was finally going to have a chance to watch:
a) the Game of Thrones S2 finale
b) the premiere of True Blood S5
c) Spain and Italy duking it out in Euro 2012
And watch I did! Mostly...
a) Enjoyed the finale. Much less violent and horrifying than I was expecting, but still heartbreak. Much less cliff-hanger-y than last year, but it felt rounded with proper set up for many of the storylines moving forward. Some silliness (I've had two conversations with you, we're getting married!), but some really nice surprises, too (spoiler: was not expecting the Drogo cameo and that maddeningly cute Drogo/Dany baby, but thought it was wonderfully done).
b) I was disappointed by the True Blood season 5 premiere. Spoilers: Tommy Mickens was a fairly central character in S4 with a very violent death affecting multiple characters and plots, but he isn't even shown in the recap of S4? Really? We couldn't have had a two-second clip of bloodied Tommy saying "I'm going to disappear like I never was, just the way I want it" as the set up for the bit with Marcus and Alcide? Also, I really dislike some of the character choices in S4 and S5 they've made with Hoyt and Jessica respectively, especially Jessica's flippant, casual behavior of intimacy in regard to Jason given the horrific rape and abuse he went through just a few weeks ago given the season timelines. I was so excited to see Newlin back, but I'll be incredibly disappointed if that's all we're getting of Jason/Newlin interaction. The saving grace of that episode was Sam being so immediately willing to suffer pain and even accept death to protect Alcide. More of that, please.
c) That awkward moment when the Spanish national team is banned from using social media during the EURO, and you're relieved because it indirectly frees up your time, too (i.e., I'm caught in a whirlpool of Spanish manlove, send help)...aaaaaand it lasts approx. a day. I checked back in when I saw a photo that appeared to be tweeted by a player and realized either part of the team had gone all "Fuck da management, I tweet what I want!" (performed as Eric Cartman naturally) or the ban had been reversed (it was the latter). So, I guess we're not going to find out if Sergio Ramos could survive without Twitter after all.
Anyway, I had grand plans to watch the Spain v. Italy match. I was so excited. Most of the players of whom I am fooooond were called up to the Spain NT. I'd been looking forward to it all week, but what happens? I miss it. Entirely. "European Central Summer Time" can go suck a cactus. Well, at least I didn't have to listen to commentators harp on Torres for being unable to finish the scoring chances he created. I caught up on what happened online and am set to actually watch the Spain v. Republic of Ireland game when I get home from work tonight. Hoping Fernando Torres gets some game play to finish a spectacular goal to a) get the pretty constant barrage of hate to tamp down and b) give Sergio Ramos another opportunity to exuberantly grope him publicly.