my moral standing is lying down

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ETA: More pics in the comments! And oh yeah, did I mention how I got Boyle's autograph on my jersey after the event? \o/ (Prusty ran away into a cab, while making come on! faces at Boyle, and then eventually left in the cab without Boyle who was still kindly signing things.)

Still neck-deep in Inception fandom. You know, in case anyone was worried about me or anything. Judy has been away this entire week and I have reveled in having the house to myself, though I've been crazy busy and not been able to properly take advantage of it.

Because of someone's prompts and knowmydark's beautifully brilliant and poignant fills, I've discovered Richard Siken's amazingly intense poetry, like you can hardly bear to stop reading once you've caught a line. I highly recommend all of her fic, but in particular her Siken-esque ones: Crush, Little Beast, and Parentheses All Clicking Shut Behind You.

I'm waiting for Siken's book to be delivered to my house... possibly today. In the meantime, someone on my flist mentioned Josh Lanyon's novels; many (or all?) of which seem to include a gay protagonist. I admit to being curious, so I downloaded a bunch of his Adrien English mysteries and have read the first two in the last two days. The mysteries aren't the most complex or interesting I've ever read, and the second one, A Dangerous Thing, reminded me in some ways of Lanyon's own (self-mocking?) comparison to a Scooby-Doo mystery. There is an element of breaking fourth wall boundaries (which I have an undeniable weakness for) in that Adrien is a mystery writer and often references older mystery series and writers which have influenced his own novels; thinking of parallels in plot and character devices even as he uses them to manipulate the reader. Though it isn't a particularly subtle or layered attempt, so I'm not sure how much a credit this is to his talent. The third book won an award, however, so I suspect he gets better as it goes on.

In any case, what I like in particular is the protagonist, and how Lanyon chooses to write him; what his personality is like, what kind of choices he makes, as a gay guy, etc. I'm sometimes uncomfortably aware that girls writing gay guys in relationships can be a bit skewed, though to some extent people are people and personalities range from everything under the sun and I've never thought one couldn't write the other gender truthfully. I can differentiate between well-written, believable characters and vehicles for porn and/or Mary Sues. Believe me, I can differentiate. Still, I was curious. The books so far have been light, quick reads, but have been quite satisfying and I'd definitely recommend them to slash fandom (though not for anyone solely looking for a difficult mystery).

And now on to something completely different.

TONIGHT. TONIGHT I GO TO ANOTHER RANGERS GAME! So excited! This is my first one in a WHOLE MONTH. (Oh... well, except for the one I went to while in Chicago. But does that count? Because it wasn't the Rangers, it was Chicago vs. St. Louis?) Jesus, you do not even know how addictive it is! For the rest of the season I'm going to two games a month every month except March (and who knows if I'll be able to resist when it comes down to the wire).

Halloween is this weekend! In stark contrast to every other year I haven't really done a whole lot for it. Most everyone is gone or maybe doing something else, there's no Nerd Avengers Halloween Party this year... which is LAME, and I fully blame Maryann and AJ because they agreed to do it, but then they decided to go the rally -- whatever, guys!

But there is the Roller Derby Championship bout on Saturday, so that's awesome! AND I EXPECT THERE TO BE LOTS OF DRINKING AFTERWARDS! \o/

However, since honeymull is visiting on Sunday and she and cathybites may end up going to the parade... I might scrounge up a super-quick costume and go along with them!

/babble

What are YOU doing this weekend?

So I keep saying I'm broke, and I am -- but that's what credit cards are for, right?

I've bought tickets to several upcoming events that... I don't regret buying them, certainly, and I think they're very worth it both in having the experience and the ticket price. But damn I wish I wasn't broke right now, or that the events weren't right now... or some combination thereof so that I could hold onto my money instead of watch it go flying out the window.

I'm really going to have to work on either my self-discipline, or getting better at avoiding being notified of events I'm interested in. Haha, good luck, me.

So my newest addition is the NYR v. CHI game on Monday 11/1! TicketExchange has tickets available for the game, and I was able to buy a pair of the cheap tickets in the 400s. I AM EXCITE, PEOPLE! Not only will I be seeing the CHI v. STL game on this coming Monday IN CHICAGO (where I can wear my Toews jersey), but I'll also see them at home in MSG where I'll be wearing one of my Rangers jerseys on the occasion. ETA: I only wish that Burish was still a Blackhawk; nothing would give me more pleasure than to see Bur and Aves chirping at each other hahahah!

Upcoming events:
Oct 14-19: Wincon and CHI v. STL game in Chicago
Oct 23: The Bees' Knees Housewarming Party
Oct 28: JGL/hitRECord.org's Fall Formal
Oct 30: GGRD Championship Bout
Nov 1: NYR v. CHI
Nov 4: Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake
Nov 7: NYR v. STL
Nov 24ish: BERLIN HERE I COME? (OMG I haven't yet bought tix yet or arranged for a hostel stay!!!)

So! This kind of snuck up on us because we weren't really sure whether we'd try to stay here or not, and we didn't really know what Mark, our roommate of 3 months, would be doing... but thedreamerworld and I have found a 2-bedroom in Astoria.

Mark wants to live with 2 of his friends and so he'd definitely be moving out if we decided to stay here. But then Judy and I wouldn't be able to afford this apartment and it had taken us 3 months to find another roommate with Maryann still paying most of her share of the rent even though she'd already moved out. Considering how difficult it might be to find a third roommate for a long-term lease, Judy and I opted to look for 2-bedroom apartments closer to Manhattan.

My priorities were decent sized bedrooms, good closet space, not a tiny living room, and preferably near the R/V subway line (if near the N/W line then also within a 20-minute walk of the R/V line because the N/W line is elevated and in the winter I'd rather have access to the underground line too). Judy wanted it to be within a 5-minute walk from a supermarket, and hopefully near a bustling neighborhood/shopping area.

Well, after only our 3rd day looking (only our 3rd apartment too), we found the perfect apartment. It's equidistant between two of the stations on the R/V line and within a 15-minute walk to the N/W line. It's 3 blocks from a supermarket and busy shopping area. It's got decent sized bedrooms (even though they're smaller than what we've got now, respectively); both with bigger-than-usual closets (though also both smaller than what we've got now) -- and TWO bathrooms (which is kinda weird and superfluous but whatever, I'm not really going to complain).

I'm really shocked we managed to find something that's pretty much exactly what we were looking for, and SO QUICKLY.

You know what's ridiculously funny, though? WE ARE LITERALLY THREE BLOCKS DOWN, ON THE SAME STREET as Maryann!!!

The downside: broker fee. Which, whatever; that's the price of doing business. The long-term downside is significantly higher rent for smaller bedroom space. We're paying for location. I'm absolutely aware of that fact and don't resent it because it's part of what I want. We could try to find a place farther away from the train, like Maryann and AJ, and have a slightly lower rent. But being closer to the train (and closer to the city) is a priority for me, and that's what it's worth.

This does mean, though, that I'm going to have to really cut back on frivolous spending. No eating out, bringing lunch to work, rarely going out for drinks, etc. There's no way I'm going to cut out Rangers games at MSG, but I'm definitely going to stick to a friend's 400 seats because I absolutely cannot afford anything else. I may also have to push back the Berlin trip to the fall and cancel the Vancouver trip altogether for this year. Which is disappointing, but I'm absolutely committed to going to Berlin, especially considering the contributions I received for my birthday toward that trip!!!

I'm not going to discuss game 4 because I was super depressed after the Hawks lost and the night was only saved because Maryann, Cathy, Jethro, Liz and I hung out talking for another hour. =D

ETA: OH YEAH! If you're interested in helping me move on the last weekend of June, there's a free meal in it for ya, just like last time. =D