Ways To Procrastinate, Or: Fanfiction, YouTube, and My Own Private Eucharist

August was such an outstanding reading month for me that I suppose that it should come as no surprise that September finds me in a bit of a slump. My two days off each week are generally Friday and Saturday, and when I'm being good, in between various household chores, I spend those days reading, book and/or travel blogging, enjoying beverages of the adult variety, and watching bad TV with my friend. When I'm being bad, it means that I'm reading fanfiction, watching bad TV on the computer all day long, and consuming almost an entire loaf of freshly baked bread and almost an entire bottle of Bordeaux.

One of the best cheeses ever

Don't judge me, peoples. Bread & wine is a classic combination, and if you happen throw a little salted butter and a wedge of St. Andre cheese into the mix, then it practically counts as a meal.  If it was good enough for Jesus's last meal, it's good enough for me.

It helps that my husband has been away for a few days.  Though I always miss him when he is away, I also kinda like it, because it provides me an opportunity to lapse into my single ways: sloven laziness and an utter disregard for nutrition. The unwashed wineglasses pile up in the sink, I stay up late eating Goldfish crackers, Snickers, hummus, pretzels, cheese, apples, Golden Oreos, After Eight mints, and anything else I have to hand; drink beer, wine, rum, and bourbon;  and sleep until my dogs makes it very clear she has urgent and imminent needs.

Lest you think I'm a total lazeabout, I hasten to add that I multitask, at least while I'm eating and drinking: I played the Google pinata thingy about 50 times, I watched Joss Whedon's genius in the form of Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog, AND I got a little transfixed with Felicia Day (who is one of the stars of Dr. Horrible), making my way through her filmography on Netflix, then scouted for YouTube videos of her either singing or playing the violin (she's actually quite good), THEN working my way through her Flog, which I loved. How was it that other vaguely recognizing her from Season 7 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I didn't suspect her wonderfully geeky existence? Seriously, how adorable is she?

Pretty adorable.

I also watched the first episodes of Portlandia, Breaking Bad, and How I Met Your Mother. I think I really like Breaking Bad and will make encourage my husband to watch the rest with me.  I hear from family and other bloggers that the series finale is coming up soon, so I might as well jump on the bandwagon now.

I also read fanfiction.  Specifically, Harry Potter fanfiction.  More specifically, Hermione/Snape. There's one that's quite good called The Fire and the Rose, where Neville has an accident in potions that causes his cauldron to explode, and the polyjuice potion he was brewing becomes something else entirely: Hermione and Snape find themselves looking like each other, and the effects take months to wear off, not an hour. I usually skim it for the naughty bits but this time I've been reading it straight through.  It's interesting watching Hermione learn how to wield authority like a professor and watching Snape learn how to interact with Harry and Ron without becoming apoplectic. It's a solid piece of fanfiction, better written than average, with a conceit that plays out well. There aren't that many naughty bits--I think they occur in only two chapters--so if the thought of Hermione/Snape leaves you squicked, you could skip them.

Mina, aka The Grey Ghost

Him is the handsomest furry, purr-y, Murray boy, him is. 

Last, but never least, I made sure to spend plenty of quality time with my animules.  For my cats, that means lots of cuddles in bed. For my dog, however, that means going for rides in the car.  She's at her happiest with her nose stuck out the window, and it's the perfect time of year for enjoying a short ride in the car after work. Autumn has always been my favorite time of year and it's the only season in New England I particularly like. September and October are pretty glorious around here:

Looking over the Connecticut River valley, just up the road from my house

And here's Roxie, in all of her glory.  Don't you just love that ear action?  She's a dog, so she likes most things in life.  But of all the things she really likes, riding in cars is at the top of her list:

Roxie in the car

And that, my friends, is how I procrastinated.  All. Weekend. Long.  What did you do?