Twitter Short Stories: An Odd Osment Moment

I randomly wrote a short story on Twitter the other day. I was creatively inspired after watching a weird movie on Netflix. It was fun to make these tweets so I might do this again in the future!
























A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE: a reread project – Forward into AGOT – Part 2

SPOILERS AHEAD (don’t read on or click links below if you don’t want to be spoiled) 

Nothing has been curing my brain’s appetite for deep thought quite like G. R. R. Martin’s fantasy-series masterpiece, A Song of Ice and Fire. Lately, I’ve been delving into the ASOIAF Reddit, listening to podcasts (such as Radio Westeros and A Podcast of Ice and Fire), and watching YouTube theories (from awesome people like Preston Jacobs and Alt Shift X).
This is Part 2 of a series of notes/thoughts/observations/etc (HERE IS PART 1). that I’ve been taking as I reread the entire series. I’ve been marking up my book with ink pens and tiny bookmarks as if I were analyzing this for a lit class. I’m sharing it here for fun, and as my small contribution to the fandom.
CAUTION SPOILERS – I am not going to hold back on spoilers going forward. Text from Books 1-5, The Winds of Winter sample chapters, Game of Thrones TV show, The World of Ice and Fire, and anything else I can find will be posted. Do not read on if you do not want to be completely spoiled about everything.
Arya I - Jon Snow and Arya are sitting on a sill and staring down at the other Starks kids and Joffrey and Tommen training down in the yard. Arya asks Jon why he isn't down there with them, and he says, "Bastards are not allowed to damage young princes," he said. "Any bruises they take in the practice yard must come from trueborn swords."

It's interesting when you think through this quote, since Jon, if a Targ, might truly be a prince and Joff and Tommen are truly bastard born from incest.

Also in Arya I is a moment of potential foreshadowing: Arya and Jon are talking about how Arya ran away from her Septa's sewing lesson. Jon says, "The longer you hide, the sterner the penance. You'll be sewing all through winter. When the spring thaw comes, they will find your body with a needle still locked tight between your frozen fingers." To which Arya responds how that isn't fair or funny.

In Tyrion I there's this exchange:


"Oh, yes," Tyrion admitted. "I hope the boy does wake. I would be most interested to hear what he might have to say."
That, to which Tyrion says, "You know how much I love my family." This scene has always stuck out at me because for one thing, Tyrion DOES love Jamie, if not anyone else in his family. I don't think Tyrion would do anything to endanger Jamie. However, I don't understand why Tyrion is having this conversation out in the open.

Jon II has this gem: "Different roads sometimes lead to the same castle. Who knows?" I wonder if Arya will ever see Jon again. In the outline of the entire series that has come out, Jon was once supposed to fall in love with Arya. If Jon became king, it's also possible that Arya could marry someone at his court and live there. Who knows? Hah!

Tyrion II has a few notes: It's interesting to note that Tyrion borrowed a selection of rare books from the Winterfell library (before the library would later burn, that is). That makes him an unlikely keeper of Stark knowledge that might be relevant later. He might know a few secrets about Winterfell or Old God magic.

Turning the page, Tyrion is shown visiting the dragon skulls in King's Landing. Nineteen skulls, and one of them "watched him go." At the end of the chapter, Tyrion is staring at Jon Snow in the same way, with similar descriptions as the skulls.


And that shall close Part 2 of this blog series. I’ve read far beyond, but I don’t want to make these blogs too long. Anyway, thanks for reading, and tell me if I missed anything! Special thanks to http://www.asearchoficeandfire.comfor helping me keep track of chapter names and quotes!

Mac’s El Capitan update is terrible and frustrating


I just wanted YouTube to work on Firefox.

That’s all!

I have so many bookmarks and systems saved to Firefox, that I really did not want to move to Chrome. I love watching Internet videos, though, and the updates I needed FORCED me to update to the new Mac OS, El Capitan.

My videos work now, but here’s everything that has stopped working:

1. My scanner no longer links to my computer directly. My Mac cannot see my scanner. I’ve tried everything. This sucks for me because I use my scanner all the time.

2. Image Capture does not find any of my hardware. Yes, I have Googled this problem and found written solutions, but none of them have worked.

3. Everything is slower. Windows and documents and pictures now take waaaaaaay longer to load. My desktop chugs to try and load icons.

4. I can no longer use calculator at a quick whim. I know there’s this new side-window thing now, but it takes too long to load and the calculator must be clicked to select it.

5. The green circle at the top left corner of my windows now expands everything to fullscreen mode. I hate full screen mode with a passion. So, now, to get my windows to size properly, I have to drag the corners to where I want them. Apple, I hate you.

6. The new Itunes is always awful, but this is getting ridiculous. Somehow, Apple thinks I want to stare at giant icons and album artwork. I don’t! If I wanted album artwork, I would have bought a physical copy of the disk! I want my lists! Itunes is getting worse and worse. Heck, I’ve even downloaded Winamp for Mac… All I need is a new Podcast service, and I’m done with Itunes forever.

7. The new update resets all of the little settings I’ve spent years fine-tuning. Little selections like having crop tools not snap to a grid are all reset back to factory-standard. How annoying this is at every turn!

8. And this one is the most annoying. El Capitan hates my keyboard. I’ve always hated the flat Apple-ified keyboard that comes with the Mac. I need to feel a button press down. Also, I hate wifi keyboards because they are always shotty. I’m a writer; I don’t want to write an entire novel on a crappy flat keyboard or with something that requires a new battery every two hours. I need wired keyboards that have buttons that feel right. So, I use standard keyboards. However, now, every time my screen saver pops up my keyboards goes to sleep and can only be resuscitated by unplugging it and then plugging it back in. It’s so frustrating! I turn my screen off every time I leave, and I have a password lock so that nobody else snoops in it while I’m away. Now, however, I cannot key my password without unplugging and replugging in my keyboard each and every single stinking time. GRAAAH!

Summary: El Capitan is so terrible that I’m pledging right now to make my next (and soon approaching) computer purchase a Windows PC.

Apple, if you find this somehow and want to help me solve these issues and make me reconsider my loyalty to you, please email me at oxyborb@gmail.com