What did you do on the days you couldn't get on the WD?
- -Got up at 5 a.m. to see visiting friends off on their return trip to Austin
-Tidied house and prepared for Independence Day party (cooking, cleaning, and minding the pool)
-Hosted a kick-ass celebration complete with the best barbecued chicken you've ever had
-Realized one of my cats is either really annoyed by all the company or really sick, as he's peed in five different places that aren't the litter box in the last 72 hours
This is like staying in a hotel. What's your most/least favorite thing about staying in a hotel?
Despite the fact that I worked in hotels for some time and know way more horror stories than the average person, I rather enjoy staying in a hotel room. I almost always get a room with a king-sized bed, and it's wonderful to luxuriate in all that
space, having only a full-sized bed at home. The thing I routinely dislike about hotel rooms is the lighting, because it's always, always, always too dark.
Do anything cool on the 4th of July?
I had friends and family over. It took a bit to get the party started, but once the neighbors in the subdivision behind us started being obnoxious and shooting off awesome firework displays, it revved up. The highlight? Over an hour of the entire guest list playing like carefree children in the pool while brilliant displays showered overhead. Now, where I'm from the breadth and depth of the menu is what defines a party, so here it is: four meats (burgers, hot dogs, brats, and grilled chicken with my homemade BBQ sauce); four salads (stuffed baked potato, cauliflower, cucumber, and chick pea); three desserts (amazing hollowed-out-melon-with-fruit-and-ginger-ale thingie, holiday-themed cupcakes, homemade Heath Bar, and blackberry-chocolate pie); three-cheese fondue with homemade sourdough bread; and more cocktails than you can count.
What do you miss most about the real WD?
The people, and the posts that make me laugh.
Buffy never had a 4th of July episode. What should have happened if there was one?
"By Dawn’s Early Light," set between seasons six and seven
The remaining Sunnydale gang (Buffy, Xander and Dawn) are kicking it at the Bronze’s annual Fourth of July rooftop party, from which they will watch Sunnydale’s fireworks display. Ever prepared, Buffy has a stash of weapons-grade fireworks stuffed imperceptibly on her person, and she notes that she always wanted to try that thing where you shoot a bottle rocket in something evil’s eye like in
Silver Bullet. (Note the idea of blinding someone first appearing here, as it will become a major plot point later in the season.)
On the other side of the roof Anya chats up a recently dumped chick, Betsy Rossman, who says, “I can’t figure guys out. It’s like they lock everything up inside and you have to have a key to get in and figure them out. I wish I had the key.” And boom, Dawn is suddenly sitting with them and is mystically tethered to Betsy.
Willow is depressed to be across the pond on the holiday and is upset that she can’t be trusted on her own. Giles is surprised that she's so homesick on this national holiday, noting that she's particularly against holidays rooted in war and destruction. He offers to try to make her feel less homesick by doing something "American."
Buffy and Xander quickly find Dawn across the roof, and Buffy is (predictably) pissed that Anya has used her sister for vengeance purposes. Meanwhile, an aggressive vampire gang takes over the rooftop. Now Buffy is
really angry, grousing that she can’t have a single holiday that’s not mucked up by some evil afoot; and besides, can’t vampires appreciate independence? (Insert recycled undead American joke here.) The head vampire sneers that they’re Canadian and celebrated earlier in the week, thus ensuring that Xander will make jokes about maple syrup, hockey, and Wolverine for the rest of the episode.
Willow and Giles make pastry together while they have a heart to heart, during which he reminds her that true independence is controlling the magic rather than letting the magic control her.
The horde of attacking Canadian vampires kills Betsy, thereby releasing Dawn from the vengeance spell. Determined to show Buffy she can, in fact, take care of herself, Dawn somehow taps into her mystical energy, glows green, and causes the vamps to apparently implode (Although we later find out they were sent to an alternate dimension.) with her keyness. As the vamps begin to turn in on themselves, they all start shouting, “Eh!”, causing a not-so-smart Buffy to make an inappropriate Fonzie joke.*
Willow and Giles are revealed to have been making the pastry for an apple pie. While Giles eagerly eats the pie and reluctantly admits he misses the creamy goodness of Homemade Vanilla Blue Bell Ice Cream, Willow forlornly shoots sparks out of her finger tips and (badly) hums
Yankee Doodle.
Buffy and Xander marvel at Dawn's green glowy goodness, causing Xander to comment that they were all saved by "Dawn's early light." Buffy is also troubled by this development, but she realizes that Dawn can be an asset in her fight rather than a liability. This, of course, means that she will ultimately wear the amulet to channel her keyness and close the Hellmouth in the finale, thereby allowing Spike to live on.**
*The phrase “jumped the shark” would almost certainly show up at this point, and then we’d have all known what we were in for with season seven.
**I envision a spin-off in which Spike, Clem, Lorne, Groo and other assorted "good" demons move in with me in a sitcom entitled Bradi's Bunch of Baddies, wherein we make plans from our hot tub to fight redneck evil in rural Arkansas. Lyle Gorch is sure to make a guest appearance.
So, the WD's not working. Tell me a really interesting story about what happened. Is was aliens, wasn't it?
I think Sam Spade's on to something with his Elliot Gould theory.