MILES to GO || before I sleep

A few days ago I had a dream that I was relocating a bunch of gold chains (like the thin kinds used for necklaces) from one box to another. They were very shiny but had no pendants on them, and they were pretty tangled up. I looked up the meanings of "gold," "necklace," and "chains," but the meanings were all so mixed I don't know what to make of the dream as a whole.

Also, very much into Smallville now. Very bad, since I should be thinking of WDKY and writing the rest of that, but instead I'm reading lots of Smallville fic (well, what little "good stuff" I can find, and putting up with a lot of mediocre stuff to pass the time while finding "good" things) in-between homework assignments, NSLS stuff, and being sick.

Yeah, I'm sick. Grandpa says I have the flu, but I have yet to get a fever: just a horrible phlegmy cough, lots of body aches, and many, many headaches. It sucks, to put it mildly, especially since flu shots are impossible to find here, regular OR H1N1. Needless to say, I hope I just have the regular flu, if one at all. I've been sleeping it off, mostly, and I do feel better now than I did earlier, but the aches are still present and they make me want to just curl up in bed.

Being sick means that I feel like I'm not getting anything done, even if I should just acknowledge: I really am. I just have MORE to do. Like, I still have DeVry Web Design class homework to finish up (zip and upload, really), stories for my Senior Narrative Seminar to read/write, and 1919 and Johnny Got His Gun to read. Gaah.

I know what it's called (mondegreen) when you mishear the lyrics to a song ("'Scuse me while I kiss this guy"), but what do you call it when you misremember the lyrics? I misremembered a line from Rihanna's "Shut Up and Drive" as "chamois killing machine." WATCH OUT FOR THAT SNUGGIE!

( Long sleep, weird dreams )

I wonder what it all means? (Could me starting to have read Dan Brown's "The Lost Symbol" yesterday have anything to do with it? Hmm...)

I swear to puppy I'm only awake because the AT&T guy is here to change Mom's Earthlink back to AT&T. I'm not their biggest fan, but for landline phone service (which Mom is rather insistent we have because cell phones are Not Reliable in an emergency), they're the only one we can get. Mom's not into digital phone, and if Gary wants to make the switch for his phone line, he's more than welcome to.

Anyway, I woke up a little before the AT&T guy's arrival with a very strange dream-- of the superhero variety. Well, superhero plus hero story. Talk about a crossover that could be epic and could be wanky: Batman meets Iron Man meets Lt. Parker from "Seven Days."

First off, let me disclaim this by saying Steph and I talked about "The Dark Knight" on DVD yesterday, I saw a guy with an "Iron Man" comic on the bus, and I stayed up till 4am last night to watch "Seven Days," one of my favorite old-school (hey, for me 1990s IS old school!) sci-fi programs.

( Heroes clash, heroes crash )

Was there a real plot? Did they all work together, fight, or what? I DON'T EVEN KNOW but just the idea is kind of awesome. SOMEBODY WRITE IT.

...Also, I totally need an icon for at least one of those fandoms.

What is up with these weird dreams I've been having lately? Yesterday was all bad omens, cobras and fat kids in malls attacking me over my cell phone; today was something out of a computer game with me solving a mystery-- reading a spiral notebook (written in green ink; who does that!?) in the boss's office in lousy, disjointed handwriting that said "I BURIED THAT!!" and something about a city, but the "y" was written rather strangely, so I had to turn the notebook upside down-- and this company's name was "Spargo."

Needless to say, I googled that last dream and came up with nothing, so I've either invented a computer game's mystery clue or I should get into the mystery fic-writing business. That's actually more rose_of_pollux's forte, actually...

Anyway, so now that the ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE! part of the school year is over, I feel I can tackle my remaining projects (late or otherwise) with a bit more gusto, and still keep up with my regular assignments, too. In fact, I may just watch my biology lecture TODAY-- a day after last lecture's quiz!

Anyway:
* Submit the week-late Environmental Lifestyle Audit, because the prof. JUST got back to me yesterday with the answers to the questions I posed of her...
* Work on the website for the class I have quickly come to dislike (GWS 350OL - Intersections of Gender, Class, Race, and Sexuality) and my section for it (California Supreme Court and Gay Rights)
* Work on my day-late essay for the aforementioned class on two of our readings on War (more specifically, anti-war)

And then the usuals:
* Watch the new biology lecture, read the chapter (and yes, I do it in that order even though it's considered "backwards"), take extensive notes and, if the quiz is available, take it. Oh, and check for discussion board posts to make.
* Same for geology
* And maybe my outdoor recreation class, too

Other biggies coming soon to a theatre near you:
* Plan a trip to Ocean Beach (bonfire? Oh, isn't that awful?) for my Environmental something-or-other report.
* Environmental Journal for the aforementioned class

Oh, and I have to plan my classes for next semester! Can you believe I've got only 18 units left? Now, theoretically I could take all 18 in one fell swoop, but my limit is honestly 15 units. So what I'm going to do is divide it up with at least one full-time semester of 12 units and one half-time, if I absolutely have to (because there aren't any last-ditch "fun" classes I can take that don't have ridiculous/boring prerequisites). Here's the plan for next semester

* BIOL 100/L (because I'm taking the lecture this semester and my notes kick ass, if I do say so myself, and I do say so myself)

* GEOL 301 (the lab for GEOL 300, second verse, same as the first)

* COMS 309 (oh joy, another communication class. Can you tell why I've been avoiding this class until my senior year? It's either this or math, though. :P)

* JOUR 340 (a Public Relations class just so I can get elective credit. I'm pretty much taking it for shits and giggles and to not be out of Journalism longer than I have to be, lest I forget everything I learned from the hardest and yet somehow most-inspirational professors I've ever had. My Pop Culture class from Japan was only worth 2 units, not 3, which means instead of taking 498 --the senior seminar which you can ONLY take in your final semester-- twice for two different sections --and you can do that, because each 498 is different, and they offer a few every semester-- I have to take another full 3 units and get extra elective credit to make up for ONE bloody missing unit. *sigh*)

* ENGL 416 (Shakespeare Plays! Because yay, Shakespeare!? I'm avoiding British lit until my last semester. Is that bad?)

* MYSTERY CLASS!? One unit, or 3 units if I'm feeling ballsy. Basket-weaving? Yoga? Who knows? (Maybe I should take Judo!? I'd get my ass handed to me, I'm sure.)

But of course, registering for classes is never easy: There's only one section of the Journalism class I need as an elective, and it interferes with the ONE section of the communication studies class that had a "good" professor (I usually don't put much weight in the reviews on RateMyProfessors.com, but when two out of three professors have a majority of AWFUL reviews --and I'm talking at least a class-worth of students, around 30-60 people-- then I'm prone to wanting the "better-rated" teacher of the three.

So I can:
(A) Take the Journalism class so I don't get rusty in Journalism. I'll learn something new --a new aspect of Journalism-- and be taking 3 units that I actually need. I can either take another section of COMS 309 with a lousy professor, or replace it with a "fun" class that I don't need. I'm leaning toward this one mainly because I don't want to be out of Journalism, and there's always a chance that the "good" professor will be available next semester for COMS 309.

(B) Take the Communication Studies class and forego my Journalism classes until next semester, finishing them all (all 2 of them, that is) with a big bang. Then I'll still have to find some other 3-unit class to replace the Journalism one, but it's not as if the Journalism department HAS many courses that count as electives that I haven't already taken. -_-; I'd ask Shapiro if he'd take a T.A. in any of his classes, but that might be asking for trouble....

What to do!? (What makes this more complicated is that I've argued in the past that, if you're serious about a line of study, you'll MAKE room for it in your schedule, not whine that your schedule doesn't fit around the available classes. But neither of these are core classes that I "need" beyond "graduation requirements" --I'd never take them normally, if I had any choice in the matter-- so that argument seems a bit weightless here.)

Another day and I'm here to tell the tale. Well, not a "tale," but at least I'd be here to tell it if there were one. At least I managed to get some sleep last night. The day before that, when I took that sleeping pill (at 7am), I ended up sleeping nearly 12 hours. That was only HALF a sleeping pill, mind you-- actually, there was more painkiller in the pill than there was sleeping aid! But when I took the other half last night, I slept and woke up within a decent amount of hours.

There were a few times when I heard noises and woke up, but generally everything's been the same as the way it was before all this mess happened. Life's moving on, I need to as well.

Last night was the first time I had a weird dream. Normally the sleeping pills mean no dreams for me, but I had a dream that CSUN was on a train (as in, the school itself was a train... or was on wheels, or something like that) and for some reason, there was a hallway from the library that had two laundry machines. They were right up against some long windows, but the windows were kind of dirty and hard to see out of. There was only one washer and one dryer-- nothing fancy, just the plain ol' white ones you see everywhere. I dreamed I put some laundry in and then went to get my basket, but got lost-- clearly it wasn't just the CSUN's main library on wheels, it was some kind of dream labyrinth. I started to feel sick and went to find the bathroom, and even though I thought I did, when I looked around, I was in a regular train seat, complete with people across the aisle in front of me! I was petrified! I had to get up and find my laundry machine! But then I woke up.

...Very strange. No doubt somehow related to last night's horrific news that two trains collided not too far from my house-- a Metrolink train and a freight train. Already 18 people are dead, over 100 are injured, some in critical condition, and the news reports are saying it's because the Metrolink engineer failed to see the red light on the track. Bzuh? Like my mom suggested when she called this morning, aren't there supposed to be back-up procedures for that sort of situation?

Anyway, since I slept almost all day yesterday, today I'm hoping to get some more card-replacement done. I'm trying to get my life back on track and normal.

If there's any good thing that's come out of this, it's that now I can channel the feeling of "uselessness," and "powerless" into WDKY26. It's bizarrely good timing, considering the chapter content. You know me, I always try inject a bit of emotional realism into my fics, and now WDKY26's going to get it.

Dad called the locksmith that charged us $1500, and they sent a digital invoice so we could clearly see what was so expensive-- each lock was $250. I certainly don't remember anyone (either the estimate agent or the actual locksmith) telling us it would cost that much, and I'm pretty sure if someone had told Grandpa that, I would have heard him yell "WHAT!?" instead of it just happening and us finding out after the fact (and Grandpa "blaming" it on me, as if I asked for the most expensive lock). Hopefully we can either get it covered by the homeowner's insurance or the company can negotiate a lower price, considering the circumstances. Even with all this extra brou-ha-ha, I don't necessarily feel safe in my own home.

I'm hungry.

Last night I went out with Mel, Nancy, our advisor Vicki, and Joe B from NSCS to meet the Scholar Ambassadors who are "in town" (more like "in the region," because they're visiting a ton of schools in the SoCal area in a matter of days), so we went to the Elephant Bar in Burbank and had a rather nice dinner (Shanghai Cashew Chicken, garlic bread, and Apple/Blueberry Walnut Cobbler for me) and some very looooong conversations about everything from ethics and integrity to the sad and sorry state of "my" generation, which has a vast majority of students who have "entitlement issues."

Rewind a bit: on my way to meet Nancy and Joe (because we were carpooling to Burbank), I was right near one of the Science Buildings (the one with the planetarium in it; I can't remember which one that is off the top of my head, because I haven't had science classes IN YEARS) and I felt like I was about to bump into someone. As I was turning my head, I saw this movement of not-quite-white-- you know, almost a florescent bluish color? It looked like a skirt or a scarf tied to the side of someone's hip or something. By the time I finished turning completely, whatever "it" was was gone-- and there was no one (no lamp posts either) anywhere NEAR me.

I think I saw a ghost.

O_O It wouldn't surprise me, really-- I mean, I kind of "sense" stuff already (and you can call me crazy, it wouldn't be news), and I'm pretty damn skilled with my Tarot cards, if I do say so myself (and so I've been told by others-- I have done readings for others, never for a charge, and even without knowing the question they're asking, apparently the cards and the way I interpret them is always spot-on).

( Read more... )

Moving forward again, yesterday all the discussions reminded me of one of Yakko's songs from the Animaniacs. I struggled last night to remember some of the lyrics, and at last, I remembered the whole first verse and chorus... well, here's the song, for your nostalgic enjoyment:



That reminds me, I should get an Animaniacs icon. I've filled up almost all my icon slots, but so many of them just have such RARE uses... I'd like more "general" icons that are fun and can be used at any time. Like the one I'm using now. :D

That said, a few more random blurbs:
(1) I finally got approved to build the Star Ocean 3 shrine at RPGClassics! Yes, I'm biting off more than I can chew again and I know it, but I'm so excited! I've already built the Items page and am working on that now-- I figure since there's more text throughout the shrine, I'll finish that first and then worry about ripping images from the game using my EyeTV. You'll be sure to hear more about this as I progress.

(2) My laptop is STILL acting weird-- if I close the lid and it goes to sleep and is "sleeping" for more than 30 minutes or so, when I open the lid, the screen will flicker as if I can resume work, but then it'll go black and then not turn on. The keyboard will be responsive, but the screen still won't go back on. If I close the lid again, the keyboard becomes unresponsive. Battery and power-swapping tricks have failed to work, and often when I restart the computer, I'll get the loading screen (the Apple icon with the "wheel" timer) and then a light blue screen-- sort of like the default desktop (which I don't have set), but then nothing else loads for over 10 minutes. It's very frustrating and I don't know what to do, and when I took it to the Apple store Genius Bar to try and replicate the error, I couldn't! Any suggestions?

The only reason why I am awake at 6:18am on the first day of school is NOT because of an ungodly early class (though 9:30am is bordering on it, for me) or because of work... I woke up from a nightmare, though not what I'd have expected.

I watched "Fast Food Nation" last night when I got home, and I expected with all the yuck to be dreaming about beheaded cows or blood or something. Nope, nope, none of that. I didn't even have the stereotypical first-day-of-school dream where you show up to school naked and don't realize it until everyone's looking and laughing at you.

( The very warped mind of Mer... cut for some frank descriptions of gory stuff )

Anyway, judging by the early email edition of the Sundial, my first article about the renovated Matador Bookstore complex got successfully copy-edited (they didn't ask me to come in, which can either mean they loved it or they canned it-- glad to know it was the former) and is in the topmost news section (second article, because murders always take precedence)! *squee!* I wonder where it is in print?

Keep up with my articles by checking out http://sundial.csun.edu!

Ugh, gotta try going back to sleep.

( Penned at 6am )

Besides that, my right wisdom tooth is hurting. Either it's "really good" (sarcastic) timing, considering I'm scheduled to get my teeth out on the 24th (DAY AFTER SCHOOL STARTS!!! AUGH!), or it's psychological, and if the latter, I'm hoping to distract myself enough today to not think about how weird it feels (and how it hurts). It feels like I have a Skittle stuck in the upper right corner of my mouth.

For those of you that have already had your wisdom teeth out, what did you eat in the days afterward? I was thinking yogurt will probably be safe, but I'm one of those people who doesn't like to eat the same thing too many times in a given period, so I need a bit more of a variety. Okay, yogurt, oatmeal, Cream of Wheat, soup... any other suggestions?

I have 10 more icon slots available, and every now and again, I find myself saying, "I need icons from Z fandom!" and then I promptly forget what those fandoms are. But right now, I totally want to make some for the Secret Society Girl books! :D I already have a few for Meg Cabot's "The Mediator" series on azurite (formerly known as Delishidoodle), so maybe I should finish them up and make a whole big collection of book-inspired icons!

I have yet to hear back from the book publisher whose internship got me all excited-- basically, I want to know what the positions I was interested in entailed, and who to address my cover letter to. The deadline is August 31, so assuming they don't get back to me but I still want to make deadline, does anyone have any suggestions for what to say in my cover letter, or how to find the hiring manager's name (or address the cover letter some other way besides "To whom it may concern" or "Dear Sir/Madam")? I'd appreciate any help I could get...

Possibly going to hang out with Shawn (squee?) later today; maybe the Bourne Supremacy will be back at Blockbuster? That and I want to play more FFX, since I have many more fiends to capture, weapons to customize, and Gil to get. :D

Even in San Francisco, the weird dreams find me. I know at least one dream had something to do with Sailor Moon, but that's unsurprising considering all the videos of that I was watching on YouTube last night.

But then for some reason I dreamed I looked at the Yu-Gi-Oh TCG instruction book, and because I hadn't stayed up to date with it, everything had changed-- WInd-element monsters became "Dust" type, for some weird reason, and the icon changed from a Japanese kanji to something that looked like a turtle shell. Also, the trap card icon changed to something that looked like a turtle-shell-shield, and it wasn't called "trap," it was called something (possibly a fake word) that looked like a cross between Briarary and Bestiary. And Ritual cards were called the same thing, even though their icon looked the same (sort of like fire, right?)

Anyway, today is INDEPENDENCE DAY (and man, I want to watch ID4. :D) and I'm going out to meet ... whoever (not sure who, lots of people! Friends!) at the Pier for dinner, fireworks, and who the hell knows what else. Yay for going out and freezing my tits off...!

What? I'm feeling vulgar this morning.

Okay, another weird dream. ( And I mean weird. )

You Are A Green Girl

You feel most at home in a world of ideas. You're curious and logical - and enjoy a good intellectual challenge. You're super cool, calm, and collected. Very little tries your patience. Your only fear? People not realizing how smart and able you are!

( ETA: dragonfayth, dreams, food, mentality )


Which Egyptian God are you? Find out at egypt_stamping
Sorry, Obelisk the Tormentor and Slifer the Sky Dragon are not valid Gods and will not be used in the results.

Two cans of Coke is beyond my daily norm (heck, because CSUN is a Pepsi campus, *ONE* can is beyond my norm, but Joyce gave me a bunch before I left San Diego), and I think the sugar gave me some freaky dreams last night after I happily went to sleep post-Trema and Paragon.

I remember being in some sort of boat (open air, sort of small, like a canoe) when all of a sudden this giant rocket-thing (looked a bit like a space shuttle) came hurtling down. Everyone in my boat knew it was going to explode, so they were trying to get away as soon as possible, but there were other boats in the water-- one of which looked a bit like a cable car boat, except with lots of kids in it. I wanted them to at least warn the kids in the boat so they could get away, but everyone was so frantic, they didn't. The motion of the boat dumped me out anyway, so I swam to the boat to warn them, but everyone in the boat was Chinese (I think), and didn't speak English. And the moment I grasped onto the side, the rocket exploded.

I woke up briefly in that same boat-- everyone had survived somehow, but still no one recognized me or could help me. When I woke up again, I was on a BUS, this time with people who could speak and understand English (mixed races, this time), but I had this weird feeling that something bad had happened-- like, it wasn't just that I lost my memory (because I knew that had happened-- funny, how you can KNOW you've lost your memory, right?), but that I'd somehow gone "back" to the wrong time and/or place.

I remember sorting through my stuff and thinking so many of my things must be missing/got blown up or whatever, but bit by bit, I started to find things that seemed to say I wasn't in the past, trying to muck my way up to the future, but I was in the future, but I didn't know how far! I remember calling my mom and being surprised by how ambivalent she was-- it was like she didn't care too much that I'd been "missing" or had amnesia or anything. Or maybe that was just because of what I DIDN'T remember that I thought that way.

And there was a guy who came to help me (or something), and he seemed to care for me a lot (but I didn't recognize him), but I didn't know who he was or where we'd met or anything. But I still really appreciated SOMEONE showing some care and interest, and he helped me start to sort things out. And I remember opening up my MacBook Pro (thinking, "it shouldn't be here" for some reason) and looking at the Dock and noticing two weird, oddly-spaced icons, very shiny, that I'd never seen before.

And then I woke up, because the smoke/carbon monoxide detector downstairs was demanding new batteries.

Not sure where the rocket bit came from, but the time traveling may have come from my own head-- a fic idea I've been plotting for FFX-2 for some time. And obviously, having just played FFX-2, it's no surprise that I was thinking of it before/when I was sleeping. Still, the rest of it is very odd, and I wonder if it means anything?

I think I must have slept something like 14+ hours last night. I got home from work shortly after 7:15pm, and because my shoulder (and stomach) were hurting, the first thing I did was take my Darvocet and Levsin. I sat in front of the computer doing a few more backdated entries for 2002 (oh, the nostalgia) and then decided to read my latest Newsweek. About 75% through the issue, I couldn't focus anymore, so I turned off my light and decided to "take a nap." I put that in quotes because, while I had every intention of waking up again at 10:15pm to have a late dinner and maybe get some other stuff done, instead I ignored said alarm clock and went right back to sleep.

I woke up again around 1am to go to the bathroom, and it occurred to me that while I'd taken my night pills, I forgot to wash my face. :P Bad, bad idea. But I was just SO exhausted, I couldn't even imagine standing in place for five minutes to do that, so I collapsed when I went right back to bed. And now I'm up now at 7:40am. Not exactly perky-awake, and I'm still a bit sore, but at least I have my physical therapy appointment at the Klotz center later. Maybe after that (since the appointment is at 10:30am and I have no class again until 2pm), I can either head home or go to WaMu and talk to them about a bank credit card, to see what they offer.

That said, I had a weird dream that (as some dreams do) may inspire fanfiction. Let me preface this by saying I don't believe I've ever written Disney fanfic. Not for Little Mermaid, not for Beauty and the Beast, etc. But I had this weird pair of ideas revolving around the latter, and maybe someone can slap me upside the head and either tell me they're junk, they've been done before, or what the hell am I still doing in Yu-Gi-Oh, write those fics!

( Tale as old as... er, last night )

Yesterday when I was helping someone at work I saw an article on Yahoo! (as in, the main Yahoo page, not search results or another page) about internships, but when I tried to find it myself, I couldn't! And trying to do a internships site: yahoo.com search produced plenty of results, none of which I think were the article I'd seen. Does anyone have suggestions on how to find things like that?

I also heard from Scott via email-- if he's reading this, dude, are you fountain_the? I'm dying to know here, since the birthday matches, but there's no user info, there are no entries... I wanted to help him get started with an LJ (so he doesn't have to be clicking CC: to a million emails), but I don't want to pay for an LJ if it's NOT someone I know! So come forward, yo! Say some sort of secret phrase to confirm your identity or something. :P

All that said, I think I'll try and get back to sleep and hope the pain in my shoulder wears off... I've been careful not to wear my laptop-loaded purse on that side, but still, even an "evenly-balanced" backpack causes it to hurt. Just what I need, pinched nerves AND Sciatica. I think if I save up, I can get a monthly massage at the Student Health Center so I can avoid all this! (Maybe.)

I'm almost done with my 2002 FreeOpenDiary entries, and I'm going to poke into my old Greymatter ones soon too, so if you ever wanted to know what I wrote like back when I was an emo high schooler... *laughs* Well, it's all there. I'll do a recap entry of my favorites when I finish, but until then, happy hunting (should you be so inclined)!

Okay, I *JUST* woke up from a set of really weird dreams. It's 6 in the morning here on Labor Thanksgiving Day here in Japan. No classes or EC, so yay to that, but it's cold and I have lots to do, anyway.

So, let's see, here are the snippets of dreams I remember:
-Going to see a movie with someone (Scott?) and watching a movie about dragons. Not Eragon, which I know is/was out in the States and is coming soon here to Japan, but something similar. I just know it wasn't Eragon. And there was a preview for a new Quentin Tarantino movie which I remember distinctly, for a "Kill Bill" sequel of sorts-- only more like a prequel, because it was all about Lucy Liu's character, and when the big red words "LUCY" and then "LIU" appeared, everyone freaked out and the crowd in the theatre went wild. And then JET LI was in it "as himself," but really as Lucy Liu's boyfriend/lover, only something had happened to him while he was separated from Lucy, so he was bald but had a scar on the upper right of his head... where a THIRD EYE popped out when he willed it. And when this eye opened all the way, it was the size of a sand-dollar (and I mean that LITERALLY, not in that figurative sense) and very snake-like looking. I remember there being some sort of "vortex" scene transition effect, and the viewers all got sucked into the eye as Jet Li told Lucy Liu his story. Either part of the preview or part of the movie itself ("sometime in the not so distant future..."), Uma Thurman was back and shooting the hell out of Lucy Liu's apartment. Apparently this was when she was trying to live a semi-normal-looking life-- not Miss Queen of the Japanese Underworld. And Uma had to retreat, leaving Lucy to both clean up the mess of her apartment (before her little ol' landlady, a mean bitch in her own right, found out) and explain things to Jet Li. And Jet Li apparently got Uma to run away by throwing a full-sized vacuum at her. o_O;

-I also had a dream involving me talking to my dad, which isn't that far from what I sort-of planned; I was going to either email him or call him today/tomorrow and ask him for a bit of financial help, since, well... he's not helping me out directly here in Japan. I did tell him how Mom helped me with the cell phone bill, but not to guilt-trip him or anything; I told him because a) I do not lie and b) he asked what was up, and at the time I called, that particular situation had been stressing me out. (Of note is the fact that dad CLAIMED he called my Skype number numerous times and left voicemails, but I never saw them. Skype WAS buggy, but even when I missed calls or got new VMs, it notified me. I don't know if he's tried to call since --I called him a few days ago-- but I have never seen any calls/VMs from Dad.) Anyway, the dream oddly took place back at 523B Webster back in Petaluma (*sniffles* I was getting a bit nostalgic about it during yesterday's EC in 4th period. We were talking about fruits, and I mentioned how my backyard there had a blackberry hedge, a plum tree, AND a strawberry box. We also had an avocado tree, tomatoes, and some hot peppers), I remember being in the bathroom pacing and telling Dad all these reasons why I needed him to be a bit more of a presence in my life. I remembered that "Why a Daughter Needs a Dad" book (on my Amazon wishlist :P) and then thinking "I should probably shut up and not say things that I don't know for sure," such as "I want to get married soon, and if you're not part of my life, who will give me away?" because yeah, presumptuous much? (But like I said, I don't lie... I have been thinking about it. A little.)

Maybe it's not so unusual after all, but it was enough to get me up and typing here, so... yeah. (Well that plus it was FREAKING COLD in here -maybe 13 C/55F?- and my roommates mysteriously left ALL the kitchen lights on AGAIN...)

Anyway, I wanna go back to sleep. :P My stomach doesn't hurt as much anymore, but I do want to rest as much as I can today, so that later on when I *DO* have to be awake, I can be gung-ho about all that I have left to do... which, frankly, IS A LOT.

I do hope I can get ahold of Joyce and family (I wanna know if my flowers made it already) and also Scott and family, if possible (because I sent his mother flowers, too). I would feel guilty about not having arranged to have sent Mom something, except she had the most expensive Christmas present out of everyone, and I already sent it to her. And yeah, I'm BROKE now, so it's not like I could have afforded it, anyway.

Okay, so I actually have woken up at a relatively reasonable hour, all things considered. I woke up from a weird dream, but at least I know where all the weirdness came from...
1 - Evamquence (no, not Evanescence) was the name of this horror television series (or movie) in my dream. I'm guessing my brain just butchered the spelling of Evanescence.

2 - scary white monsters with the ability to regenerate in under 4 minutes (when the previous record was 8!) -- probably a mix of the whole "Silent Hill" parody of littlekuriboh's that I saw, plus memories of the BBC series "Hex." I hated the way they ended Hex and stopped watching it-- the memories of "Hex" came from seeing someone do an LJ layout for the series. Maybe the monsters were "Evamquence"?

So even though I woke up completely aware of me having dreamt something, and even knowing where the stimuli for said dream came from, I still feel unsettled.

Worse, I'm still kind of tired, even though I know I got "enough" sleep. When it's cold, you want to snuggle into some blankets and be warm. When it's hot, all you want to do is be lethargic, because moving around in heat just makes you pass out anyway. There's no winning.

I think I'm going to try making French Toast.

Edit: I thought I was actually downloading the Death Note movie (part 1), in preparation for going to see part 2, which comes out Friday (yay for days off)! But no, the super-clear DivX-encoded 1 hr 55 minute feature was... porn. Japanese school girl porn. Yuck. I'm sorry to all you guys who get off on that sort of thing, but I have nothing but pure loathing for those girls, especially when I wanted to see an actual MOVIE with some SENSE behind it. GRR!

Also, heard back from BBapply about my credit card mysteriously being rejected by Softbank... try again! Will do, and then pay at convenience stores if that doesn't work. Still haven't heard from a few other places yet (Adobe, PPP), and I still need to return the BBTV box. ;_; I keep getting the Paper View (yes, that's what it's called) guide to BBTV, and it makes me want to watch! Alas, no video input for Mer. *sniff*

Just as Grandpa and I were coming home, a champagne-colored sedan squealed around the corner of Superior and Wystone. Two guys immediately emerged from said sedan, which came to a rough, immediate stop at the house on the right corner of Superior and Wystone, one block and on the same side of the street as my house. Said guys came out with guns drawn, and said "Freeze! Put your hands up!" to the three or four guys outside of a red pickup truck, driver's side door open. My first thought was "Oh, some college guys are pulling a prank." Seriously. I thought they were just messing around.

But Grandpa didn't think so, and he purposely drove down a further street, taking the long, roundabout way home. When I got home, I wanted to check out what was going on, but when I got out of the car, all I saw was the sedan still pulled next to the pickup, both the doors still open, and I couldn't see any people-- presumably they'd gone into the house.

I think it was a drug bust! :O! Wow.

I've been on a theme song binge lately-- I got two versions of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer theme song (the original, by the Nerf Herders, and the cover, by The Breeders), and the Seasons 1-3 and Season 4 themes of Alias. I want the Season 5 remix of the Alias opening song, but I can't find it! GRR! Can anyone point me in the right direction? I'd like the long version, if possible.

Speaking of Alias, this 2nd to last episode wasn't too bad. I was screaming at the TV the whole time, of course. :D I'm just glad Vaughn's alive. Sark made me laugh (he sounds so sexy when speaking Italian. Or maybe it was the Italian that sounded sexy, and he just looked good doing it), and it looks like the finale will really be the end-all-be-all (without killing everyone off or without making it too ambiguous) with LOTS of old characters returning for a guest appearance. It's a shame they had to kill off Nadia and Renée the way they did, but alas! Such is life in the spy biz.

Better news! I got an A- on my English paper which I stayed up till 2am working on. I'm thrilled! :D I'm not so sure about my latest editorial for journalism, but it's the profile due next Wednesday that I really have to get cracking on. guardian_kysra, are you free to be annoyed this weekend?

I've also managed to finally get Thunderbird links to open in FF, but who knows how long that'll last? I only wish I could use the HTML form for replying to comments... but for whatever lame reason, TB misinterprets them, and LJ thinks there's no POSTID. Feh.

twilighteyes8120 updating her SxA piece "Mixing Business With Pleasure" has got me itching to finish up WDKY-- that and my sudden obsession with trailers. Yes, trailers. So I'm thinking of trying my hand at "AMVs" that aren't really, literally AMVs. I'd do Flash instead, which means people could view them embedded in webpages. I'd like to do one each for WDKY, CO7, and ED, but the question is... what do people want to see trailers of? WDKY's already been out for 2 years now, so people doubtless don't want to see trailers of things that have already happened. Also, the trailers would be entirely musical/textual. I don't have the time/energy to do/find voice clips, let alone appropriate ones, so that's why these trailers would be closer to AMVs. So here comes the fun part:
If you could pick ANY chapter of WDKY (up to 3) to influence a WDKY trailer AMV, which one(s) would you pick? You can pick chapters that have already come out, chapters I've hinted at/mentioned, or random numbers. Assuming the art isn't too hard to pull off, I could (and will) do it.
CO7 and ED are different matters altogether, and those are things I'll be storyboarding on my own time.

Music suggestions are also welcome, but I already have some ideas.

( My room smells like corn chips, so I'll light an incense. But if I get another freaky dream, I'm switching incense brands. )

I had a weird dream last night/this morning. I get the feeling I've had the dream before, but I don't know from when or where. I should have written it down when I woke up, and it was more vivid, but I stupidly dismissed it as too weird. I remember there being a gang of people on motorcycles/scooters, but instead of the "leader" being in the front of the group, s/he was in the back (there might have been 2 leaders, one male, one female). They all had one intensely bright headlight on their motorcycles as they drove past -during what looked like overcast daylight- a rest stop of some sorts, like the kinds right off a highway.

For whatever reason, I (whoever "I" was) was coming out of the wooden building, and I got shot in the leg. I remember stumbling around and screaming profanities at the idiots, something like they'd ruined something and they didn't understand (or was that the female leader yelling that at ME?) and then I wasn't in a rural rest stop any more, but in a police station. o_o; There's something important that I'm forgetting too...

I tried to close my original PayPal account yesterday, which spells the end of a long time (3+ years, I think) of account history, my Verified status and good Buyer reputation... but it needs to be done. They can't change the name on the account from my mom's (I opened it under her name when I first bought something off eBay when I was 16-17) to mine. But I had both my anzu.kaiba email and my account/routing info already attached to that account, so before I can add that info to my NEW account (under my name), I have to wait for this measly $1 transaction (to AnimeMusicVideos.org) to go through from my bank account, and THEN close the original account. Then I can add my bank account to my NEW account, which so far has only my new gold MasterCard (WaMu switched from Visa. I guess if the cards DO the same thing, essentially, I have no reason to complain, except that I have to set up Auto-Pay for the new card number) and my anzu.kaiba email.

To Do List:
1 - WalMart. Yes, spawn of evil, seat of darkness... also a good place to get cheap home fixings, such as compressed air, electronic dusting spray, switch and socket faceplates, and possibly frames and nails for the pictures and mirror we need to re-hang in the rec room bathroom.

2 - Clean room. Ever since I moved the computer up there (Did I not mention it? I did it the other night! Aside from some insanity with the wireless adapter last night -which I hope does NOT continue- everything works out great) my room's been a mess, because I had to clear off my desk to make room for the Mega-Monitor. I'd save up to get a flat screen LCD monitor, but why? I'll be leaving in September anyway, and if Grandpa gets himself a laptop -or if *I* get one, what's the point?

3 - Custom air filter. I don't know what was wrong with the one we had, but Dad knows more about it than I do. Now I have to find a place that MAKES them!

4 - Papers! That is, English paper (on Kate Chopin's "The Storm"), Women Writers of Asia paper (on Banana Yoshimoto, Naoko Takeuchi, Kazuki Takahashi, and Novala Takemoto/some other male Japanese contemporary fiction writer), and a Journalism editorial... of which I have a few ideas, ranging from the rudeness/disgusting habits of students these days to complaints "from the other side of the desk," i.e. from the people like me that spend all day helping people fix THEIR computer problems. There's also the profile that's due by the end of May, which I hope to do on Kysra. I think I'll formulate some questions now and email them to her... er, if I can remember her email. o_o

What else? Ah, yes, I'd love to actually WRITE MY DAMN FICS, GET SOME ICONS MADE (need inspiration! Styles! Trends!), PLAY SOME VIDEO GAMES, take a bath surrounded by incense, candles, and pikake bath crystals, work on my webpages, and probably a ton of other things I'm forgetting. *brain massage*

guardian_kysra, thank you! ^^ Yesterday after you suggested I invoke/pray to St. Anthony, I did just that-- and not a few hours later, Mom called to tell me she found my deck box right where I dreamed I'd left it! So she's going to send it to me soon, along with a bunch of my manga. :3

Something that's been annoying me
* People calling Priest Set(o) "Seth." For the billionth time, "Seth" is a Hebrew name. According to ancient history, the Jews/Hebrews and the Egyptians have never gotten along. There's also a controversy in regards to whether or not there really were slaves. I don't mean whether there were Hebrews there or NOT-- I mean that our idea of slaves =/= the Egyptian idea of slaves.

So even if there were "slaves" around at that time in Egypt (and also of note is the fact that neither 3,000 nor 5,000 years ago are accurate representations of the Egypt shown in Yu-Gi-Oh. Yes, the years cited are "canon," but they're not historically accurate. And since there's no "th" sound in Japanese NOR are there any hieroglyphic representations of Kaiba's past life name, we have NO WAY OF KNOWING what his name "truly" was other than what Takahashi told us, historically out-of-whack or not) Seto's father was a high priest- and brother to the former Pharaoh. Even if his wife was a "slave" or a "Hebrew," Akunadin would have had another, main wife who was Egyptian-- and she would have borne him sons that would inherit his property and duties. But afaik, Seto is the only child, and he was born to a high, esteemed life. It's unlikely that he was a slave's son.

During pharaonic times no slave markets seem to have existed. But even if slavery was never as pervading in Egypt as it was to be in other ancient societies, such as the Greek or Roman, it appears that slaves were traded widely from the New Kingdom onwards.

In Yu-Gi-Oh, it's said that Atemu's reign/the start of the AE arc takes place during the 18th Dynasty/VERY beginning of the New Kingdom (c. 1550-1295 BCE). But the original manga and anime says 3,000 (considering the series started in 1996, that would be about 1004 BCE) years ago, while the dub opted for 5,000 years (c. 3004 BCE) ago. Who the hell knows why?

Something I noticed was that, AE plot aside, the idea of a Pharaoh being erased from existence certainly rings a bell. Amenhotep IV/Akhenaten, anyone? But he ruled from c. 1332-1336 BCE. He may have been Tutankhamun's (King Tut)'s father, but we don't know for sure.

To put it in a nutshell, "Seth" is a Hebrew name; the character we see in Yu-Gi-Oh (based on his, his father's, and his cousin's/Atemu's established past) is thoroughly Egyptian. Pharaohs and even high priests tended to have multiple names, all Egyptian. Even if somewhere WAY THE HELL DOWN THE LINE Seto had some Hebrew lineage, his current family line would NOT acknowledge it. His name would most certainly not be Hebrew, especially if he's considered the next in line for the throne if something were to happen to Atemu (which he is).

By the way, this is coming from someone with a strong Jewish lineage herself. Passover (the celebration of the Hebrew exodus from Egypt) always squicks me, because it's based on traditions passed down from thousands of years ago that may have been rooted in misunderstanding! Just like this whole crazy name thing. Call him Set (because there's a supposed interview in which Takahashi says that Seto's name was based off that of the god, who, if you some research, was NOT a nice guy. Even compared to Death-T!minty-fresh!Kaiba) or call him Seto, but don't call him Seth. -_-; He's not Jewish.

Onward and upward.

I've decided to restart Project: Sailor V. Tokyopop/Mixx lost its right over Sailor Moon. Del Rey/Kodansha is showing no signs of picking up the manga release. Is Takeuchi still having issues with Toei? But that's an anime thing, not a manga thing. In any case, the Sailor V manga has never been properly, accurately, and nicely scanlated.

I don't like quitting on good ideas. I didn't really have the means, motivation, etc. to work on the manga before, but I sure as hell can now. I have PSCS, a good grasp of Japanese, and there are already textlations out there (by Alex Glover). Other projects include:

* getting ahold of the Infinity Artbook's 20 page parody manga, as it was never hosted on mahoushoujo.net, and of all the other places with the Infinity artbook, none of them seem to have it as well. I wish I could find a place that was selling the actual book; for once I would actually pay the astronomical price for it, even though it was never intended to garner a profit. But its rarity is what makes it worth the $300+ price tag. I'd also like to do "embedded" translations, a'la the Materials Collection, if that's possible, and translate what all the people wrote in the artbook.

* translating the Parallel Sailor Moon manga from the back of the Sailor Moon: Materials Collection artbook. It's already been scanned by Sailor Venus, but not translated. The materials collection has been partially translated at The Oracle, up to the Sailormoon S movie/Luna turns into a human arc. I'd like to finish what The Oracle didn't, and get the rest down. This includes liner notes from the back of the book.

* scanlate the Yu-Gi-Oh! Gospel of Truth character guide. False Memories hasn't scanlated this, and Jenniyah is about as unreliable as it gets when it comes to well-translated, available scanlations. I've already done bits and pieces here and there; if I had a team of fans to help me out with editing and translating, I could easily do the entire book. (This is less of a project_sailor_v thing and more of a Yu-Gi-Oh fan thing, but I'd hate to start a new Y!G for no reason. PSV could be considered my Scanlation Group! :P)

* Yu-Gi-Oh! R ... was already started by False Memories, and possibly another group (not sure), but they never finished the whole volume. Janime.info has summaries, but that's never enough! The reason why I like R! so much is for it having Anzu as the only one in danger, which adds to the tension and drama with her (and the other boys!). Kaiba also gets some good duels in. The problem is, it took me forever just to find Volume 1 in stores when I was in Japan, and the manga is serialized in a monthly Shonen Jump magazine called "V-Jump" which is just as impossible to find. If there were a way for me to find Vol. 2 (if/when it comes out), I'd say yes to this immediately...

Everything else
* Update the Animanga Collision eFiction installation
* Update Dragonfayth (and later, Animanga Collision's) mods
* Update the various skins; see if I can get WritingPlus from Calic0cat so I can make a speshul skin based off pgsm-fanfiction.net's silhouette skin, which I like oh-so-very-much!
* Link to all these amazing SM sites I've been finding lately
* Update or write some Sailormoon fic, because I wanna
* Write a guide for Sailor Moon: Another Story, because there don't seem to be any definitive sites for it anymore (with images, media, etc.)
* Remember the Midis: I used to love SM midis. I want them back! :O Was there ever a SM:AS midi site? I seem to remember so. I'd love that OST. I need more Sailormoon albums. I miss my Orgel Fantasia! ;_;
* Finish WDKY23 (it's almost done~!)

( It's not goodbye, it's 'We'll see you soon!' ... and more weird dreams. )

HEY, MAMONO! ONLY 3 MORE MONTHS UNTIL YOUR BIRTHDAY! (thought I forgot, didn'tcha?)

Just a quick entry before I dash off to Mythology and my usually-busy Wednesday... I think I may have figured out the whole next-semester's classes thing. Aside from the usual Journalism and Japanese language classes I mentioned before, the class that I need to take for Study Abroad needs to be Japanese/Asian-studies, involing philosophy, politics, art, culture, religion, or history. I found AAS 210, which would fulfill Section D of my Lower-Div GEs, works as an Asian History course for Study Abroad, and would probably count toward the Journalism Department's 80/65 rule, as it's a Humanities-type class. I checked out the other class the Japanese department chair recommended to me (aside from FLIT 455, which does nothing for my GEs, even the upper division ones -I think- or my minor), HIST 493, and it's at a ridiculous time of night and it doesn't seem to fulfill any upper-division GEs either! Surprising...

So unless I find some other alternative, AAS 210 it is! (It's taught online, too!)

I managed to get a good chunk of WDKY22 done last night, and with some luck, you'll be seeing it on betasquad within the next couple of days. I think I'm moving too fast for any betas, though! ;_; Alas, everyone is so busy with their IRLs that they can't spare me a glance! *frets* S'no big deal. :P

And now for the weird:
(1) I went to bed just after 3am this morning, which is a bit standard for me, considering I'm nocturnal and proud of it. I was still trying hard to distract myself from traitorous, brain-bleach-worthy thoughts of him, so I read lots of Hermione/Draco (thanks a_white_rain for reminding me of my HP OTP!) fics and worked on other things.

Well, I was surprised to see my light blinking on my phone. I thought to myself "Yeah, you wish it was Scott, but it probably wasn't. It was probably Mom. I should call her," but when I checked my missed calls, it WAS Scott. And he even left a voice message... not very coherent, if you ask me, but he mentioned something that does disturb me a little: back when we were together, I let him use me as a subject of some of his photo shoots. I don't mind most of the pictures, but some I'd rather NOT be put into a show, let alone sold to some stranger. If it's one without my face, then I'm fine, but otherwise... >_> I think I have the right to ask him not to do something like that without my permission, right? I mean, even if I let him take the picture of me, I didn't think it would go outside of his classroom!

Yeah, well he also mentioned some random things about wondering how I was and yadda yadda, and I'm really trying hard not to care, but I'm wondering if I'm coming off as a bit of a bitch. I tried to imagine telling him what's bothering me, and knowing him, he would just say something that would upset me, like "Well, maybe we just shouldn't hang out anymore." We hardly "hang out" as it is, but him forcing himself to stay away from me when he COULD and probably SHOULD see me would rightfully upset me, just because I see no point in me getting so stressed (ah, acne!) and upset over it. He's leaving, I don't know when or where to, but I have to accept it and do something with my life.

(2) This morning I woke up at 8:45am with every intention of taking a shower, getting dressed, having a nice, warm bowl of Cream of Wheat, and then heading out to class for my Japanese test. Some time after I shut off the alarm, I blacked out. It wasn't until I heard Grandpa banging on my door at 9:40 that I even realized WTF was going on, and I seem to recall waking up while SITTING. So I've come to the following conclusion:
I was-
(a) kidnapped by aliens
(b) possessed by a ghost
(c) really f'in tired

And since I don't feel that tired, I'm leaning toward (b). Your thoughts?

You know that short, bald guy who guest stars in like, every show in the universe? I can't remember his name, but I'm sure that he was in Sabrina the Teenaged Witch for a bit, or if not that, then Clueless... and he was in an episode of Stargate SG-1 as well. Anyway, I had a dream this guy was my teacher for some sort of math class, and I had to do some sort of weird mapping/diagramming. But the teacher refused to show us the correct answers, and instead wrote them on the board upside down-- that way if anyone turned in their work looking exactly like the board, he'd know they copied their homework in class, and didn't do it when they were supposed to.

And it wasn't ordinary diagramming or mapping or anything-- it was like a family tree almost (this I can explain: I've been trying to map out my own family tree, plus the family tree of all the major/important characters in Circle of Seven... it's turning into a very complex web) with circles and squares, but old-fashioned woodcut illustrations off to the side, with old-style script describing what was happening. One of the illustrations toward the bottom left (which meant that on the real answer sheet, it would have been on the TOP left) looked like Alice from Alice in Wonderland, except she was sitting in this really deep couch or chair or something, and there was something blasting a lot of light/noise beside her, because her eyes looked a bit wide and her hair seemed to be going back.

You know that logo for that sound system... I wanna say Maxell, but that can't be right... anyway, it's the guy who's just sitting in his living room in front of his TV, there's a lamp next to the chair, and this guy's hair and tie are all flying backward because of the force of the sound? It was like that. Except it was Alice in Wonderland, so it was kind of creepy.

And I think there was some other illustrated girl beside her who looked bored; she was rolling her eyes or staring at me (from the page) rather funny. I can't remember who she was though.

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.

My shoulder hurts. I wanna go back to bed.

But MK-mama's dreams were much cooler than mine.

I dreamed someone hacked into my website, and Kysra was the one who told me. She was all serious and grim and like "Take a look." It ended up being some tweenybopper somehow accessed my cPanel and uploaded all these fruity doll images and glittering web banners and other nasty stuff that everyone who first gets on the 'Net is guilty of using, because they don't know HTML and are too lazy to buy Dreamweaver or GoLive.

I remember manually deleting everything one by one, and thinking this girl could have done a lot worse damage (she just used my domain to direct-link to images she put on a Tripod webpage) but she didn't, and now I have to password protect my "gallery" from now on. *blink* I don't have a gallery to password protect, but if I did, I could if I wanted to.

So, would anyone care to tell me what all of that has to do with the wretchedness of yesterday?

I *just* woke up. Yeah, it's after 12 noon here, and yeah, it's lunchtime but I'm eating cereal... but already, today sucks. Why? Because five minutes after I woke up, someone from work called and asked me to come in. Sure, they had a very compelling reason (smashed up their finger, allergic to the Epsom salt they put it in, need to go to emergency room) but... ugh, this happens to me EVERY DAMN TIME I HAVE A DAY OFF! ;_; Why can't people just leave me alone? Worse, whenever they call the house phone, Baba and Grandpa never hesitate to give me the phone-- they don't ask who it is, where they're from, or what they want... and they don't care if I'm sleeping! -_- That ends NOW! If I don't recognize the phone number, I am NOT going to answer the phone. Pisses me off. Anyway, I took the shift, so I'm all rushing around trying to get everything done... and ow, my ankle is killing me. And it's a bloody 5 hour shift. Augh, why did I agree to this!?

On top of that, I had a weird dream. There was just me, Scott, and some other guy (maybe James? He's the son of an old friend of the family-- one of my dad's friend's sons) were in the house. Scott was down in the kitchen (topless, though I can't see why that's relevant) in front of the fridge, which for some reason, had an assortment of plastic card-holders (like the kinds you put pamphlets or postcards in) on the fridge door, instead of all these photos and magnets. Scott finished eating a banana, and just TOSSED the peel on the floor. For some reason, that really pissed me off, and I grabbed Scott by the arm and literally shoved him outside, and I slammed the door in his face. James (?) was in the den, fiddling with something that I thought was an X-Box, playing a game that looked like a mish-mash between two games, or half of a level from one game I'd played before (but not in the recent past). He said something about me being pretty vicious, but he was grinning, so I wasn't mad at him. Meanwhile, Scott seemed pretty upset and embarrassed to be outside, because some guys (one had a mustard yellow van with those old-school white gemtops) were unloading equipment and watching topless-Scott squirm outside... and I was under the impression they were filming something important. And then I woke up.

Gwuh? What does all that mean?

Well, work-wise... yesterday kind of stank. JF (the girl that C likes), C, J, and I were *all* working together. C and JF got off at the same time, and as far as I know, left together. I should be happy-- "good on them" and all that, because I told JF what I heard that night when C, J, and I closed. And I even went so far as to give C a small note saying I was sorry he took my words to heart (JF told me that C approached her and said "So, you think I'm a womanizer, do you?" K made me think that C wouldn't care, but apparently he did, especially if he brought it up 2 days later.) and that I had no right to say what I said, I was sorry and felt lousy, and if he really liked JF, he ought to go after her-- and me saying mean things because I was jealous for not getting his attention anymore (this all ends up tying back to Scott "not having enough time" to pay attention to me, otherwise I probably wouldn't even think about what C thinks of me). Well, I don't know if he even read the note, much less thought about it. So that kind of bummed me out, because he didn't even SAY anything to me. I was in a funk for the rest of the night-- I even agreed to do dishes. Sad thing is, I think I'm coming off as more and more of a bitch to my co-workers. What I think is me being enthusiastic, others might think is being too forthright or loud or something. *sigh* ;_;

The good news? I finished reading Order of the Phoenix, things that I forgot about make sense, and I'm all ready for the Half-Blood Prince. Plus I managed to switch shifts with Simon so I can get off in time to go home, throw together a Moaning Myrtle outfit (I lack robes-- too bad I didn't bring my old graduation gown with me- but then again, those are either red or white-- only the boys are black!) and head off to the Midnight Magic party. If Seattle's Best is open, I'll treat myself to a Chocolate Trio (and maybe some Fizzing Whizbees).

Lots of songs are out there dealing with dreams. Dreams are supposedly a peek into your subconscious, sometimes a mix of all the things that have been floating through your mind in any given day. I'll admit, I've had some weird dreams, but these, by far, are the weirdest:

5/?/2000 - I put two cheap costume rings (like the kind you get at supermarket gum ball machines) into a Sprite machine inside a soda room adjoining the school's basement and a classroom. The ring I remember seeing was gold-banded, with a sparkly orange heart as its charm. Suddenly, the late afternoon world went black and pulled away from me. The next thing I knew, I was back where I had started again, only the *time* felt different. I know people don't have a great sense of the passage of time, but I felt weird... like it was morning. Part of me insisted that it was almost evening, and that I should be hauling my butt home, but I was inexplicably drawn towards the classroom. Everything inside seemed much newer-- by several years. I saw the class getting dismissed, and who should I see but my crush-- at age 15! Everyone was leaving the class to head for the cafeteria for lunch, and he saw me and paused...

"Do we know each other?" He asked me with a perplexed expression on his face. I was suddenly as glum as a raincloud-- none of the seniors knew me, because they were freshmen! I was their age, but the REAL me was back at my middle school.

"I don't think so," I had responded, because with my obsession with time, I know that revealing parts of the future can damage it beyond repair. But instead of walking away, he asked if he could walk me to my 7th period. Weird, especially since I had been so sure 4th period had just ended!
I blushed a little and said yes. We got to talking, and he told me he liked the class he had just come from-- JROTC, which, for those who are uninformed is a mix between a history class and a military training type class. At the time, I had enjoyed that class as well, but NOW, as I write this entry, I will say I hate that class with a passion.

ANYWAY-- So he tells me he only wants to stay in RO for two years-- to get gym credits. I was off in my own little world, wondering how this cute, sweet guy could turn into the overbearing, egotistical, handsome young man I knew in the future. I told him, in so many words, that he'd make an excellent leader, and he should stay in.

We made it to my 7th period-- back then, it was an Art class with a teacher named Mr.Z. He asked me if I could meet him in the ROTC room after school-- he had cleanup duty, which meant (seeing as he was in the 4th period class, or the 3rd class of ROTC given in the day, he had to do cleanup on the 3rd day of the week) it was Wednesday, but it was too early in the year for uniforms... ?! (Uniforms are worn by the cadets every Wednesday) The art teacher was Mr. Martin, one of my favorite teachers that I remembered from when my sister used to bring me to the high school whenever I had off days and she didn't. He remembered me as well, but didn't understand how I looked 14/15 when my older sister (by 8 years) had just graduated last year (1995).
"It's a long story," I told him, and as he had a class to teach, he didn't say anymore.

In my time, I had told Mr.Z about Mr.M, and, Mr.Z had said the projects he had had weren't that creative. So I suggested some new ones to him, ones that he thought were great ideas.

After class, my crush met me, and smiled like a cute dope. Like... smitten, almost, a thought which made my heart flutter. (I love this dream so much) I helped him with cleanup. I don't know how much time passed, but he eventually asked me to the Boat Dance.

I freaked a bit, but accepted. I had no clue where I had spent the past several weeks, it seemed, and no one seemed to notice that I was wearing the same clothes day after day, and rarely went to any of my classes-- because they didn't exist yet! However, I was determined to look nice for the Dance, and went home.

Apparently, I couldn't be seen, because I THINK my past self was home. I got clothes from the closet that I hadn't bought yet-- making me remember the whole concept of time paradoxes-- when two or more times clash, the inevitable is the collapse of both times, past, present, and future. However, my seeing my past self had not had any effect on me at all. I saw my room in two ways-- that of my time, and that of my past. It was unnerving. I left and went to the dance, and I felt like a ghost of sorts.

The dance was enjoyable, I believe... as I remember this now, things are a little vague. I think he kissed me too. People were nauseous because the boat kept on swaying, but everyone had a good time. I was pulled back to my time, somehow, someway, and the last thing I remember is my crush's sad face.

I look back on the dream now, as something so typically me-- sappily romantic and humorous all at the same time. However, I wish I could "accidentally" dream a sequel, or maybe somehow... my crush would be reading this... maybe even know how I feel about him still. I wish I was his age now, because as far as I can see, that's really the only thing between us.

So, this is for you, J. <3

I'm dreaming... dreaming my life away...