Blather, rinse, repeat

So, apart from everything that went on in that locked post, it is, in fact, summer. I finally got into the whoreson pool. I had to put the new steps together (and, eff it, I put the steps in backwards, I still have to fix that – when I feel like it though. Not now.)

Jo-Chan is here 3-4 days of the week, so that's been really nice. Last night we were at Mom's, sat around having ice cream and watching Dr. Who (I mean, what else? :D )

And I neglected to mention, two weeks ago I lost my oldest fish, my silver angel Quatre. That really sucked. Quatre was a great fish.

So now I guess I had better start fixing to paint up that room, finally. You know, I should just do it instead of stalling. I guess I just can't decide what to make of it. I got some paint samples last week; I should really try them out. I've messed about enough in that room, including one failed attempt at knocking down a wall that I later decided to keep. Ehh. I still call it "Gram's Room," too.

Got two robins in the aviary (Thor and Loki,) and one busted-foot starling inside, named Koko. This bird just won't grow the hell up. Well, he was totally imprinted before I got him, so that probably has everything to do with it.

Oh, and I saw Batman: The Dark Knight Rises. Because, you know, my husband Tom Hardy and my BFF JGL. I had some Batfeels about it—well, some Banefeels, if we're being honest—but really I had a lot of Batthoughts, too. Some of them, I guess, sort of controversial. What else is new though?

So this is about The Dark Knight Rises, and it is, I think, spoiler free. But I'm cutting it anyway.
( Probably not spoilers, but still. )

Just saying. I mean, other than that, TOM HARDY.

Also want to mention, I've been watching BBC's Shakespeare series, The Hollow Crown. So far, Richard II has been my favorite, but really I think that's because Richard II is a better play than Henry IV 1&2, and Henry V. Rory Kinnear and Ben Wishaw were astounding. Well honestly, the whole cast is astounding.

Do you know how hard it is to do Shakespeare? To understand every word, and then make every word understood for a modern audience? Shakespeare has never presented me with any problems in terms of following along or understanding (Elizabethan and Jacobean tragedies were my focus in college,) but I realize a lot of people have some trouble with the language. So, Shakespeare done well has a director and actors that convey the meaning with perfect clarity. I see a thing happening in this production that's kind of fabulous, really. The actors are so good that people are following their cues and understanding every word. I only know this because it now has a HUGE fandom on Tumblr. Some of the people involved in the fandom are young. Like, pre-Shakespeare young.

Yo, Shakespeare has a fandom. There is fanfiction. Fanart. Roleplays. People are RPing Henry V. THAT IS AWESOME. I don’t care what-all brings people into Shakespeare. I’m so happy that BBC chose the Avengers Hottie Of The Month to act in this, because now all these young kids are seeing, and getting excited about, Shakespeare. I’m happy that it has an actual fandom. This is stuff that people (like me) study/studied so hard in college, writing endless theories and theses, researching, picking apart plot and subtleties and characteristics, symbolism and meanings behind meanings. And what is so amazing is that this is what fandom does on its own. Fandom doesn’t need to be told by a professor to write a three-page essay about Prince Hal’s relationships with his lowly companions like Poins (Pointz, when I read it,) and Falstaff, vs. his relationship with his father and such. Fandom’s going to do that anyway and put it on Tumblr and LJ.

When fandom gets invested in a story, it wants every little piece of it. It wants every “meta” (we just called those essays,) every bit of speculation, every basis in history, every nuance of opinion it can get its hands on. I paid to study this stuff. I lived it and loved it for four years (and beyond.) And now, the internet just gives it up for free!

Shakespeare has a fandom. It’s brilliant!

Not to mention that the acting is spotless throughout, god. I love seeing Shakespeare come to life, and this series is such a dream.

Them's my thoughts on The Hollow Crown, something I'm hugely into right now. In fact, going to finish the series tonight.

Also, the song of this summer is "We Are Young" by Fun.

So a couple have things have gone on, some good, some bad, some still up in the air.

I'll start with the bad first, because it's what's on my mind. HitRECord, you know, is a nice little community - okay, it's really not so little, but you do get to know some folks. One of my pals there is a gal named Inky. She lives in Hawai'i and for a while we were working on some poetry translations on the site. Then she went away for a long trip, but had to cut her trip short because her boyfriend Niko (Honeyboy on HR) was very ill. Cancer at only 30, unable to get chemo due to a heart condition.

Inky and Honeyboy went traveling around the islands of Hawai'i together for a few short months. During their trip, they were taking photos, writing, tweeting, and exchanging packages of goodies and trinkets with other HitRECorders. Every Friday was Aloha Friday, where we would all send songs to each other on Twitter. Niko sent lots of my favorite music; I'd have fun identifying the singers and bands.

Just last week I went out and bought all sorts of Long Island goodies to send to them: local chocolates, trinkets, and some local honey for Honeyboy. I didn't have a box to send it in; figured I'd get to the store last Friday and bring it to the post office.

But Thursday night, Inky posted to let us all know that Niko had passed on Wednesday evening. She sent his last photo from his phone to his Twitter: a picture of the sunset out his window, titled "Goodbye Sun."

So everyone is heartbroken, and I have this package of stuff sitting here, addressed to both of them, and I don't know if I should still send it.

I came home from work today to find two packages had arrived. One was the HitRECord book that two of my writings made it into.

The other package is from Inky and Niko. It has a card from them. "Sending you lots of aloha and hugs and kisses, XOXO Honeyboy," and "Lots of love to you! XO Inky" They must have put it in the mail that Wednesday. And I just don't know what to do with myself over this. I think I should send the package anyway.

That was the most important, and of course the worst, thing that went on this week. Me, I can feel sad and cry and go about my business, but I know that his family and friends don't have that luxury today. My week still has some happiness in it. I get that.

Some of my happiness this week is, as I mentioned, getting that book in my hands. It's gorgeous, so much better than I thought it would be. The whole intro by Joe is about patriarchy and sexism, and why he changed the ending to the story. The second "intro" is by his Mom, which details the War On Women and why books like this are necessary. She talks for a while about the terrifying bills that are being put on the table (and some passed, barring women from testifying,) and then says,



My two pieces are in here, surrounded by beautiful art. Here's the funny thing: the first one is on page 39 and the second one is on page 45. I have a thing about numbers adding up to 3 and 9 so I'm like "OMFG IT'S A SIGN."

I also finished up the revisions requested by that one rad agent. I "finished" them, I should say, and then I stressed and stressed, and hemmed and hawed and fussed and revised again, and then once again. And then, yesterday, I sent them out. Now, I'm convinced that I only made it worse. I could only have screwed it up more. I just don't know what to do sometimes, who to listen to!

But also, a few agents held a "Twitter Pitch" contest, which is what it sounds like. You reduce your novel to 135 characters (leaving room for the tag,) and pitch to them via Twitter. Well, the one agent who showed a little interest in mine has a thing against stories with a time travel element. BUT, she also said it sounded cool anyway, and I could go ahead and query her to give her more info. I know it's not the kind of thing she represents, but something must have sounded kind of good for her to say that! So I figured, why not? And queried her, too. Can't hurt. :)

I am running out of agents to query, though. I'm getting a few nibbles and a few "You're good, but I'm not in love with this." What if no one falls "in love" with it? Then, I guess, I shelf it, start up with some of my other books and such. Get one of those to sell. Then maybe someone will be like "Do you have any trunk manuscripts?" Haha, yeah. But I don't want this to be from the trunk. It's my favorite.

So that's more or less what's been going on, aside from the stuff I'm going to put in the locked post. Today is the first really hot hot day, and my first day in shorts (once I came home from work, that is.) About two weeks ago I fixed the aviary door. I just need to put another latch on the bottom, just to be on the safe side (didn't need one for ten years, but I'm not going to make that mistake again,) and then hose it out, set it up, and put my twelve bastard starlings into it. Will probably do that tomorrow. Then maybe I'll get my winter clothes put away. I did that much earlier last year, I think; maybe two weeks earlier. But it's been super chilly this month.

Oh, in the meantime, hey. You can order this gorgeous FEMINIST retelling of a fairy tale, with poetry, stories, thoughts, essays and really beautiful art. Scroll down to the $20 one. ^_^

Yesterday, it turned out that we didn't end up going to dinner after work. So I picked up Haku and came home. Still, it was our receptionist's last day and I was very down in the dumps about that. I've had a lot of fun working with her.

You know what I forgot to mention, Sano's been off pred since last Saturday. That's awesome. For future reference: yes he is still ravenous, and yes he's throwing up some. That's what happens. I just always like to keep track of things like this to see if they match up year to year.

Oh my god, the weather has been down to freezing. I hate that, it's ridiculous. I already put most of my plants outside for the season. Hello, IT IS ALMOST MAY. What is this crap, and we didn't even really have a winter. I've said this before and all, but it's been like, 35-40 degrees since October. SUCH a bitch.

And since we didn't have a winter, the bugs are insane. Okay, so in the past I've had a problem with ants, since I live on the ground floor. They're always all over the floor, and last year they were in my bathroom, too. They took over my jade tree and got into a few other potted plants. This year, I spent an entire day submerging the plants to get rid of them, and trying to drown the queen (if that's even possible. Who the eff knows? Maybe she holds her breath.) Only a few days later, the ants were back. But that was nothing compared to today.

Today, I went to change the cartridge on my water filter that attaches to the faucet. I unscrewed it, and hundreds of ants poured out. OF MY WATER FILTER. WHICH I HAVE BEEN USING. It looked like they'd been in the aerated spaces and not the water spaces, otherwise they would have been coming out in the water, and they probably would have drowned, right? At any rate, I was horror-film screaming in my mind. I boiled water and submerged the entire filter. Then, for two hours I had to keep cleaning it over and over again, because you can't take the damned thing apart; all those tiny little holes, and no way to clean inside of it at all. I just kept dunking it under water and shaking it out. For TWO HOURS I did this, and more and more dead ants just kept coming out. So I did it until everything was out, and then I boiled it again.

So, awesome, right, that's all done with and they're all gone. New filter, everything should be fine, right? BUT NO. About an hour later, I saw another ant crawling on the faucet again, and then another, and another, like they were trying to get back in there. OMG, for effing what? I killed every last goddamn one, disinfected, nothing left. It's not like there's food around there or anything, it's an effing water faucet.

I just don't know wtf to do about these ants. What I do know is that no ant will ever receive quarter from me again. I'll destroy them all without mercy. This is my destiny.

No, but really, I was so horrified and I'll probably have nightmares about it tonight.

And while we're on the subject of nightmares, I started watching Lost (I know, I'm what, seven years late on this?) and the whole plane crash thing gave me some mad plane crash nightmares, too. The show is interesting—so far it's giving me more thoughts than feels—but I can't really get interested in too many of the characters. I like Sayid, Hurley, and Locke. That's about it. Everyone else I kind of want to punch so far.

That aside, I've been revising the manuscript writing other stuff instead (I know, I know,) and I did a few little things for HitRECord, like a ridiculous porn parody that people are getting a kick out of – and I find myself so damn funny, I just can't get over it. Going for walks and jogs with the dogs, going to work, Kung Fu, doing laundry, killing ants. That's about it. So exciting right now, I don't know how anyone can even stand reading about it without biting their fingernails clean off in suspense.

Just sit there and try to cope with how riveting my life is right now.

Actually, I heard them last night. Must have been the rain that got them all excited.

I just always like to write about when I hear treefrogs in the spring. It's important to keep track of these things.

ETA: Holy crap, I said the same thing last year.

Today is a fine day. Yesterday was, too. For the first day of Spring, we had 70 degree weather, and the same today. It's clear and sunny. Yeah, maybe a little too hot for this time of year, and that is kind of worrying. But it's hard to focus on that when you can feel the sun again. (Although, isn't that always nicer after a hard winter? We hardly had a winter at all this time.)

So today I took the dogs on an hour-long walk through the woods by the lake. We climbed hills and they went into the water. Haku is still a little drugged, and Sano has a hard time keeping up because of the pred.

I like to document every year when I hear the treefrogs for the first time at night. Well, it wasn't night, but they were making a ton of noise in the woods today, so! Treefrogs.

Also, after a decent sleep, I woke up to find, first thing, a feminism collab on HitRECord, with Joe citing my written piece as a source. ^_^ It's funny, before I went to bed last night, I checked HR and I saw that he'd given a heart to that piece I'd written in November. I was like, "Why's he necro-hearting? Is he going to use it for something?" And then I was so pleased that he did. Not only that, but for something that means a lot to me.

As you can see, the feminism collab already has TONS of entries in it. So inspiring and awesome! I love that people are catching on. Especially when we've got an actualfax war on women going on in the government.

So I wrote two more pieces for it: Asking For It, and But What If I Want To Be Eaten?

(Also on HitRECord recently, I did a video about my birds, called Fly Away. I'm really proud of that one, and mostly because I worked with my awesome cousin SB. That's his amazing music you hear there.)

So that's made me pretty happy.

Also, last year's redwing blackbird Reid came back to the feeder the other day. Or maybe he's been back the whole time, but this is the first time I've had my door open and been able to see him. Still, that made me happy.

What is making me sad is that the receptionist at the fabulous clinic where I work is leaving in May. I get along really well with her and we always have so much fun. I have no idea who's going to replace her. I'm worried.

Also harshing my shine is that my arm is really freaking hurting a lot of the time. I woke up this morning and it was pretty much on fire. I stretched and it went POP! And then it felt better. I did see the chiro about it and he was like, "Hmm. Well... hmm. Hmm." Looks like either bicipital tendonitis, a mid-delt tear, or maybe a trapped nerve in my neck. None of which is fun.

Ugh, and I have to do my taxes still (or rather, get them done,) and I'm going to owe. MEGA-owe. Dang.

Well, eff it. I'm going to water my plants and play Skyward Sword. BECAUSE I CAN.

Just picked Haku up from his 8 week recheck (except I think it's actually 9 weeks.) The surgery looks good, the plates and bones are all in place, and he's where he should be. I mentioned that he still had a hard time sitting down and getting up, and she said that was normal; it's only at 3 months minimum that you start to see kind of regular movement again. But the leg itself is about 85% healed. It's really his other leg, the one from last year, that's got all this arthritis and is going to keep giving him trouble. They gave me an estimate for these glucosamine injections twice a week that they would have to do there and it was like $450. Jesus.

Then Sano got his blood test and check-up so he could get his prescription refill for his ITP and I'm still waiting on those results; should get them tomorrow. I'm nervous though because it seems to be around March that he gets the ITP back, for whatever reason. I mentioned that to the vet (the awesome one, who caught the ITP in the first place,) and she said that in the last week alone she saw four dogs with ITP and she was wondering if it actually did have a seasonal trigger, and it was starting earlier because we haven't really had a winter.

So I'll find out tomorrow.

Meantime, I have work today, from 2:15 till around 8 PM. Also, Jo-chan is over here for a few days with her cute little Havanese rescue. Sano doesn't mind (except that everything is different and I'm not supposed to play with the other dog, apparently, even though he can,) but Haku does nothing but growl, because he's a dirtbag like that.

So that's the update!

I promised (myself) an epic update, and then never delivered. So hey, what's up, LJ? Haven't seen you in a while, there.

I've been getting some awesome hours at work this past week, which has gone a long way to offsetting the loss of hours the week before. I hope it continues, although I will be needing Halloween off.

So two nights ago, the HitRECord Fall Formal that I was so excited about last year, until it was canceled, (and rightly so,) finally took place. In L.A.

Honestly, I felt pretty bummed about it. I totally understood the cancelation, but when you're re-scheduling the show for the following year, why not have it in the same state? This way, people who were going to go the first time, could, you know. Go? And it was epic. Gary Oldman was there, Neil Patrick Harris. There was singing, dancing, all sorts of revelry. At one point, apparently, even I appeared on the big screen: This clip got screened at the show. I appear at :42 seconds in. ^_^ ) Cool, huh? Still, I wanted to go.

So I went on HitRECord and said, you know, it would be really awesome if you could bring the show, or something like it, to NY. And hey, just think about it! Halloween is coming up. Masquerade ball, NYC? Is this tickling any fancies?

And then, yeah, that happened. So! I need to finish my costume. I've already got my tix. Also, I'm hoping that my wonderful internet friend of, like, 11 years or so, will be flying out too. We could even spend a few days together and it would be nothing short of epic.

So that's that! This all just happened today.

I've been a bit preoccupied with Occupy Wall Street, too. This is the revolution that I was afraid would never happen. I've signed on for any local meet-ups. You can also send food, clothes, other necessities to the people actually occupying Wall Street. It's really easy to send a pizza or something; anyone can do it from anywhere in the world, via online order form. One thing they don't tell you on the website though, is that they ask for a cross street. The cross street is Wall Street.

I also promised I'd talk a bit about the movie 50/50, which I did get to see the weekend it came out. I knew it was going to trigger every neurosis I own, and of course, it did. Because it's the true story of a young man who does everything right, takes care of himself, etc. and then starts getting this nagging pain in his back that obviously ends up being cancer.

And while it did literally trigger every neurosis I own (my own nagging back pain started that very night, and while logically I knew exactly what it wasn't, it still kept me awake for about three nights in a row,) it was actually quite an awesome movie. I legitimately laughed and cried. It's not often I can say that totally without irony. The entire cast was pitch perfect. Seth Rogan's timing is spot on. He was so inappropriate that you kind of had to enjoy him.

The rest of it was kind of bone-jarringly brutal, at least in some places. One second it would be funny, and the next, so honest that you were sitting there cringing.

I can't say enough praise about Joe, obviously, so I'll try to scale it back a bit. He was just really fearless like he always is in roles. It seems to me that when I really enjoy an actor or actress, that's the quality I find myself commenting on the most. They can put aside that fear of being judged or whatever, and just tell the story. I have no idea how they do that. Joe does the Kicked Puppy thing insanely well, also.

However, I think that Angelica Houston stole the show. There was one part with her (OMG, the part where she wants to make tea,) that made me tear up. It felt so much like something I would do in that situation. And then, towards the end – I don't want to really give out any spoilers. It was harsh. And the whole arc with her husband / his father. Wow, it's hard to describe how a movie could kick you in the nuts so often and with such force, then turn around and tickle you.

Now then, what else? I've been hanging out with Jo-chan, had an awesome time hanging with Wonderful Glassworker (we watched Dexter, the Dr. Who episode Blink, and we had the most gorgeous pizza ever, and utterly badass ice cream from Snowflake.) I'm almost to the end of the Tenth Dr.'s run, and I keep putting off watching the last few episodes.

Oh, I know. I finally had a chance to talk to the Gold Dragon for a really long time the other night. That's because he saw my Mom at her work, and they got to talking for a while. Then all my Mom's girl friends who work with her came stalking over all like, "OMG WHO WAS HE, HE IS SO CUTE, THAT SMILE, THOSE DIMPLES" etc. and she was just like, "yeah, whatever. :D " Anyway, so I had to call him to tell him this and we ended up on the phone for over an hour, trying to figure out a day when we're both off work so we could get together. We must have laughed for about ten minutes straight; I seriously could not breathe and had tears streaming down. Finally he said, "Damn, I really miss this. I miss us." So that settles it, we're just going to have to make the time. ^_^

I really need to stop starting my new paragraphs with "Oh, I know." Or actually, maybe I should implement that in my novel. Instead of chapter breaks, I'll say, "Oh, I know what else," or maybe, "Anyways." That would go over well, huh?

Speaking of, I got one more rejection for the query. Did I mention that already? But I also found a few other agents who rep what I write. So I still have some cake. I just have to cut the slices really thin.

Also, I got re-tweeted by William Gibson the other night, and I think that's a sign. :D (We were playing "fairy tales minus one letter." I did: Now White, Earskin, The Fro Prince, The Rave Mound, Taterhood, Twelve Moths, The Two Bothers, Fair Bro, Fondling Bird, The Old Itch, and The Red Hoes. He liked "Now White" but honestly, my favorite was "The Fondling Bird.")

A few days ago it was upwards of about 80 degrees, but today it's chilly, blustery, rainy, windy, and just a tad raw. I took the plants in on October 5th this year.

And that's that, I think. There's one more thing that I want to post, but it's going in a separate entry.


BLEDELEHLEHLEH of course, there is one more thing I have yet to update on: Work. I'm at my 6 month anniversary already. :) For my anniversary, I asked if we could get rid of that one horrible CD that haunts me. Actually, it is kind of funny in that one of the other therapists there likes to troll me by putting the eversucking thing on repeat.

I need to document that the stiff, barbed, dead body of my catfish Dexter just stabbed me in the hand. Blood everywhere. Dexter was fine last night when I turned his light off. Catfish are bottom-feeders so I have no idea why or even how he got out of the tank.

Now I've got one fish left in my 20 gallon tank, which is Quatre, my gold angelfish. She's actually the second fish I got, too, so she's pretty old. The newer ones have all died.

I don't know why I have such bad luck with fish. I take care really good care of them! I clean the tanks every week, feed them but don't *over*feed them. I use frozen, un-dyed food w/out additives ffs. None of this flake crap. I use filtered water and put in all the right scale-protective stuff. I check the water stats constantly, temps are perfect, and I don't mix incompatible species. Yet they all die in such weird, horrific ways.

Oh, so you're probably wondering how we fared in hurricane Irene. Ehhhh. We seriously dodged a bullet. Didn't even lose power. Well, it flickered on and off for a few times, but nothing major. Meanwhile, it's, what, five days later and most everyone east of us, and some west, are still without power. My job shut down for the week, so no paycheck. :(

The pool is up! But it's like 70 degrees here anymore. So that's lame.

Tomorrow is (FINALLY) my dr. appointment for my exploding ovary. Boy, am I ever going to explain, quite tersely, how they brushed me off two months ago. Anyway, that's never a fun day, is it?

Let's see, what else. Oh, I am totally loving Dr. Who. I loved the 9th doctor, and I love 10. I only just finished season 2, Doomsday. NIAGRA FALLS COMING FROM MY FACE. It was so sad. But I like to cry at movies and shows that I'm into, and video games. (I still get teary whenever I watch Aeris die.) So now I'm going onto season 3 when I get the DVD. Supposedly there's an episode in that one called Blink, so terrifying that when you watch it, you die with a load in your pants. Actually I watched the trailer last night, and that gave me nightmares. Can't wait for that one. ^_^

Umm, my hand is getting swollen now where my dead fish stung me. Eww. That is so goddamn awful.

Aaaaaand September! WTF, how did that even happen?

I haven't written about any of my crazy dreams lately, and they have been pretty crazy.

So, I've got a few recurring dreams / themes over the years. One of them is the "taking the place of the person in danger" one that I sometimes have. The other recurring one is the "ditched at the altar" one. This dream always manifests in the same way: I'm about to get married. I have an awesome dress. The guests file in. I realize that I either don't have a fiance, or he's dead, or he's not going to show, and it's all for nothing. (One time the fiance was John Lennon. I had a white dress with red embroidery, and I was waiting for the ceremony, when someone told me that John Lennon was, in fact, already dead.) At the end, I decide that I like the dress and I want to have a party.

This dream repeats in different forms every few years, and I had it again this morning.

In this one, my family had rented, not a hall, but an entire gothic mansion for my wedding. My Dad was still alive in the dream. The mansion was huge, with hundreds of rooms, some of them hidden. Secret passageways, historical documents hidden inside, antiques everywhere. Clothes hanging up in closets and such. From one of these closets, I picked my wedding dress. It was a purple gothic thing, with tons of laces. There were photographers everywhere, hundreds of guests and whatnot. Big round tables, intricately carved, in the reception room. Masses of flowers and a big old cake and everything.

And then, as usual, I was like, "Oh, snap. There's actually no one to marry." Then there was a brief moment of panic, like, "What am I going to do with all these guests? How humiliating. Maybe I'll just wait at the altar anyway?" And then, as is always the case in this dream, I decide that, well, seeing as how we're set up for a party anyway and I'm all dressed up, we might as well continue the celebration.

So that's what I did. In one dream, I brought out a trampoline. In another, there was a gaming night. In this dream, last night's (or this morning's – or by the time I post this, yesterday morning's,) I decided to A) call a "photogaphy party" and B) run around and explore the mansion behind the backs of the staff.

So I got out my camera, and everyone else got out theirs, and we all started running around. I was determined to see every room there was. Every corner. Every hidden passage. Open every last door. (Now that I'm thinking of it, there are always tons and tons of doors in this dream; some barred, some barely open, some wide open.)

So first I was going into the opened doors. I took pictures of everything. I posed for pictures in my awesome dress, next to the fantastic windows with amazing views over the ocean. Then, I started breaking down the locked doors. For some of them, I had to find a hidden lever. Some of the doors were in the floor and I had to drop down into secret rooms. I dodged around kitchen staff, and went behind backs of butlers etc.

At one point, a few guests and I were spotted going into a secret room, and an alarm went off. All these mansion-staff people started yelling, and saying that we had sprung the trap. Then wine started to flow along the floor, chasing us. I realized that the wine was electrified and if it touched out shoes, we would get a shock. So we ran from the wine which flowed faster and faster – but as we were running, we were all laughing. It was scary, actually, that the electric wine was right on our heels, but we were all laughing. (I don't know who the others were. Random people.)

Here's the funny thing. Then my dog woke me up. It was around 5:30 AM and I got up to go to the bathroom and re-apply lip balm (I do this about once a night. It's an addiction. I use raw shea butter. Anyway!) Then, I went back to bed and I loved the mansion so much, that I rented it again for a continuation of the dream!

But, this dream was a tad less exciting. I couldn't find the awesome, voluminous dress. Many of the guests had left. I did manage to find a Victorian lacy top and long, fluttery skirt. I decided that I would buy it. So I put it into a box and left the mansion.

When I went outside, it was dark; the parking lot was wet from rain. I was no longer outside of the mansion, but outside of a strip mall. The strip mall included an old Hallmark store, a grocery store, and a dentist. I thought, "I'm not covered for dental; I can't even afford to go in there."

I went to my car and my Dad was waiting there for me. He said, "Be careful on your way home and make sure you don't get any more flat tires."

That's about all I can remember.

I can glean some subconscious info from this recurring dream, but not all of the symbolism. This dream always starts out exciting, then turns to that moment of panic, then turns into a fun kind of game with awesome clothes. Once in a while I wake myself up laughing. What even IS that?

Yup, so that was my head movie from last night.

What other news? Oh, there is a pool again! YAY, YAY. It's not set up yet. We have to see if the old filter will still work, and replace a part. It's a small pool, but I think it fits very well. Maybe I'll even get to go into it before the season ends. It has been hot as balls in the last week, but tonight, it's cool. That "mid-august" evening cool, that makes you dread the end of summer, you know.

Two more Hula classes and then I'm done until the Autumn classes begin. Don' t know yet when that might be, though.

I think that's about it. One of these times, I have to make a list of the songs I hear at work. I know how dull that sounds, but it's actually quite fascinating, I promise. ^_^

Tonight was the first night of treefrogs!




I need to keep track of these things.