Saturday, November 29, 2008

WICKED!!!

Good news! She's dead! The Witch of the West is dead, the wickedest witch there ever was, the enemy of all of us here in Oz is deaaaaaaad!

So it's been an interesting week at home to say the least. Alan is now gone, but I suppose I should backtrack a bit. Absolutely nothing of note happened on Tuesday, the only thing we did was go to the RAC where we played foosball, air hockey, and did boring work out-type things.

Wednesday was more interesting, first we (Alan and I) drove the two hours to Eau Claire to pick up Megs from college. We got there, ate food, and then went to the bookstore to get her Christmas present. But between the food and bookstore we went back to Megs' room where her roommate was in a bathrobe... awkward. After that Megan went off to her class and Alan and I went back to her room. This time, her roommate (who was supposed to be gone) talked to us while playing her game on PS2, until her mom showed up pissed because the roommate had her phone off and the mom had been calling and waiting for 30 minutes. So that was awkward with me and Alan there and not Megan. But finally they left and Megs got out of class and we headed home. We started going home following the GPS until we realized it was taking us on a route that went 60 miles further than the mapquest directions... so then we eventually turned around and found our way back (only spent an extra 15 minutes driving with that maneuver). So eventually we got home, ate food, and watched a movie (X-Men: the Last Stand I believe).

Thursday was of course Thanksgiving so we ate turkey and mashed potatoes and pie. Mom made 4 pies this year for just our family + Alan (apple, pumpkin, pecan, and cookie). After an early Thanksgiving meal we (Alan, mom, me, Megs, and Sara) went to see Australia (with Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman) and it made me cry. A lot of the scenery (especially the gorges etc) just reminded me of the NW trip.

Friday was Wicked day. Woke up late (as usual), and eventually took Alan to see downtown Rochester. Which, sadly, can be done in about 10 minutes but we went inside University Square and the Barnes & Noble at the old Chateau theatre so it was mildly interesting (I hope). Then we came back and took Haley (the dog I agreed to dogsit this weekend) for a walk around Northpark (the neighborhood I live in). Showed Alan all the houses of where my teachers live(d) in my neighborhood, showed him the ponds and the park and all the places I've known for the past 16 years. I think I was more excited than he was, but meh. Then we packed all his stuff in the van, threw in some pillows and blankets and sleeping bags just in case, he grabbed the tickets (since they wouldn't be safe with me!) and we headed up to the cities in our swanky clothes.

We listened to the Wicked soundtrack on the way up, following the GPS directions to the OrpheumTheatre. Got there, found a parking place, and wandered around for a bit until we decided to stop and eat at the Lonely Tree Grill (or something like that). I had a delicious turkey melt sandwich, and then we headed back to the van. He grabbed his camera and then we went to the theatre, took pictures, and bought Wicked stuff! Excitement mounting, went in, took our seats, and waited for the overture to start.

It was a fantastic show. I've seen it twice now (once in Chicago) and I can't help but be madly in love with it still. I wish someone would legally record one of the stage performances and sell it on DVD.

I was extremely hyper before, during, but especially after the show. I feel bad for Alan, having to put up with me, but it was so exhilarating!

After the show we headed back to the van to stow our purchases, and for me to grab my winter coat (as opposed to the nicer looking one). We went over to the cinema we had passed on an earlier wandering to see if we could kill time there but all the movies had already started. Instead we went to Applebee's where Alan got a salad and I drank about 2 glasses of water + a Mountain Dew - I was extremely and inexplicably thirsty. We then wandered around the mall we were in - saw a piano bar and walked through the Hard Rock Cafe (I somehow managed to not buy a pin, I was proud of myself for that).

Eventually we headed back to the van and managed to make our way to the airport. We chilled at the airport for awhile, I would have felt bad if I had just ditched him there - there were some suspicious people hanging around and he looked so vulnerable in his Superman pj's... hehe.

So we had some fun times sliding around the floors on our socks and taking random pictures with his camera, but eventually it was time to say goodbye. I really hate saying goodbye. It was horrible in Australia, but for some reason this time it wasn't that bad initially. I think the fact that it was around 3am might have had something to do with it. It made the situation a bit surreal, and the fact that I'll never see him again easier to cope with.

Have you ever had to say goodbye to someone, knowing you'll never see them again?

It's hard, and it sucks. But I felt fine saying goodbye to Alan. Walked away, no tears or even needing to hold them back. Strange, but once I was out of the airport driving I did call him. Mostly it was to help keep me awake while driving, since no one else was insane enough to be awake at that time. Didn't talk too long, he had to make his way to the gate and tried to get some sleep in the airport as well. So I rocked out to the Wicked soundtrack to keep myself awake, going so far as to do different voices for the different characters. I was doing fine until about 15 miles from home, and then I basically hit a wall and had to fight to stay awake. It was kind of terrifying, but luckily no one else was out on the road.

Finally pulled in front of the house at 4:28 am, right in the middle of "Defying Gravity." Stumbled into the house, up to my room, stripped and crawled into bed - after calling Alan and hopefully communicating the fact that I was still alive and got home in 1 peice (I say hopefully because I was seriously out of it at that point).

And then this morning (Saturday) I kept getting woken up. Dad telling me he was going out hunting, my sister responding to my text that I had sent her the night before, my high school set designer calling about dogsitting, all sorts of things conspiring against me. Eventually I gave up on sleep and stumbled to the bathroom to shower. Since then, this day has pretty much passed in a haze.

I managed to finish A Handmaid's Tale (book I borrowed from my sister), did absolutely no homework, called Alan to make sure he made it back okay, talked to some people online, went to Culver's for dinner with Megs and dad, watched part of The Santa Clause with dad, played Apples to Apples with mom, gramma (who is visiting for the night/tomorrow), Sara, dad, and Sara's friend Emily. I managed to win a game which was surprising.

Since then, I haven't really done anything other than watching a few episodes of Family Guy and Heroes and updating here.

But the moral of this story is that Wicked was amazing.

And no good deed goes unpunished.

Thank goodness.

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

I'm broke

Can someone come fix me?

Hormones should be outlawed. Thought Alan coming would be no biggie, especially since I seriously don't have feelings for him. The problem is I still have feelings period. I have feelings that got hurt, stepped on, ripped apart, twisted into knots, covered with gasoline and lit on fire. Nah not that bad, more like weak at first, broken, attempted to mend, then dropped and shattered. But it makes it that much worse when the only person who cared enough to help mend in the first place is the one who dropped it. When the one person you were okay being vulnerable in front of you no longer feel you can be vulnerable in front of anymore.

I just want to be able to cry and have someone hold me, pat my back, tell me things will be okay.

I'm being too revealing again, which just shows the problem! Why can't I talk about this? Why do I have to be afraid of what people will think?

Fuck it, I'm just going to write whatever I think.

I can't release any of this emotional baggage that I keep carrying around because I don't have a willing scapegoat who actually wants to listen. Perhaps my sisters do but I don't feel like I can break down in front of them, though they've probably seen it before they've never had to deal with it before (to my knowledge at least). Which, in itself, is probably fairly strange.

Why am I so weird?

I think part of the reason I'm so insane this week is because I sort of want Alan to see what he's missing out on, even though I don't actually want anything to do with him (other than whatever lame ass friendship we'll have after he leaves here). Although all I've managed to do is show him what a fucked up loser I am, who can't lose her constant jealousy of his "happily coupled" status.

So after a minor unplanned for breakdown I decided to watch a nice uplifting comedy, which led me to see Wild Wild West - and man does Will Smith look pretty in this. It's also mildly amusing, which is good, but also leaves plenty of mindspace free for reflection which could always be good or bad.

This probably would go better in OneNote, but since I've already typed it here, screw it.

Let people feel the partial fury of the maelstrom...

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Net's on the fritz

So the net has been going in and out on my computer, so finally I decided to let it be. Think I'll spend the rest of the night reading The Golden Compass (again again again) and then head to bed early. Or maybe I'll pack tonight - that would probably be a good idea.

So (why did I start another paragraph with the word 'so'? there are many other perfectly decent words to use... oh well) I forgot where I was going with this sentence. Right. Finished my assignment, came to the computer lab to print it off, and was distracted by the functioning internet. Oh well.

I've discovered a magnificent creation by MS Office. It's called OneNote, and it's amazing. I've decided to use it as a sort of a (don't laugh or mock me, you're just jealous) journal or "diary" as it were. Whereas my blog here is a great place to jot down what I'm up to and my general state of mind, it's so much nicer to have a private place to describe exactly what is going on with me, without needing to worry about censoring it in case certain people actually read this damn thing.

Granted I probably don't censor here as much as I should, but at least I tend to be rather vague.

So (there I go again) I finally finished Son of a Witch, and it had a mediocre ending at best. I mean, the story and the plot were interesting enough but there was no finality to the tale, no climax or conclusion. In Wicked, at least the main character gets offed and that's that. Here it's like, okaaaay and then what?

Alan's coming tomorrow! In 24 hours we will both be at my house, probably watching a movie or playing cards or something equally thrilling. And in 8 days we get to see Wicked!!! I might have to force my family to play only Wicked music this week... at least on Friday! I hope it's not awkward with Alan there...

Okay, I'm just going to up and say it, I love comments. I freaking love them. Even if they're pointless and don't say anything really at all, it tells me someone is actually taking part of their day, a whole few minutes off of their life to read about what I'm doing, thinking, feeling, etc. It makes me feel more important than I have any right to feel, and thus I love it. So if you do read this, feel more than free to leave a comment, even if it's just to tell me my ego is showing.

I show it loud and proud!

I miss Flats 1, 58, and 65. Those were good places.

Let's go back there... any takers?

Monday, November 17, 2008

A Running Commentary

What am I doing blogging so soon after my last one you may be asking yourself. And within 20 hours of my paper being due as well! Well obviously what I'm doing is procrastinating.

Why do I do this to myself? Why do I continuously wait to start assignments until it's absolutely necessary, and in the meantime waste my hours on mindless TV, movies, books, websites, games etc?

It's the whole school scene, I'm totally over it. I'd rather get a mindless job that I work when I work and then return home and not have homework but just do whatever the hell I want after putting in my hours. The motivation to work at work is being at work, the motivation to work at home is slim to nonexistent.

Think my biggest problem is that I'm still not sure what mindless career I want to pursue. Research (in certain areas i.e. animal behavior) sounds fascinating, but writing the papers and some aspects of course are not appealing to me at all. Whales. I want to study whales. But everyone wants to study whales. So I just spent the last 20 minutes searching whales on Google and I kept getting graphic whaling photos and it just made me sick. Maybe I'll go work for an activist organization against whaling.

And apparently Japan excuses their whaling, claiming it's for "scientific purposes." Scientific purposes my ass. And while many indigenous cultures used whaling for subsistence in antiquity, get over it. There are other ways to live nowadays and I don't care if it's a part of your culture, these creatures are near-if not totally sentient and don't deserve that treatment. Our culture used to ride horses everywhere but we evolved and moved on. We also used to have slaves, and again (for the most part) evolved and moved on! Why must so many societies use arcane practices and claim them to be "culturally important?" And if it's important to the culture, why are they canning them and shipping them out for sale? That doesn't seem culturally relevant... And this isn't just about the whaling or indigenous peoples, but things like the banning of gay marriage in the USA. Why is that a threat to our culture, society, or the construct of marriage? How can anyone even try to make a logical argument about that?

And the picture of the small boy in Greenland smiling with his knife gutting a whale... how sick.

Just went to dinner in there, wasn't very hungry so dinner became a side of cheesy mashed potatoes and chocolate milk... ah well. Now I have actually started writing my paper - yay! Unfortunately I just looked at the guidelines and I'm supposed to have all these figures which I will not have. We were supposed to make them in lab on Wednesday, and while we made some of them, our group kept fucking around and we didn't finish. I should have gone in to finish them but I didn't realize how many were still missing. Crap.

For some reason that just reminded me of my little speech on Australia earlier today! That's right, I volunteered to go speak to an FTS class (first term seminar - for the ickle firsties!) about studying abroad and my experience there. I was so excited to talk about it, but when I got there they all gave me these bored uninterested looks and I was reminded how much I hate public speaking. Sigh. But I got through it and maybe some of them will remember (but I highly doubt it). At least I got to talk about one of my favorite subjects!

So I was going to go into the computer lab to work on my paper (and I still will have to at one point) but it's actually full for once! It shocked me, when I was stuck in there when my computer went angry I hardly ever had company.

Took a 20 minute nap there... dang it. And listening to Eddie Izzard. Someone explain to me why writing is considered so important? And who decided what the "right" way to write was?

Never knew I could feel like this, like I've never seen the sky before... listen to my heart, can you hear it sing? Telling me to give you everything!

And that would be from Moulin Rouge ladies and gents. Luckily I'm not procrastinating so much that I'm actually watching the movie - although now I want to. I've got a timer set up to go off every 20 minutes to remind me to get my ass back on task and it just went off, so I'll be back probably within 20 minutes...

Woo I've gone like 40 minutes without coming back here! Of course I checked Facebook once or twice but the internet is going slowly so that helped me stay on track a bit. That and the fact that no one is online to distract me. Today's blog has turned into a running commentary of how my night's going by the way (in case that wasn't obvious), so feel free to stop paying attention should you feel so inclined. The time is now 9:18 pm... well at least I'm on the second of the two sections I need.

Yay for Blogger's autosave! My Firefox just got angry at me for trying to open a .pdf for my paper and closed out. I'm so glad this long and pointless blog wasn't lost... not quite sure why at the moment. Ah crap it's 9:40pm and I haven't added anything since the last little blurb. Back to the grind...

10:32pm and I'm actually feeling pretty good right now. I'm nearly done with what I can do tonight. Only part that concerns me is the fact that I can't get all the graphs I need... and I really really should have, I have no excuse other than laziness.

And now I blame Sybylla for my further procrastination - she put in a request for Mamma Mia songs and of course I felt obligated to comply. (10:39pm).

And my future Evolution prof and my former Organic Chemistry I prof had a conversation on Facebook:

Joel Carlin: Excuse me, Dr. Bur? On that protocol you gave us, I got confused on step 5, just before my lab partner caught on fire...
Scott Bur: The problem, son, is that I only gave you a 3 step procedure.
Joel Carlin: Does this mean I don't get extra credit for doing steps 4 and 5?

They were making fun of us! THAT'S HILARIOUS!!!

And now I have to start conditioning my roommate to not crack her knuckles while I'm around - YAY BLACK BETTY BY SPIDERBAIT!! (11:02pm).

11:54 pm and my fingers are covered with chip flavoring making it mildly difficult to type. Why am I eating chips? No idea. I'm not hungry and strangely enough I wasn't hungry at dinner either. I guess this time I'm eating because it's another way to procrastinate! I really just have one section left to do (1/10) so I should just get my act together and write it. I'm going to have to get up early tomorrow to finish the rest of the graphs anyway so I should try to finish early so I can at least pretend to get a decent amount of sleep tonight. Which means I should stop typing in my blog and get back to work!

12:09 am - so I just spent some time culling unnecessary groups from my Facebook groups... why??? GET TO WORK KAT!! *timid voice* yes ma'am... (and now she's talking to herself... great)

12:37 am - Finishing up the references section! And then I'm going to shower and go to bed! Hopefully... unless I get distracted...

1:03 am - So I got it printed but then I still have to go make tons of graphs sometime early tomorrow morning. I couldn't get one of my graphs that I already have in there either because 3/4 computers in there were in use and the 4th was frozen... of course on the night when I really need a school computer they're all in use! I really just need it because the stupid graph is in SigmaPlot and guess who doesn't have SigmaPlot? That's right, me doesn't. Anyway, now I'm off to shower and decide how early I need to get up to get it done. Right now I'm thinking 8 am... crap thats in 7 hours... there's gonna be a cranky Kat tomorrow.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Pro-crastination (yea, I'm pro)

And I have just spent the last hour and 15 minutes watching Ellen Degeneres and now I'm going to quote her:

"We're doing all these things to squeeze things together so we can save time. And I don't know about you but I don't have any more time, I have less time. But let's just say we could save up a whole chunk of time and set it aside, you know what we'd do with it? Nothing! Nothing at all. Isn't that the point, to be able to do nothing at all? But we're not guaranteed that later on chunk of time, all we have is here and now. And that's why procrastination feels so right. Procrastination is not the problem, it is the solution. It is the universe's way of saying 'Stop, slow down, you move too fast....' Procrastinate now, don't put it off."

I agree wholeheartedly because, well that is how I operate! And it seems like everyone does, and yet most of us manage to finish things on time.

This weekend was a horrible spate of procrastination. Friday night was intentional, I had no desire to do any sort of homework or future related activity but I also had no social plans. Sybylla was home for the weekend, Sarah and Colin went to the Coldplay concert, etc. So I read for a bit, ate dinner, then finally decided to call my cousins (in Mankato) and see what they were up to - holy crap I already blogged about this. Right, so you know that story, moving on.

Today (Sunday) was going to be my productive day. So of course I woke up late, which was fine because I still had plenty of time to work. Then I got online... big mistake. Not really a mistake because I had a great time talking to people, surfing, etc, but all of a sudden it's after 7pm and I have no idea where the time went. Sybylla had by then returned and she was as neck deep in assignments as I am (perhaps even more so with one midnight deadline). And then of course I realized that it's not just my second Neuro paper due on Tuesday that I have to do - I also have my reading summaries for Kinship due! Not a big deal - those reading articles are usually semi-short and always interesting. But then I get up, get something to drink, and see my half-finished dragonfly painting! Ah SHIT! Yet another thing due tomorrow that I haven't finished!

So what do I do? Well to be honest I started my first of six articles for Kinship, but once I had pretty much finished the first summary, I got distracted. An email from Facebook! So I check it and its just some stupid event invite that I won't be going to but that incites me to change my status, check people's walls, comment on some photos, and then its almost 10pm! WTF! So I relate my procrastination problem with Sybylla and she remembered a funny show by Ellen Degeneres, sent me a YouTube link and thus, another hour has passed.

And so I thought I'd share my story with you lovely people to further procrastinate. Sigh.

And if any of you are curious about my Facebook status, I'll let you in on the secret. Homework sucks, no matter how interesting it may be you never actually want to do it. And I think that is mostly because you know you have to do it. If it were an option, maybe more people would enjoy it. I don't want to be in the U.S. because being here is reality, and I just get really sick of dealing with reality all the time. Also, I have amazing memories of elsewhere, and desires to see places I've never seen. Those desires, mixed with an overwhelming fear that if I don't see them soon I'll never get the opportunity to. That I really need to just take my life in my hands, leap before looking, etc so on so forth. Why does it always look so easy and appealing in movies and books, yet is so unbelieveably hard to pull off in the real world? Oh right, because books and movies aren't real. I keep forgetting.... As for the last part, well in terms of healing I'm referring to what most of my latest blogs have referred to. I don't want to move on and get over some things. I know I should, and I thought I was trying, but that is just a straight up lie. I'm not trying because I don't want to. It's like when I discovered I might be getting over Australia. It scared me because I don't want to get over it! I don't want to settle for having less than I once had, I want to strive to have all I ever wanted and more! And maybe that's selfish or conceited or just human, I don't know or really care but it's the truth.

It also doesn't help when the other side enables the problem - not that I'm complaining but perhaps I should be. Or at least figure something out.

Istanbul was Constantinople, now it's Istanbul not Constantinople... so if you've a date in Constantinople she'll be waiting in Istanbul!

So now I'm really just blowing time. I just stared at a Google map of Europe for about 10 minutes, measuring distances between countries and then pulling the map over to the US for comparison. And of course earlier I was on Hotwire looking up flight prices over January. Even though I should be working that month to help pay for second semester. I just feel like I've got my whole life ahead of me to be working and then paying off loans, what's one more loan, one more money-blowing travel experience? And when will I get another chance?

I'm a spoiled person, but that's the problem with people, no matter what they have they always want more. Is anyone ever really satisfied with their lives? Everyone can manage to whine, bitch, or moan about something or another. And besides, I know my gramma want's to go see Ireland and perhaps other European nations! I bet I could convince her to come with me if I wanted to.

The big problem then of course is if I'd come back :P Which is actually an issue with me! I was so close to not getting on the plane home to the US from Australia, it's not even funny. I sometimes wonder what would have happened then? I would have leaped without looking, but would I have leaped alone? Maybe if I had been there still, Alan would have been compelled to return instead of going back to CSU or whatever school he goes to. Maybe if I hadn't left, Michael would have stayed as well, but of course as the responsible adult he probably would not have. I'm pretty sure Kristin would not have returned to Australia, but maybe it'd give her a reason to come visit. And of course Main would still be there, but not for long because Sarah would have moved back to QLD, and he would follow her. So what would I have accomplished? Probably nothing. But maybe, if one person jumps, others are more likely to follow that lead. But who is brave enough to jump first? It's a big risk, not knowing who (if anyone) will follow. And that's why I didn't jump. Call me chicken, but I feared that I would stay, get to spend another week with Michael, another two weeks with Alan, about a month with Sarah, and then they'd all be gone. Kristin was already gone. And of course I'd be alone again. At least coming home I'm just alone surrounded by people :P Of course that makes no sense, I have my family here and friends I've had for ages and the potential to meet new people exists everywhere (except perhaps on the polar ends of the planet, can't imagine there are too many people there). But still every once in awhile I wonder what if...

Maybe I'll become a hippie. Is that still allowed? I just want to roam the world, hitchhike or whatever and work for awhile then move on again. Money. Stupid money.

Or I'll pick up a crap job in Rochester, live with my folks and just earn earn earn and not spend a penny except on loan repayments (and if my parents charge me any sort of rent...) and just save up and then once I have enough (whatever amount "enough" happens to be) then I'll hit the road (or the air or whatever media my transportation requires).

Or I'll pick up a crap job that leads to a better crap job that leads to a crap career and then I'll be stuck in the corporate world and apathetic to my younger self's dreams and just become the crazy old loon living alone in some cottage with 14 dogs...

Or maybe I'll get a really good job and love it as much as anyone can love their job and be as content and satisfied as one can be, perhaps find a good place for myself, still have my 14 dogs but maybe more of a social circle/family as well and have a perfectly normal, unmentionable, ordinary life.

And of course at some point over the weekend I watched American Beauty and how the worst thing in the world is to be ordinary.

What to do, what to do.

I should start by finishing that damn homework....

Saturday, November 15, 2008

and though, I may know, I don't care!

Just for this moment, as long as you're mine...

Freaking Wicked! So close! One week until Alan arrives and then one more week until Wicked!

Been reading Wicked and now Son of a Witch to psych me up for it, and it's worked well!

FIYERO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love this song! (No Good Deed). That and Defying Gravity are probably my favorites.

I am a sucker. A cheesy romantic at heart - no one die of shock here but yes I do have a cheesy heart sometimes. Actually a lot of times but I don't like to show it... not sure why.

I saw Quantum of Solace today with my cousin Ben! And his younger brother (also my cousin) Tyler was working at the cinema. That was fun - the movie was pretty good (at least I liked it... whatever the social opinion of it was). Before the movie Ben tried to teach me (unsuccessfully I fear) how to play Guitar Hero. And before that I went to my classes and worked on my new dragonfly painting in watercolor. It's turning out pretty well - I might see if my adviser wants it (since she's the entomology prof on campus).

OOH! And on Thursday we FINALLY poured our first bronze castings, and I now officially have a little bronze kangaroo! It needs some work done still - has some tumors on it that need to be sawed off/sanded down, but other than that! It only took what, two months?

So of course I've wasted my evening, other than of course seeing my cousins and QoS.

Now I'm back to my usual ranting and stalking combination, not healthy to be sure but unavoidable. And the heater is blasting in here! Which just makes me want to take off my pants... because that's what I do when the roomie isn't home!

And I think it heard me because it just turned itself off...

Do you ever become obsessed with something so much that you start giving it attributes you know it doesn't actually possess? Create fond happy memories that never actually happened and possible futures that don't relate to reality? Well I have, and let me tell you, reality and logic SUCK!

It's the circle of life, and it moves us all!

Sunday, November 9, 2008

Songs and so on

Sooooooo I spent pretty much all day yesterday updating my music collection on my computer. It made me so grateful to my roommate, and a bit sad to think of all the music I lost when my hard drive crashed.

Thing is, now that it's fairly recovered music-wise, and I didn't lose anything picture-wise, I'm not entirely sure I want to pay the money to get stuff off my old hard drive. I can't think of anything I desperately need, or would be willing to pay $80+ to retrieve. I'd much rather spend that money on ... life I guess.

Right now I should be studying for my Neuro test, and again I'll probably regret not having studied as I should have. Sigh. Seriously, I stay up way too late on weekends and sleep in too much and then get nothing done. It's my own stupid fault, I just enjoy relaxing and keep telling myself I have plenty of time to do it later. I should also be writing my reading summaries but funnily enough, when I was going to start I realized I didn't even have MS Word!! How sad. So I've just installed a trial version of MS Office 2007 and it's good until the end of January so no rush there now. So the summaries will be what I do as soon as I finish ranting.

I got some funky weird music from Sybylla... seriously.

OH NO! MarioKart is gone... I'll have to get that back from one of my Aussie pals.

And now I've lost my train of thought.

I had an amazing dream right before waking up today! I'm going to relate as much of it as I can here:

So basically it was an Australian reunion of sorts. A girl from my conservation bio class was the first main character. She led me around the area, which was next to the ocean and some sort of woodsy area. We saw a pod of orca whales and watched them for a bit and then went over to the woodsy area where I saw a kangaroo and a bilby (which looked pretty much exactly like Brenda my stuffed animal bilby but was alive). Then some guys I didn't recognize showed up along with my cousin Ben and along with that group was Alan. But this Alan had a oddly shaped and much longer beard. He looked very nervous and scared of me at the time, but I went up and hugged him and was so happy to see everyone *even the guys I didn't know because of course everything makes more sense in a dream.* And then for some reason completely to my surprise Michael showed up. And after that mini reunion, well it gets a bit fuzzy but I just remember being so happy and excited and content. And then Sybylla opened the door and I woke up.

I was so upset to wake up, I tried exceedingly hard to just let myself drift back to sleep and hopefully back into the same dream, but then she kept coming in and out of the room (she was washing her dishes). And so I was foiled in my attempt to escape the harsh bitterness of reality in order to be at peace in my dreams.

Which is why I sometimes wish I would never wake up, but we must always face reality eventually.

My acceptance of my current status has been increasing lately. I'm not entirely sure why, perhaps I was suffering a psychological illness that time is healing. Or perhaps knowing I was alone in my suffering encouraged me to get over it. Don't get me wrong, I still want to escape, but the blinding urge and need to do so is no longer quite so painful for me to bear on a day-to-day basis.

I had a fun conversation today - and am mildly upset that my message saving system wasn't set up and so it's completely gone. But it was quite entertaining and also stimulating.

Now I'm just typing things to waste time because I really don't want to do homework. Which is sad because at least my Kinship class homework is interesting - its all about sex ed and of course I've already read everything! Just need to write some summaries... how easy is that?

I can't wait for Christmas break...