Saturday Morning, 3.7.09: I accidentally put a whole frozen pizza in the oven instead of just half. I asked Clau if I should take it out and cut it in half.
Friday Morning, 3.6.09: Donkey Konga box, woman hiding in our closet, I let her out and gave her the part of the shelf she asked for in secret.
/ Jakeline learned that the boy she was going to pick up from swimming, who was initially Miguel but later became the blonde boy Stephen from Afton Oaks, had gone to the "5 meter" part of the pool and they were giving him CPR. She would have to wait longer before she could pick him up. She seemed bothered by this change in plans, we were all in the backseat.
/ In Mexico, or somewhere resembling it, with a group of dream friends and Nicholas. We were directed to stay with an old woman, she was supposedly friendly and would let us stay in her humble apartment. She eventually got mad at us, and I was afraid she would discover the shelf that was missing. Music: Death in Vegas ft. Iggy Pop - Aisha
Thursday Morning, 3.5.09: Flashes of a dead girl's ghost in bed with me. Every thought I had that was correct brought me more images of her ("Is she trying to tell me something?") I woke up with my cottonmouth wide open.
- Someone threw drugs down a hole and I was sure they led to the top floor of a mall. I got out of the car as Clau was trying to exit the parking garage and met up with a girl to try to find the ziplock bag. The hole had now been closed off with metal bars, I apologized for making her come out there. She didn't seem bothered and we both walked outside where Claudio was waiting.
- Kids dressed as Channel 13 newscasters "They really look like them" I took photos with Phyllis's (The Office) camera and thought about transfering them to my laptop.
/ At the office, Jon Stewart was the new boss and he seemed to get along with everyone even though when Tim told him about the mistake he made he patronized him. Mei was forgotten about, she was getting her things together and looked sad. "This was my dream." "Well, maybe this new boss won't work out." "No, he's doing a great job." I rubbed her back in a rare show of affection on my part. Feifei was on her way out and Lewis and Bobby were at their old computers near the entrance of this unfamiliar building. I mentioned that Kristan had a website, or at least she did in 7th grade. They laughed and asked me what was in it and I said "Oh you know, Star Trek and Sailor Moon stuff, she'd get a photo from another website and put some text below it... it was a long time ago." I walked to Mei's car with her, it was a cheaper car, it looked like an mid 90s Dodge, and it was parked on the sidestreet near the townhouse. She told me the neighbors were making a lot of noise and I asked which ones, then wondered how she knew that if she didn't live there. I asked where they were living now and she said around Memorial City Mall. Gil still kept his job at the office. Kristan and he were in the backseat and as we passed the neighboring apartments on Fondren I saw a birthday banner for a girl with a funny black name. I looked to Kristan to see if she saw it. We were going to a sandwich place I wasn't too found of, I thought I would get a cheddar broccoli soup, but then looked through the menu and saw a grilled tofu sandwich with mustard and sesame seeds. I would get that instead.
Wednesday Morning, 3.4.09: In bathroom at Gran Via mall, lots of black Americans were in nearby stalls.
/ I was about to say something funny about what uncle Grish was wearing (a jacket like Steve Perry's) but Andrew and Edwin walked by.
- We went for a short ride out of the cave in a fancy black sports car. I ordered a drink at the round outdoor bar and someone paid for me, although I thought about paying him back. It was sunny outside; it reminded me of Miami on a good day. Music: Bush - Everything Zen
Tuesday Morning, 3.3.09: Jorge worked in a bakery, but it was 8pm and he must have gotten off of work already. I left a note and looked elsewhere for my cake, doubtful that I would find one in time.
/ I was doing a math problem in class. From where I was seated, which was on the far left side of the class, closer to the chalkboard, I could see the writing clearly for the most part. It was a complicated area percentage problem, and I realized that I was doing it wrong, because the length of my sides were different from what was given to us as a clue.
/ Jennifer Aniston with a friend in a weedy area.
- My mom smuggling weed in an 18 wheeler. she pushed the truck down the stairs in what looked like a hospital and we went down the stairs to get it from the shop where it landed. They filled a layer with marijuana to smuggle and I got in the passenger side. My mom suggested we eat at a nearby hospital and I agreed. She cut through a lot of lanes because she couldn't properly drive a truck that big, I was just happy no one else was driving. We were in the outskirts of a fancy residential neighborhood that reminded me of Coral Gables. We turned right onto a flat highway resembling Highway 6 in Houston, and my mom cut into the nearby brush instead of risking hitting cars that were speeding by. It was funny until I saw the cliff we were falling off of. I screamed and grabbed an electric cable that saved us from falling off. As we continued driving, slowly, I spotted a police car in front of us. I saw a man who looked like he came out of the 50s, in a gray suit with a matching brim hat, climb over a wooden fence into a suburban yard. The policeman was now out of his car and was walking with a small Paris Hilton looking dog. I realized it must have been a drug sniffing dog when he stopped near our truck. Now the policeman was coming towards us. "He was probably looking for that weird man, but now he's found us," I thought. Even if I pretended that I knew nothing about the drugs I would probably still be sent to jail. Music: Jon Secada - Just Another Day
Monday Morning, 3.2.09: With Kristan in a futuristic flying limo, I met up with an AMIGOS alumni before heading into a lava pit. I didn't make it through the moving rocks the first time, but the second time around I did, and I found a hidden part that sucked me up to another level where my life was nearly depleated, but then gave me a life refill. Music: Josh Hodges - Emma
Sunday Morning, 3.1.09: I was alone in a classroom taking a written test. It was over at 5:15, I was told, so I was doing ok on time. At least initially; I goofed around for a bit and saw that it was already 5:40 and I still hadn't finished. They probably weren't really coming until 6, but I had to hurry.
/ It was a post-apocalyptic world and there were only a few of us left. No one knew if it was safe to go on the street yet, there might still be remnants of poisonous gas, but I had an overwhelming urge to go for a walk. I was fine, I passed by a gas station and saw an old fashioned long car filling up.
/ I was in the backyard of our new, suburban house. The others were on an electric sled going down a grassy hill while I went to get the washer and dryer.
Saturday Morning, 2.28.09: Clau looked through a Japan guide book in the empty apartment we were touring. I suggested Mila fuck the real estate agent to get us a better deal. She had already left so I decided to do it, but I wanted Clau to continue reading the guide to keep his mind off of it. I looked through it with him, there were lots of maps with overlapping words and references to the Arab world. He turned to a photo of flamingos in an empty car and it looked familiar to me. I turned to the front page and saw that it was published in 1989 (and probably wouldn't be a good guide.) Now I remembered that I had read it at my grandmother's house when I was little.
/ I kicked a lady out of a bunk bed. She was driving and getting bitten by mosquitoes.
/ Michael Scott gave Kelly a paper nose and mouth mask while she was laying out on the balcony trying to sleep. I was in line with Stanley and in a nearby arena they were holding a teenage girls tennis tournament hosted by a ghetto 12 year old. I envisioned that she would get mad if she didn't win, and her mom would rig the contest in her favor. I looked on ebay and they sold tickets for $2 plus $3 shipping fees; the description said they would run for nearly $50 at the gate.
- Asia Argento commented on a Facebook note of mine saying "Weird." I didn't know how to take it, but I was honored she had read the note at all.
- I was training to become a lifeguard and I had to rescue what looked like a burnt corpse in the middle of the sea. I swam there quickly but as soon as I got there the body's appearance scared me. Every second counted, and I dove deep to pick him up.
Thursday Morning, 2.26.09: I broke Alexandra Wax's glasses by accident, but she didn't know that it was me. I walked into class late and paid her $20 to fix them. We were assigned an article and I was taking forever to read it. There were drawings of lamb in the article, but I couldn't figure out how they tied in with the content. Music: Verdena - Far Fisa
Wednesday Morning, 2.25.09: I tried to help an old woman graduate high school but she showed no interest. She was at home sick and I brought her textbooks and tried to get her to study. She showed interest only in the Tina Fey book I brought her, and later chewed me out saying that I was butting into her life and she didn't care about school. I was gutted, and later walked through the halls of our high school contemplating telling Sandra about the situation via a Facebook message.
- I walked through a mall or an airport with an old woman and she wanted to stop by a bookstore. She found an audiobook and bought it. The list price said $49.95 but the cashier told me all audiobooks were 7% off. I looked at the receipt and it actually came out to about $28, which was considerably more than 7% off. As we were walking out I found a travel photo book by German Hurtado and excitedly looked through it. His photos were nice, and I really liked the format and feel of the book. He had one that seemed more general, and the other one was from his travels in Latin America. I decided to purchase the general one. Music: Pavement - Perfume V
Tuesday Morning, 2.24.09: I was looking at a credit card but it only had 13 digits instead of 14 like my other card. I knew the "Enter" button digit was used more than once, so I compared it to my other card to try to determine a pattern in digits. Music: Shades of Grey - (demo cd track 3)
Saturday Morning, 2.21.09: I was in the pool while a woman described the brutal torture she was subjected to. A serial torturer was on the loose.
- Munir was coming to live with me, his family's car stopped on the highway and he got out and got into ours. I helped him with his luggage and said "ma'a salaam" to his little brother who was seated in the car. He gave me a funny look and said "ma'a salaam" with a better accent.
- Kuko's uncle called me, I was hiding out in an Israeli hostel in NYC but I got the feeling they were going to kick me out. He called the hostel phone and asked about the newspapers, I tried to give him Grafikshop's number but I couldn't remember what came after "977." I wondered how he found me.
Thursday Morning, 2.19.09: Trying to ride in a plane by attaching myself to the hot ventilator in the back. I told 2 old people that I would come back in and I would like to sit down for 2 hours later into the flight. A stewardess saw me before we took off and made me take a seat.
/ Claudio and I ended up in the same mall in New Mexico somehow. We sat with the Hoffmans and ate ice cream, it looked like the mall was about to close for the day.
/ The answering machine at the townhouse had lots of messages from callers to the newspapers. I didn't feel like dealing with them so I deleted a few. There was a list of callers on a white message board, I saw that there had been 16 calls.
Wednesday Morning, 2.18.09: A black woman hired a white man to kill her 3 teenage children, one of whom was me. I hid inside the box spring of my bed in the townhouse, but when the killer came out and talked to the mother she said there was still one person left. He came back in but I hid in Farida's closet and strangled him when he walked into the bedroom. I stuck my fingernails into my black mother's neck as we stood at the front door and I motioned to her best friend to help me. They were working together, but left me alone with the house to myself. I stood at the clear plastic door and watched the three exit down the cement stairs. I buzzed the doorbell as the killer went down the stairs, to scare him a little.
Tuesday Morning, 2.17.09: Train in Paris from the airport. I was told I could catch 2 different trains to get to my destination. I sat on the nearby stairs with a homeless woman until I noticed that one of my trains was about to take off. Each line had its own metal detector and such, I got confused as to which one to go through. They started giving me problems in security about my passport or something similar.
- Javi asked me what he should get Claudio for his birthday, he was thinking about a Smashing Pumpkins CD and a CD from another band I had never heard of. I knew Claudio wouldn't like the Smashing Pumpkins one, but I told him I didn't know.
Monday Morning, 2.16.09: I was stuck in the Proven�al region of France. This language was so strange to my ears, I didn't know what language to try to speak to them in. I wrote in my diary about the "15th century cuties" around me.
- I looked through the upstairs bathroom in the townhouse in a fervor. My mom would be home soon and I couldn't let her know I had been snooping.
Sunday Morning, 2.15.09: Claudio had another girlfriend, she called when I was in bed, her name was "Isoura" or something. He talked to her while I was in the room and the tone sounded flirty. Then we started to make out and he had to adjust his computer game version of himself to make out with a girl.. he chose a blonde one!
- Obama was getting a divorce. He and Michelle walked through the airport with David and Victoria Beckham. I was a bit disgusted.
/ The alarms went off and security was high. They were on to us, almost. We stole some badges and put our photos over them to get through. I found a gun in the room and hid on the floor. Music: Victoria Beckham - I Wish
Saturday Morning, 2.14.09: Island with annoying rich tourist, on the other side was almost the same price and much worse. Claudio wanted to swim with the dolphins and I wanted to go to the mosque afterward. I could see it in the distance, clouds were covering it.
/ I picked up a bunch of euro coins on the floor of an all-you-can-eat buffet that a lot of old people went to. I found a 3-euro coin that was bigger than the 2-euro one.
/ Claudio and I wanted to make out but Edgar was there. I wanted to cut the smaller scissor out of his bigger one, and envisioned doing that. If we didn't put the right music on the killer would come after us. We made a mistake in putting on a green CD, I could feel him come after us. Music: (metal song)
Thursday Morning, 2.12.09: Jes�s tried to kidnap me after I completed 1 round and realized I didn't follow his map, just his oral instructions. We walked to the bus station and he handcuffed me while I protested.
/ My mom called a cat over to us so she could slap it. He had done her wrong but I still felt bad for misleading him. I was talking to a British girl who lived in Munich and she said she lived alone because all the people her age were too studious and didn't speak English. I said something that made her laugh and she said when I went over there we should go to a club. I told her I didn't go to clubs, but when my friends came to visit I would ship them off to her. Music: The Corrs - Breathless
Wednesday Morning, 2.11.09: We finally made it to Tokyo and we were already going back home? I could see the connection to 59 on the freeway but I convinced everyone to turn back around so we could really see the city.
/ Adrienne and I made it to the theme park in time to ride a small train. I dropped my note with things to see on it right before we finished and we snuck back to look for it. "I found it, let's go!" I asked a lady working there what time the other park closed and she said at 5. We went through a grassy area down some cement stairs. I thought we could make it to the 5 o'clock show but it was already 7.
- I went missing from the office for a few hours. I chased after some dogs on the street and then wandered off on my own. When I got back they seemed to be waiting for me, Gil said we needed to have a talk and I feared for the worst. But it wasn't as bad as I expected. Kristan showed up and we all went to the backroom where a few ponies and other animals were. They all came up to me and it made me feel loved.
- Kristan and I were in Tokyo, we went to a restaurant that a guidebook recommended as vegetarian friendly. After I ordered I saw that the meal had black clams in it. The owner spoke broken English and said they didn't offer vegetarian meals. He still charged us "35 hundred" yen. I got out the Pippo wallet Kristan had given to me and paid. I told her she could eat the meal if she wanted to. We sat down and found a group of American girls who were also bitching about the non-vegetarian meals. "Did you guys use the guidebook, too?"
Tuesday Morning, 2.10.09: My dad had given me thousands of dollars, I had never seen bills as high as $35,000. I thought about taking a picture of myself with it since I would probably never see a bill that high again. My maternal grandparents were in the room and I suddenly feared they might steal my money. Mima had a Game and Watch in her hand and said something about the screen. We were in my father's room and it was dim.
I found a bunch of reais by the chickenwire fence. When I left Brazil I didn't pay much attention to the fact that they had changed my passport, I just rushed to catch my plane. Now the changes were apparent, they stapled another photo on top of mine and wrote in pencil that I was born in Belo Horizonte. When the authorities asked about it I said they had been joking with me the last time around, that sometimes they did this, and they smiled and let me go.
I followed these 2 spoilt little boys into Target. They were making a lot of noise and throwing everything around. When I tried to catch them they got inside a glass display case and shut the door. Jakeline asked me why I was so cold when I was arguing with her 2 sons. Music: Nena Daconte - Tenia tanto
Monday Morning, 2.9.09: Wylie pretended to beat up Tina Fey (our boss.) I was in the backseat of a parked car with Claudio and got out to intervene even though it was freezing and I was barefoot. I realized they were joking, "Domestic violence towards women isn't funny!" Music: Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Y Control
Sunday Morning, 2.8.09: Had over 2000 euros on the kitchen counter. Christian was on the phone and I wondered if I could trust him. He seemed ok, but my other roommates could not be trusted. I went into my room in the townhouse and tried to find a place to hide the money. Somewhere in my closet, perhaps? A found a plastic tissue box cover and considered that. Music: Sting - A Brand New Day
Saturday Morning, 2.7.09: I missed 2 trains which left at the same time. It was my fault for taking my time. I got on another train with 2 guys and it was headed to India, they thought it would stop in Germany but we found out it didn't after it left. The guy working there asked if we wanted him to "U-Turn" and we should have asked before we sat down.
- 4 months pregnant, everyone was asking about it and was excited. This wasn't Claudio's baby, maybe I should lie and tell him it was? I wanted to cry and talk to Michael about it. It was too late for an abortion, wasn't it? I didn't even know what I wanted to do.
/ I went to the backdoor of the townhouse and found a lot of coins in a container connected to the door. There were also a lot of dirty dishes. Sheryl Crow's "A Change Would do you Good" was stuck in my head and I thought about the music video. What ever happened to Heather Matarazzo? Music: Sheryl Crow - A Change Would Do You Good
Friday Morning, 2.6.09: Maria was in the room with me, I left and went with my dad to a place on Hillcroft. He passed a red light on a left-turn, but there was a big truck in front of us. Then he cut across 3 or 4 lanes to get to the place. At first I was going to stay in the car but it was a pretty shady area. A lot of Mexican guys were in the place my dad was in. Their cash register was broken and a guy there offered to fix it for $3.
Thursday Morning, 2.5.09: Tia Blanca made me run at night out of HEB to her car which was far away. We ran through a forest and I was carrying a huge bottle of cranberry juice. I started laughing at the situation as police cars whizzed by. We stopped at a stoplight and she told me that she took Papi somewhere in the backseat of her car and he peed so she had to clean it up. I was in a laughing fit.
/ I passed a lot of dream friends and crossed the street to a strip mall that was mostly abandoned. There was a nerdy shop in what used to be a Blockbuster, they had all sorts of music and video game rarities, like Radiohead (and a few other bands') mp3s on a keychain flash drive in the shape of a cassette tape.
Wednesday Morning, 2.4.09: Mary and Amiel were really good at fishing, he sat on Clau's bed and picked a fork out of a plastic wrapper set which was on the nearby shelf. Mary, Kristan and I were planning on going to a nearby waterpark but we needed to figure out how to get there. The pamphlet had bus and taxi prices, the taxi was $65 and the bus was $45, but the fine print by the taxi said minimum 4 people so that price was probably per person.
Tuesday Morning, 2.3.09: I had to be back at that subway stop in 24 hours with the solution and some paperwork, otherwise I would be dead. I tried to remember his subway stop, and the following one or two that would be of importance. I was sure I would never figure it out, but then I had an epiphany. I still had time to make it over there, but I had to hurry. I grabbed the paperwork (almost forgot it) and rushed out to the front door. Mila started telling me a story and I had to cut her off and tell her I Was in a rush.
I had gone blind, I turned the light on and couldn't tell the difference. I could see my computer screen perfectly, though.
- An Argentinian was at Clau's place, he also did parking studies. I looked out the window and spotted an Apple doormat outside of Eroski. They gave it to me because I told them I used to love Apple when I was a kid. I promised them a new one the next day.
- Mikey's girlfriend had kidnapped him, I rescued him from the bowling alley. Mary Lodholz was there and she was talking with her family about how they were going to kidnap her future husband.
/ People were getting out of their cars to see how bad the traffic was, it was Friday but traffic wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Music: Juanes - Nada valgo sin tu amor
Monday Morning, 2.2.09: Another temporal was on its way, Claudio left me with a gallego soccer player. "Hospital de xeral" was on wheel of fortune, and xeral or something like it was the soccer player's name. He took me to his place in his sports car, we went down a hill and I thought he was going too fast. He lived in a bachelor apartment and had sheets on his black leather couch for me. He wasn't interested, I could tell, and I felt like I was imposing on him so I tried to keep to myself.
- I browsed through a catalog with Claudio. They sold weird underwater creatures and out of curiosity I looked up the price of one of them - 35 for $3.
- A black tranny was on a bed, they were about to make a porno. I made out with a white guy at the edge of my townhouse bed, we both felt a little out of place there but made the best of the situation.
- I was in NYC with my mom, I passed the barrier and contemplated getting a subway pass as we waited for our train to come.
- Rafa Nadal was applying for job. When asked, he said he could work weekends unless there was a tournament. Music: Weezer - Island in the Sun
Sunday Afternoon, 2.1.09: We stopped by a Greek restaurant and I ran into Kirston.
Sunday Morning, 2.1.09: VHS tapes were $5 for 2 to rent, I thought it was pretty expensive. I forgot about all the DVDs I returned before watching but remembered that I had copied them to my computer before returning them.
/ Ms. Sperotto took a shower after me, we were going to the Galleria and I suggested we pick up Kristan since she lived 2 blocks away. She said she was going to South Africa soon. Music: Rosario Flores - No dudaria
Saturday Morning, 1.31.09: I told Kristan one of us should write a Hollywood film, she didn't seem too happy about it. / John McCain was in a store and a black employee wouldn't help him. She put her headphones on and ignored him completely, he chuckled about it and got some fruit punch. I felt pretty bad for him.
Friday Morning, 1.30.09: Val's family gave me a Christmas card and they all signed it. Taylor drew a rainbow. I was by the lockers upstairs. They asked me what I had done and I told them I had slept all day that my aunt had come over. I then realized I had merely dreamt that my aunt had come over.
Thursday Morning, 1.29.09: Axl Rose was in backseat of an SUV, me and cookie saw him when we got on the freeway and waved twice.
- Javi, someone else and Claudio were in his room together talking about music or something boring. His room was bigger and emptier. I had a photo of myself sleeping with someone else on my laptop and I didn't want him to see it. After the others left I told him he couldn't handle the truth.
Wednesday Morning, 1.28.09: Anushree sat next to me in a setting that looked like Ms. Moore-Walker's classroom. A black girl said that Venus Williams would win but I told her she had lost the day before. I told Anushree about the time difference between here and Australia, and how I had to watch the tournaments at 2am. I saw a few things in the small trashcan by the door, I remembered how earlier I was asked if I had given another student a blowjob on campus and I said yes, but as I thought about it I realized that I hadn't done that and it was dumb of me to say that I had. I was still awaiting my punishment, it was too late now to back out of my fake confession.
- A couple of fat black girls walked with me away from the Post Office on Fondren. They asked me where I liked to eat to get a snack. I looked at the Taco Bell and the adjacent Taco Cabana across the street and told them I liked Taco Cabana. No, this wasn't the answer they were looking for, they hinted to breakfast foods and I saw the Denny's a little more in the distance. Great, I hadn't had pancakes in a while.
Tuesday Morning, 1.27.09: Ms. Hicks had us sing a song that I knew how it went but I still hated it. It was an early 90s ballad.
/ Driving down freeway in Houston, Ms. Hicks got in the way and I couldn't see I screamed for someone to take over the steering wheel of the schoolbus, we were making fast turns and I thought we would die.
- I finally got around to baking that vanilla cake; I did so at night. I forgot that the water needed to be icy cold so I stuck it in the freezer. The sink was full of dishes.
- I visited Adrienne's apartment, she said she paid $120 of her paycheck to her parents each month for her and Aaron's rent. The total was $1000 a month, and I asked why they didn't move somewhere cheaper. They seemed to like it there, and I had to admit it was a nice apartment, glass walls all over the place. At night on the weekends, though, there were a lot of college parties. I stopped by one, a guy found one of my poems after I tried to hide it and other papers in a cool compartment of my backpack. It was about getting a pap smear, and I tried to get him to stop reading it out loud but he seemed to like to tease me. No one was even listening to him.
/ I went to a Mexican fast food place with some black girls, Adrienne and others asked me to hold their place in line, but it moved a lot quicker than we had expected. They changed the menu, now they didn't offer any of the vegetarian sides I used to get, like fried okra. I got a side of potatoes and a piece of bread, which came out to 1.06. I put 1.01 on the counter and the black girl standing next to me put a nickel on top, to which I thanked her. I was scared to go out alone at night, it was so dark outside. I could see some people standing around. I turned the flashlight function of my cellphone on and dodged them all, it was as if they would have gotten to me if I hadn't had the flashlight on. Music: Madonna - Heartbeat
Saturday Morning, 1.23.09: I was going to surprise Adrienne with a plane ticket to South Carolina for the both of us. She asked when the flight was and I didn't want to tell her so she couldn't figure out where we were going. But it left at 8:30 and it was already past 6. I stayed on the beach at night with some friends, and floated in the water for a while. We had missed our flight by now, and we passed through metal detectors to get to terminal 4. We had to exit into the hotel and go upstairs to get there. We passed a few stores along the walls, they were all closed but we browsed through the windows. One store had a lot of band t-shirts on display, including The Cult and The Doors. We went to a Chinese warehouse in the back where the owner was watching us as if we were going to steal something. Adrienne looked at a walkie-talkie. I asked the owner how to get somewhere and she told us, but I had trouble understanding her at first.
- I looked at a flag and tried to cure my myopia by using central fixation on the blue cross in the middle of the flag.
Thursday Morning, 1.22.09: They had changed the exterior of that outdoor cafe at least 3 times, I told my dad this as we stopped to get ice cream.
/ I guess I felt like I was intruding on Sandra, but she took me to the booth as we left the airport and they did indeed have the video game I was looking for. She dropped me off on a residential street near BHS at night. I thanked her for everything and told her I would treat her to lunch.
/ Thiago ran after bus with me. A few of us were waiting at the bus stop, but he knew that we had to run after the bus otherwise it might not stop. I put my red duffel bag in the bus's luggage compartment and sat down with Thiago. A few minutes later, I got off the bus in a rush. I completely forgot that it looped and went back to BHS; I would have to walk home now.
/ Debra Hurwitz called and said Sandra didn't give her a ride home like I had promised her. She said she took her time leaving class because she thought she had a ride, and now she missed her bus and didn't know what to do. I froze, I didn't realize she would take me up on that offer and I hadn't even mentioned it to Sandra. When I asked where she was she said Dunvale and some other street I didn't recognize, but this was in the opposite direction from where she lived, which was around West University.
/ I finally found Debra at a computer lab, she ignored me completely. The Apple computers in one row were placed in the opposite direction. She had a vintage blue track jacket that was made in Japan and was on her cell phone when I walked in.
Wednesday Morning, 1.21.09: My dad took me somewhere, I was in the passenger seat and he said I could have any of the CDs on the floor of the car. I realized they were a lot of the used soundtracks I had been looking at when we went to the store together, and I felt a little touched that he bought all of them with me in mind.
- Running to the elevator with a dream friend. We passed an old lady on the way to the third floor, and then the friend deserted me, saying she forgot something. I told her I would meet her downstairs, but I knew she did it on purpose and I wouldn't see her again.
- Apple computer had donated a lot of money to the Obama campaign, I just finished reading that in a magazine, and they were one of his biggest lobbies. I was in a new class and we sat around a bar while the professor stood in the bartender's spot and talked. I chimed in something about the Apple/Obama connection since it was related to what we were talking about and it seemed to bother a few people. I continued listening and leafing through my magazine. After class I went up to the professor to talk, he seemed like a cool guy. He asked me for my name, or better yet my business card and I replied that I didn't have one. I told him my name and he wrote it down on the back of something and gave me his "card," which looked homemade. Music: Amy Winehouse - Me and Mr. Jones
Tuesday Morning, 1.20.09: Someone going on a blind date. The guy didn't make it to the front door of the townhouse in time and the lady left, I could see it from my dad's window. I felt guilty because I didn't run downstairs in time, but my dad told me it was better this way. Then he showed me the threatening card he received in the mail. It was from somewhere in Florida and was written in spam-style bad English.
/ I walked to my mom's place (the townhouse) for something I forgot, my dad said he would wait for me outside.
- In an old train in Japan, I thought it was the bathroom (May Ann told me to go in.) Kate Connelly (or someone who looked like her) was politely arguing with me that I was in her seat, even though my key worked and hers didn't. I tried to show her that it was indeed seat 8 but when I looked up there were several small red numbers and none of them were 8. By the time I finally got her out of my hair (she went next to her little brother) the train ride was nearly over. I closed the capsule and thought I could finally pee but there was nothing that indicated that this was a toilet. I was holding it in so badly. I started to leave the train when it stopped but realized I should have left something at the seat, and I had to wait for Kate and her little brother to leave before I could get to my seat. I left the train and looked for a bathroom, I saw some tourists sitting down eating and thought I would ask them. Sandra and Ana were there, they had become celebrity stalkers. "This is such a House moment." Sandra took a photo of traffic on the freeway and said she wished it was highway 1001.
Monday Morning, 1.19.09: Ms. Tartt was going to become a substitute librarian. Someone mentioned they only hire you if you have experience and I chimed in that Ms. Tartt had been the computer teacher at River Oaks for many years. Ms. Tartt asked when we graduated "1999... no wait, 2003." I had trouble recalling the years, but I wasn't sure which graduation she was referring to.
- Black celebrity asked me for money when I stopped by the change machine (I had a 10.) "Not unless you get me an agent." He offered me something he thought was better, but I preferred an agent. I walked around in a circle by the check out desk. Music: Aerosmith - Dream On
Sunday Morning, 1.18.09: I checked out of my hostel and went across the street (looked like the Tramontina area of Curitiba) to the other hostel. I mostly just wanted to get out of that room, I felt unwelcome and uncomfortable. A bed at the new place was about $30 a night, and they were booked. The lady at the front desk (which was outdoors) told me she could put me on the waiting list. I ran into Irma and felt embarrassed that I hadn't left even though I told everyone I was going. I had no choice but to check back in to the old hostel. Henry (the Peruvian from the first trip to Rio) had fallen during a rock climbing expedition and turned into a dart frog. He was hopping from rock to rock on the hostel floor, and I stopped to think how was it possible that he turned into a frog?
Saturday Morning, 1.17.09: Christian gave me a raspberry Oreo from the seat of his car. I told him I didn't want it if he only had 1 or 2 left, but he had 4 left in his 6-pack. As I ate it he talked about his new cat.
Friday Morning, 1.16.09: We were on a small mountain somewhere in South America. I went with Eve Plumb into the bathroom and she mentioned wanting to finally hook up with Christopher Knight. I told her it was about time, and that the rest of us had joked about it behind her back. The shower went on in the stall next to hers. I told her I would get him and make sure no one else was in the bathroom, I was happy and excited for her. I found a scrunchy on the floor but it wasn't worth mentioning. A few people came in the bathroom, everyone seemed to know that the two of them wanted to get together. Even more people came in and started preparations for a party. I told Katie Gilger I would take a photo, I got my phone out and someone else had a camera and was taking a photo so I felt a little out of place. German was about to marry Jillian, I realized was taking a photo of them. This wasn't how I had planned things to be, I desperately wanted to be alone at that moment and not in a social setting. I didn't realize he was in his black underwear when I took the photo. I missed him, I eventually had a moment alone with him. As I was about to say "Te sigo queriendo" Jillian walked in. I told them both congratulations, they looked happy. Music: David Bowie - All The Young Dudes
Thursday Morning, 1.15.09: I went into the townhouse through the front door, my dad had his shirt off and looked surprised, as though I had caught him doing something he shouldn't have been doing. Jesús told me to do the second round of the parking study on Tuesday morning instead of Saturday (today.) I went home to put my papers up.
- I ran into the bitchy Australian girls yet again, this time we were in Israel, far from the South American area where we had originally run into each other. The Israeli I was with told me the name of the town was Guadaquil ("Like in Ecuador?"), we were on the equator here as well. It started to pour, we all went under a metal roof. I explained to them that the Israeli suggested I come with him to Israel after going to Spain so I did just that; I had nothing better to do. An Israeli girl let me use her illegal red metal phone card to call home, it always said there were 89 minutes on the card no matter how much you talked. I went around the corner to the computer lab, Anushree was there using a computer. I sat down at one that I assumed was unoccupied even though someone's coat was on it. They were all old Macs, and Skype didn't seem to work on them. Music: Meredith Brooks - Bitch
Wednesday Morning, 1.14.09: I helped Michael move, her mom and a few of her friends were there as well.
/ A Mexican woman drove in to pick up her daughter, which surprised us all because we thought the daughter was spending the night. The mother drove a red sports car and was a zombie. The whole family was turning into zombies.
/ I was going to turn into a zombie soon, I wanted to play piano with Claudio before it happened. I went into my dad's closet (which was in the middle of the wall and had accordion doors) to look for a gun so he could shoot me in the head when the transformation happened, but I couldn't find it. I envisioned him having to hack my head off with a saw; I really didn't want it to end that way. Music: Bjork - Venus as a Boy
Tuesday Morning, 1.13.09: I walked along the 2 roads in the farming community I lived in. Life was boring around here. A girl that looked like Scarlet Johanssen walked down the road with her friend. They both had on pale green shirts and I thought about how bad that color looked on me. Her friend asked her what she was going to do now that she had two boyfriends and she replied that she merely wouldn't tell them about the situation.
- Michael, Sandra and I sat down to eat in a fast food restaurant in the food court. We spotted a fierce gay in the background visiting a group of (perhaps new) friends and Sandra called him over. He sat next to me and we became good friends even though he was mean in a joking way. I woke up laughing.
Monday Morning, 1.12.09: I went to the office (which was larger and different) and found 2 dreams I had written from 11.29 and 11.30.
- A TV writing manager was outside my closet telling me the most important thing was to know someone in the business, and once I got my foot in the door I would be ok. I tried to get more out of him, he was friendly and sounded like he would get me in. He took a phone call in the bathroom and that's when he was killed. I overheard the woman on the other end of the phone telling him to kill me, so I ran downstairs. A mad surgeon was standing at the foot of the stairs, I took a butcher's knife to protect me but he kept throwing knives down, nearly getting me. I had to stay downstairs to keep him from leaving, and I regretted not getting smaller knives that would be easier to throw.
Sunday Morning, 1.11.09: Geri was in an interview and talked about how she was labeled as the fat Spice Girl. She started tearing up. I noticed how many freckles she had while she mentioned Emma's book. I wanted to read her new book, I thought about it on the train ride through foggy weather. It was strange how the cover had children's heads on wooden poles in the dirt. The title was similar to a David Sedaris book.
- There was a small frog in the townhouse bathroom, I looked again and there was a small spider on the opposite wall. As I closed the door I saw a big wasp in the wall between them, and told my mom to keep the door closed when she came in my room.
- Claudio and I took his dad's car and visited Mt. Fuji on one of our days off. There were several electronic markers noting how high we were and how thin the air was.
Saturday Morning, 1.10.09: I walked out of the store (Lidl?) before Mom did, I was trying to speed things up since she was taking forever. But when I went back to look for her she was gone and her car was, too. It was late, I started walking home when she called. She was going to pick me up but since it was almost 8 and the library was closing I told her I would just finish walking home instead.
- I went to the second floor in the old building to meet up with Dalia and Fauzeya. One of them talked about a guy they had a crush on all during college. "But he's gay!" I reminded her.
Wednesday Morning, 1.7.09: I woke up in my clothes in my dad's bed. I was alone and the closet lights were on. I found a brown sweatshirt to keep me warm. I could feel heat coming from the vent but I was still cold.
-- The first day of 7th grade all over again, I told Mr. Taylor I didn't know why it was happening.
Tuesday Morning, 1.6.09: It was Christmas Day, Christian texted Claudio and said he didn't have any plans so I suggested he invite him over. We went out to the parking lot and circled around until we found a spot.
- I sat next to Leonel Messi, he was friendly and down to earth as I imagined he would be. I asked him, among other things, what he usually ate. His diet was healthy, and he mentioned he tried to drink a glass of cranberry juice a day. I told a few of my friends the next day that I had met Messi and they seemed amazed. But at least 2 of them were at the same party with me; they must not have recognized him. They reminded me that he was only 14.
- McKenna kept trying to walk in on me when I was putting on my shirt, and it was pissing me off. In the closet under the stairs I found two girls, one was a black girl who was playing my keyboard. All of my clothes were dirty, the red shirt I wanted to put on was still wet and hanging dry, so I put on my Pop Tarts dinosaur shirt since it was the only half-clean shirt I could find.
/ I was the 2nd in our row of seats, I passed back the handouts while the girl in front of me read about the jazz age in a deep black voice. Her real voice was much more high pitched. I wanted to read, I could do a funnier voice.
/ McKenna sat at a round table and asked me for a light blue colored pencil because she had peed her pants. I took out my Sanrio colored pencils and she chose from several light blue shades. As she colored over her dark jeans I sang the first few lines of "The Sign" and we both started cracking up. "I think I know all of the lyrics." Music: Ace of Base - The Sign
Sunday Morning, 1.4.09: I didn't know what kind of sandwich to get so I just got some ice cream. The total was 2.40, I had a 5 and I tried to pay with 2 dimes plus coins in the foreign currency so they could give me an even 3 back. The cashier seemed confused but didn't care much. I waited a long time, they finally gave me a mint chocolate chip shake. I shouted that I had been waiting 15 minutes and the shake wasn't even full. As I walked out with Tia Yoya and Zachary I noticed that they just added milk to the shake, which took away from the flavor. I would have preferred to have it less full and tasteful.
- A bitchy Australian girl took my top bunk in the hostel. I threw my backpack on her before realizing she was there and she got mad at me. "Oh, this was my bed when I got here this morning... it's ok, I can move." I left my stuff on my new bed and left the dorm. I was lonely, I browsed through brochures looking for something to do so I wouldn't have to stay in the room.
- A serial killer abducted me. He made me kill an old woman and throw her out of his van while he drove down a dusty farm road. He had me under his spell, I couldn't say no to him and I was very much afraid of him. We went to a baseball game with Kristan, he mentioned he didn't like football but he liked baseball. He let me go the bathroom and gift shop with her while he watched the game. When I came out of the stall she suggested we try to flee, but I looked around, paranoid that every man around us was watching us, working for him. Then I thought maybe he was recording everything we were saying, and told her this. We went to a nearby store and looked at their Sanrio products. I wanted new Fiskar scissors since my last pair got confiscated in Rio, but I couldn't find any small ones. On the other side of the aisle was Spice Girls merchandise. I reckoned they were left-overs from the mid-nineties since most of them were Mel B products. There was a large white sunhat as well; I didn't see any relation to the Spice Girls.
/ I ran into my house and was about to lock my front door when I heard Kristan screaming to let her in. The killer was after us, I let her in and closed the door as soon as he got up to it, but he had a chainsaw in his hands. We were trapped, he would saw his way in in no time.
Saturday Morning, 1.3.09: Asia Argento replied to my facebook message with 2 emails. I read them in a rush, she had asked to hear the demo I had recorded with Steven Charba, I listened to it again and it actually sounded good. I was anxious to reply to her emails, but I went downstairs for a short while. It was 3am.
/ A dream friend and I were hiding from our assistant principal in a shopping mall. We would have done so successfully too, if it hadn't been for that retarded kid walking around. I thought this as I envisioned our principal on the escalator amongst a large crowd. I went to the first floor where a fat African man was interviewing me for a job. I mentioned that I didn't have a cell phone yet, I had bought one on ebay and it would be arriving soon. Mr. Clark was sitting across from me. I looked at the paper the African man was holding and saw that Mr. Clark's real name was Oswaldo Sanchez-Lopez!
Friday Morning, 1.2.09: We went on a field trip, the world looked apocalyptic. The sand was like tiles and the dark clouds moved by at super speeds. We were rushed out of the area but I wanted to take a photo of the three towers in the distance. I didn't want to lose the rest of the group, though, so I followed in a bad mood. While they went to the museum I went back to take my photos, but the image stabilizer and exposure only lasted for the first photo. My photos came out blurry and dark.
- Roy was about to be nailed to a post and served on top of a pizza that Pam and her sister had ordered. She stopped by the pizza place in the middle of nowhere and I let her know what was going on. Jennelle was there too, and said she had gained weight. Val showed up to talk about her famous cousins in NY while I ate rock candy. She said I was being annoying.
Thursday Morning, 1.1.09: I was in an attic finding things on my list. A fan sent Emma a small hemp bracelet since she was the only one not pregnant. Mel B said the girls knew about her pregnancy far before the media did. Music: The Cult - Love Removal Machine
Wednesday Morning, 12.31.08: I caught the 25 near Sharpstown Mall but they changed the route. I got off right before it went on the freeway, now I would have to walk home.
- Jennelle asked me to turn off the ice machine, but I didn't know where it was. We talked about her former apartment in Moncloa, and how nice it was.
- Clau's Master System wasn't working as well as it used to so he took it to Andres's store to sell it. I brought Alina to Andres's house, his aunt was living with them and they had an Italian last name like D'Alessi.
Tuesday Morning, 12.30.08: Edwin was let out of jail, his hair was long but the top of his head was still bald. We were all waiting for him, he barely acknowledged my presence. Tia Blanca and Grish didn't make it, but Skye and her friends were there. I later went to a thrift store with Kristan, since it was nearby. We needed Disney style stuff.
Monday Morning, 12.29.08: Some Arab family friend had a girl who was playing with Alina and Ronnie in their room. They got in a fight and this girl seemed like a bitch.
- I met Tina Fey who was working at a bar in the middle of nowhere. No one would believe me, though. She made me laugh a lot. I was chaperoning a bunch of Arab kids to a waterpark, we lost one of them but he showed up outside a few minutes later. Adrienne went to the water park with me.
- A black Muslim girl showed up in a suburban house, two little chicks were following her and she shooed them away before entering. She thought it was a Muslim hangout, but the black fat lesbian who answered the door knew it was a black party going on. I went upstairs and a girl there had looked up graphing calculators in Clau's old encyclopedia, she wanted to make a copy of the pages. I was going to just give her the book but then realized I shouldn't do that. I was about to offer to let her take pictures with my camera when the guy sitting next to her let her use his cameraphone. "Oh..." I stood there awkwardly.
Sunday Morning, 12.28.08: I wandered around a mostly deserted wing of Sharpstown Mall looking for a new messenger bag. I had passed by there with Claudio months earlier but told him there was nothing there. There were American Indian handicrafts on shelves, and a hallway that looked under construction that led to another wing. "What's down there?" I asked myself. A sketchy Mexican guy came up to me and said "Nothing" as he laughed with his friend. I got scared and shot out of there.
/ I left the mall and was in the mood for Luby's. A cop, I'm pretty sure the one who arrested me, offered to take me there but we had to keep it a secret because it could get him in trouble. He drove me to the other side of Sharpstown Mall, apparently they had opened a new Luby's there. I tried to be low-key when I left the car but my backpack got stuck and then I weakly closed the door and had to close it again. I told him thanks.
Friday Morning, 12.26.08: In Brazil, about to leave for Buenos Aires, my flight left at 6pm. The girls had washed my clothes and they were drying on a line around my bed. Still damp but I took them and appreciated the thought. There was already someone on my old bed, they had kind of forgotten about me. I walked in a daze, I was following someone until we got to a small outdoor market near a dead end and a Sendas. I had to get to the airport, on a big screen outside they were showing Forensic Files with a Latin American Spanish voice-over. I saw Siamese twins go into the nearby apartment building, it was weird and I wondered what it meant. I had sandals on and wanted to avoid going into the mud and water, so I went around. As I passed by the outdoor stairs a black girl came from under me and said she was looking forward to killing me. Then roots came out of nowhere and clutched at my ankles, I kicked them off at first but a few seconds later, under a nearby staircase, they got to me again. I was going under.
Thursday Morning, 12.25.08: I took the bus and met up with Mei at a Souper Salad. We were in a kind of ghetto area, I told her I would go to work later (or the next morning?) but later I had to call her and tell her I wouldn't be able to make it.
/ Jennifer Vernelli came out of the bathroom, I was waiting in the main bathroom area. She made this face like it smelled inside, and asked if the other bathroom was available. I hadn't even noticed one next door, but it was occupied.
Wednesday Morning, 12.24.08: They trained me to be a spy from a young age, they saw that I was smart and had potential. But by the time 5th grade came along they saw that I couldn't swim or ski and set their sights on other children.
Tuesday Morning, 12.23.08: I read Tina Fey's book and was cracking up. I ended the chapter about her ability to out-quote anyone.
- Sharmila took me on a roadtrip with her younger sister (since she couldn't trust her with the ticky-tack.)
- The valet took me to the wrong car, one that was much nicer than mine. I later discovered that it was a trick that I thankfully didn't fall for. As I made my way to my real car a car came out of nowhere and crashed into the one they tried to give me. They were on to me, I ducked down and tried to stay hidden.
Monday Morning, 12.22.08: My dad called me into his bedroom so I could cure Ronnie, who had chickenpox or something like it. I turned bright red along the edges and Farida put him in the litter box like a cat.
/ My dad bitched in Spanish to Farida about my $10 AOL bill. I could understand everything he was saying, and it was annoying me. While all this bickering took place Alina choked on a plastic bag and could have died if I hadn't walked in just then.
- Claudio told me he was "very much" bisexual. We were sitting on a couch in his dad's house, which was different. His dad was drunk and walked in on me peeing in the bathroom. I shouted at him in English to let him know I was inside, it just came out of my mouth. After I left the bathroom he said there was a proper way to tell someone you're in the bathroom.
Sunday Early Morning, 12.21.08: Thiago, Rodrigo, Marivaca and Juju were waiting for me. We were on our way downtown from Thi's, but I wanted to take my luggage with me so I could go to the airport that afternoon. I was taking a long time, I wanted to put deodorant on when Thi came in the house and said "Come ON!" I felt bad for making them wait. I had just found a bottle of Neutrogenia shampoo that had burst in my ziplock bag, I wouldn't have time to clean it up.
- Adrienne and I got lost at our new school, it was getting dark, she was the only one with a map. We asked around and found a black lady who knew how to get where we needed to go, but we couldn't find our map.
Saturday Morning, 12.20.08: Smuggling cocaine out of Brazil, they caught me in Curitiba but I started crying and sounded really believable. I still wanted my NES cartridges but I left my ugly red duffle bag there and started complaining about the situation outside as if I really didn't know there was cocaine. We had long straws of coconut canes but some of them, the curvier ones, had cocaine. I seperated them but then realized it was better to keep them mixed up until I passed customs.
- Pete and Pete episode, I went with them to investigate Mr. Swirly. We got on a bus after bickering about which car to take, and the last stop was the 2 stores across the street from the mall. We were in a small town that reminded me of Austin, but I think we were in Iowa.
Friday Morning, 12.19.08: German was getting married, before me. His future wife was cute, but the wedding ceremony was so trashy. Claudio came with me, the wedding took place in a wooden building.
/ I snuck into a speedboat and hid among German tourists.
/ Claudio and I went to a somewhat fancy all-you-can-eat buffet at K-Mart. We each got a slice of cake, but were later informed by the waiter, as we were eating, that that particular cake was an extra $2. I spent the remainder of the dream bitching about the fact that they didn't inform us ahead of time.
Thursday Morning, 12.18.08: I told Thiago that I had another chubby gay friend from Rio, how had I forgotten about him all this time? He sounded interested, I told him that he was also 25 and they might have met already through mutual friends.
/ Val and I split a taxi. She had a sushi date at Benihana with some guy she was seeing just to make Alex jealous."RA Sushi is better, do you know where that is?" As I was telling her she walked into the restaurant and left me there; the African taxi driver was mad because I wouldn't pay the fare. "Uh Val's inside, ask her for the money."
Wednesday Morning, 12.17.08: In Argentina with an older group of travellers, including Irma. We saw a train pass by, the one we needed. We were now stuck until the next train passed by, but we had a breathtaking view of Argentina in the Fall. We started eating at a picnic table, Irma shared her pink and white sprinkled Christmas cookies with us. Mine was in the shape of Cristo O Redentor. I mentioned to the group that I had been there.
?Tuesday Morning, 12.16.08: I set Claudio's apartment on fire and grabbed my laptop on the way out. I asked him, as though hypothetically, what he would take with him if the place burned down.
Tuesday Morning, 12.2.08: I accidentally went into the boys' bathroom and a Chinese woman assumed I had been making out with someone. She took me to the top of a building, I assumed I was going to be punished but instead I got a small part in a Pepsi commercial. The special surprise guest winded up being Cindy Crawford.
Sunday Morning, 11.16.08: Claudio and I became swingers, and did a partner exchange with Wylie's friends Alex and Samantha. Alex reminded me that we shouldn't develop attachments as we were getting into bed. I gave him this reassuring look, and thought he had a pretty big ego. I wasn't looking forward to this, I wondered how Claudio was doing.
Tuesday Morning, 11.11.08: Going to work in a thrift store. The lady who was going to hire me told me that I wouldn't get those clothes for free, but this was the 2nd time I heard her say that so I was used to it "Ok.."
I was hired to replace toilet paper rolls and clean the bathrooms on two floors. Girls were constantly flowing in and out so I felt overwhelmed. I made it to orchestra with a SpiceWorld songbooklet, but apparently they wanted the score and not the songs themselves. I tried to convince them otherwise, but I had to go to the Spice Girls container nearby and look for the score.
"Yokhuzara" ("what a pity" in Arabic), sitting with 2 friends, bass and guitar, as I was drumming a beat on my thighs.
Sunday Morning, 11.9.08: 2 black men escaping crime to Costa Rica. Claudio and I were walking up a steep street. It started to rain, we saw a lot of the same people.
/ Wylie and Kirston were at the townhouse.
Saturday Morning, 11.8.08: I was visiting Mariana's home, her dad looked Armenian and laid in bed with her because he was sick.
Friday Morning, 11.7.08: Jessica was going to have a baby, it was 9pm when we were at the museum and I asked Michael if she had to go to the Garbage concert. She had a free ticket prior to her Buddhist retreat in India. I had asked the girl who worked at Borders that went to BHS how much tickets were and she said $29. I considered going. It was too late to go, Kristan and Jessica went out in the rain. Was the girl's name Javeria?
/ Later, I went to the cafeteria with the two of them, some sort of black bean soup was the only meal, and long cheese Doritos. I tried to remember a Strangers With Candy quote "My baby's having a baby" in a Jerry Blank voice.
/ I went to a museum with Tia Blanca and Grish, we could take pieces home and I wanted a wooden one with small shelves in it. I removed the lower portion but I needed to unscrew the top part. When we were about to leave I wanted to go back into another room, but when I went in it was completely dark. I walked backwards further and further and feared not being able to find my way out. When I got out, a woman there accused us of something we didn't do, so we started to run down the outdoor stairs. We considered hiding in a nearby park but realized they would find us there. We took Michael's car out of there, although I had considered splitting us up and having Michael take the bus somewhere to meet us. She was still dating Andrew. We ended up in AlCampo.
- Mel B was in All Saints in the early 90s, the songs were actually pretty good, much better than her solo stuff. How did I miss this? I would have to look this up. Mel C was also in the group when they were disolving. The videos were on channel 13 or 15, with the text messages below.
Thursday Morning, 11.6.08: In a room with Claudio, it looked like he had a crush on our physical trainer. She was riding a stationary bike in the room. We passed the cafeteria and went to a park with a lot of ducks in it. Claudio dug a hole for one of them and mentioned the giant octopus that supposedly lived in the adjacent lake. We could see the park on TV, on the Gallega channel, and it was better than going out there in the cold.
- I was in line at a retail store, maybe on an alien spaceship, we were all anxious to ask a blonde woman life questions. Numerous lines were being made, and I was getting annoyed, thinking people would try to cut us in line. The young Asian man in front of me, who was a hairdresser, said he thought he was gay and didn't know what to do, and the young Asian man behind me said "me, too!" I don't even know what my question was going to be.
- Claudio and I ran through downtown Houston, or downtown somewhere, down a hill and past stoplights. I needed to get somewhere before they closed, and I wanted to stop by a restaurant on the way. I was imagining the menu, the meal I wanted was under "Lunches and Soups" but it would be served after lunchtime as well. As we were running, holding hands, I accidentally scraped Claudio's hand against a small cement wall (an elevated patch of grass). I apologized and realized he was in pain.
- There was one bid on my Juanes CD, 99 cents, but everything else was in red.
Wednesday Morning, 11.5.08: I had been kidnapped by Colombian friends of Jakeline. I feigned blindness to get out of it, they gave me a blind stick and Nicole took me to a grocery store. She couldn't find her car "What color is it?" I started to say, but then remembered I was supposed to be blind. I thought they would catch on so when we got to the house I tried to call Tia Blanca or my mom to pick me up and have them act like I was blind.
- My dad and Farida made spaghetti, my dad offered to serve me but when I gave him my plate he acted like I should get everything myself. He and Farida said all I said to Alina was "Hi, how are you?" and it wasn't a big deal. In other words, I wasn't a very good family member.
- My mom and I walked around Portland at night looking for Jennelle whom we had lost in the crowd. I spotted her and we walked down a narrow street to my mom's car. On the way I saw a video game store.
/ we were in a mall, my mom and Claudio and I. Claudio was taking a while at a CD store so I looked around. There was a Jim Morisson game, I think, and a lot of Playstation demo CDs. The good stuff was all pretty pricey.
Tuesday Morning, 11.4.08: I told my mom I was worried about Tia Yoya and she told her this over the intercom when we passed by her high-rise.
/ We drove past a bunch of old-fashioned pawn shops and thrift stores at night, most of them had neon signs. We went into a pawn shop, they had a famicom disk and old games, tennis rackets, a keyboard. Aladdin games were on display, someone in Freecycle had just asked for it, but I had no idea they were worth so much money.
Sunday Morning, 11.2.08: I tried to steal a mattress from a motel run by a Pakistani, just like I had been told. I think he picked up on it, but we had already fled in a 70s car by then.
- The Office Pam was stuck overnight with Jim, they got in a minor fight and she started falling for HR guy.
- Ms. Nelson and I were grading Cameron's math notebook, Moneeza walked in. I knew that I wanted to be a teacher similar to her, so I paid attention as she explained why she was taking certain points off.
Saturday Morning, 11.1.08: It was dark at the campsite, I felt like things could pop up at any minute, but the lights came on finally.
- Playing basketball with Clau in NYC, maybe in the Bronx. I said I hated that they played on the nearby court and I guess the black guy overheard me and played somewhere else so he wouldn't be throwing the ball near us. There was an outdoor fleamarket going on, we walked through it and saw Chinese CDs.
- Clau and I were in a video game, I was the red one and he was the blue one. I was on my last bit of life so I told him to attack the enemy since I couldn't go on anymore and he had a lot of life left.
Friday Morning, 10.31.08: German was in class with me, our assignment was in Catalan even though our teacher was American. We had to fill in the blanks, and even though I barely understood the text I knew that "husband" was one of the answers. I asked German how to say "marido" in Catalan. We walked down the stairs together and I thought he was still into me, but I saw him meet up with another girl.
- Tia Blanca's front lawn had been invaded by bugs.
? Wednesday Morning, 10.29.08: I was the one who barked to the med school students from my Costa Rica trip. I ran on all fours and rolled around, hoping they would think I was a dog. I went into a furniture store, and as I was leaving they spotted me. I admitted that I was the one who barked, they looked at me like I was weird. We went into a Big Lots together. The store normally closed at 10:30, but since it was Sunday it closed at 4. The lady let me in anyway. There was some food available, but not much variety, lots of frozen seafood. I bought a toy Gameboy Advance for Claudio. I accompanied the white med student to his townhouse, or rather to the front door, and then into the Vietnamese's new truck.
Tuesday Morning, 10.28.08: There was a Bush concert in mall, at first it was just 3 of us in the audience and I couldn't believe it. Eventually more people showed up and the band left running to get Thirstys. They played mostly from their new, slightly boring CD. Then in church, since I didn't take a photo when it was just 3 of us in the audience I wanted a photo of the setlist, but I was taking a photo of something else by accident. Michael started talking about her cats with Codi.
- My pajama shirt was open in the kitchen when Mila walked in. I quickly tried to button it up.
Monday Morning, 10.27.08: At Sampaio about to get into the car, I kicked a ball high between me and Clau. We went to a library that was full of little kids and their moms, a fat hispanic-looking little boy was on stage reading from a book, he looked nervous. Miguel was about to go on, Jakeline was going to help him.
- 2 questions about a video game Clau was selling on ebay ended up in my spam folder. I opened one and it was about some secret in the game. I went to MyEbay and saw that my That Dog cd was at $6.30 with 1 bid, but that the person was willing to pay over $6000? That couldn't be right.
- High skateboard ramp, I ran along pipes and highways to meet up with German. Winter was approaching.
Sunday Morning, 10.26.08: Man entering in barn which apparently was a danger, I had just come back from the mall.
Saturday Morning, 10.25.08: I found gun in an abandoned car, took it and didnt report to police because I had touched all the evidence and wanted to keep the gun. We were outside of a foreclosed house that belonged to Tony. A family was looking at it even though it was in bad shape and had burgular bars on everything.
- I was pushing an old wooden wheelchair with a young Cuban woman in it. I took her to the 2nd floor of the mall on the elevator and Tia Blanca said she had a better wheelchair at home that she could have.
Friday Early Morning, 10.24.08: I was going to move to an island for my job, at least a few months out of the year, but I was excited because I could escape the cold. I went online and did a search for the modelling agency. Music: The Pretenders - Night in my Veins
Thursday Morning, 10.23.08: Our father, the doctor, was going on a two-month vacation with the Phillipina maid. I must have been the only one who heard him say that. We were all pretty surprised, and I said that two-months was a long time for a vacation, after a while you start getting bored and annoyed. We were sitting in the kitchen, Ms. Jameson passed through. We had to find the royal jelly; I wondered what it was for but I knew that it was on top of the refrigerator so I took down the small box. Inside were two tiny chili soup packets, but no royal jelly.
/ McKenna revealed she had a crush on Thomas Morgan in high school, I told her he was such a nerd. We were looking at books on a shelf at the time. Music: Ranma 1/2 theme song in Spanish
Tuesday Morning, 10.21.08: There was a rainbow in Claudio's living room, it was shining very brightly.
Sunday Morning, 10.19.08: Trying to kill a pregnant Colombian woman because it was my job, she tried to stop me, giving me a look like it wasn't her. I returned her look with one letting her know I was only doing my job. When my gun didn't go off, I signaled to my co-workers to shoot at her but they didn't. We were under a carport.
/ Claudio was with 2 Colombian hookers in the same room when I walked in and pulled him out of there.
Saturday Morning, 10.18.08: Adrienne and I went through a physical challenge course, the man they were looking for was in Rome, or in some state nearby, and was on a small boat. Since we passed it so easily the first time we tried again, but the glass room at the end was filled with zombies. We didn't have any weapons to use against them so we left through a nearby exit. I later found out that if you worked in the bar on the second floor they gave you a grenade.
Friday Morning, 10.15.08: Kristan was driving fast backwards up a ramp in a parking garage. I was pretty much scared for my life.
/ My dad got mad at us for talking in my room (my mom was putting on makeup in the bathroom), when he wasn't looking I unplugged the refrigerator to annoy him.
Thursday Morning, 10.16.08: I was going to be sad the last day of high school, I wouldn't be in the mood to go to a dance. But maybe this could be my opportunity to finally do something with Shaun Kolnic? I walked down Richmond to where the Taco Cabana on Fondren is, which was now a diner of some sort. It was night-time already, and cops were all over the place. One came into the diner when I was about to order, and interrupted me. I was sick of being ignored as usual, I didn't even want to order anymore. When the cashier finally paid attention to me I ordered a grilled cheese sandwich for $1 and a bag of plain Doritos for 68 cents. I got a free bottle of iced tea by accident and didn't mention it to anyone.
/ TJ and I were about to go on a road trip over the weekend, we had to stock up on foods so we stopped by a Sams-like store. It was early in the morning, and the New Mexico desert was far behind us as I looked past the car and the highway.
Wednesday Morning, 10.15.08: I was in Colombia with Jakeline and Miguel, inside what looked like a wooden warehouse. Jaki and I were playing cards with some of her female friends and family, Jaki put the pairs she had on the table face up, but told me this was optional. There must have been 5 decks in there, or at least 4. After looking at 19 cards at once I took out a set of 4. Everyone seemed impressed by this, but I didn't think it was a big deal. We walked upstairs together, Jakeline introducing me to friends and family along the way. One of the ladies had heard about my set of 4, and congratulated me on it. I eventually lost Jakeline and wandered off looking for her or Miguel. Miguel and went down an escalator that didn't work, but I eventually lost him as well, and the place was empty now.
- There were only 4 adult Jews in town, a young boy rode through the streets on his bike to wake them up for prayer. The Rabbi performed a bris on a chicken, I had to hold her underwater while he did so and he mentioned that if it took too long she could drown. It seemed like he was intentionally taking a long time so I tried to speed up the process. He chopped the beak off, and there was a small hole in its place. I was disgusted by this, but I was assured it would grow back nicer.
- Tia Blanca sold Andrew's bed for $4, kicked him out of the house and cleaned his room out. She was about to tell me why on her front lawn while we waited for something or someone. She sounded a little nervous. Music: No Doubt - Spiderwebs
Tuesday Morning, 10.14.08: My mom and I were in the kitchen in Claudio's apartment. She had committed some crime at the casino and we were trying to figure out how to save her. A Chinese man was with us, maybe it was Jennelle's new step-dad. Music: The Pretenders - Message of Love
Sunday Morning, 10.12.08: Ms. Linsley had us break 10 eggs each for some stupid experiment. Everyone else's eggs were breaking fine, but my first egg had a giant red slug attached to the yolk. I was grossed out but continued breaking eggs. The second one was normal, the third one had a big slimy walking stick or something similar attached to the yolk. By this point I couldn't carry on, I asked an Asian student if I could borrow his PSP so I Could take a photo of the slug. It was cut and didn't look like it would survive much longer, it barely moved until I was about to take the photo when it jumped up and moved behind the bed I slept in. I was even more grossed out, I got up to tell Ms. Linsley about it but she was getting out of the shower so I decided to wait until she was dressed.
/ Patty and Selma had joined a cult. I was going to spy on them that night, I walked with Claudio down the sidewalk in Miami. I could see silhouttes of strange animals around us, but I felt safe by his side. At some point we stopped in a building with florescent lighting, and walked down the wheelchair ramp. Music: The Fugees - Killing Me Softly (cover)
Saturday Morning, 10.11.08: I came home to my luxury apartment, German lived in a nearby complex. I was about to go into the bathroom when I heard a helicopter nearby. Its lights were shining into my window. I then saw a number of police cars by German's place. I was sure he had been arrested, but he later told me that it was his friend who had spent the night for some reason. He took me to the grocery store in his hunter green sports car, and then Chapu and I went to see the weiner dog statue nearby, at James Coney Island. They weren't there, instead there were black lab statues. We entered and I saw a headshot of a fat Jewish girl on the desk.
- I went into a gym for rich people. I was on a secret mission, looking for someone, but I had to try to blend in. I took the elevator to the floor with the outdoor pool. I saw a dog in the water, it looked kind of trashy. Then I saw an obese mexican woman sitting on a lawn chair near her family. Was I in the right place? There were rich people sitting by the pool, but they looked as though they wouldn't last at this gym much longer.
Friday Morning, 10.10.08: I was in what looked liked someone's personal library, leather chairs and all, commenting to my mother about how sweet the lemonade was. I also mentioned the cell phone I was thinking about buying, or maybe I had already purchased it.
Thursday Morning, 10.9.08: A man in his 20s didn't want to pay water with roommates (he said one of them wasted a lot) so he moved in with some chick and brought a big empty guitar box with him. My other roommates and I were talking about it when Alexandra Wax made a stink because we were excluding her. I tried to apologize and say it was my fault even though I didn't think it was, and she almost accepted until I asked her to tell us something the next time we did it. I then tried to tell her I understood how she felt but she wouldn't let me talk so I pushed her and stormed out. I went to my dad's room and saw her leave out the front door with her little sister, they were squashed into one car and the other car held their stuff. It reminded me of the first time I saw her leave my house, when we were in Kindergarten. Someone left a Hebrew CD on the kitchen floor and it bothered me.
/ In jail, I had to help my fat black boss clean the green velvet curtains. He asked a few people to find out what kind of clasps they used. It was dusty where we were, it reminded me of the store my father used to own. There were old telephone books strewn everywhere, and it reminded me of when Alex Wax left, since there were a lot of similar phone books in my dad's room.
- I walked with some of the girls in Vila do Paraiso along the dirt road at night. It was pitch black dark, we had to walk along the edge of the road for fear of getting run over. We later went to a large bathroom to wash up, and to clean the bathroom. I felt like I was already clean but they wanted to go to the individual stalls to shower.
- I was talking to Adrienne and Alex Wax came up in the conversation. This was after we crossed the street and saw a huge triple-decker trolley pass by. Apparently it only went through the medical district (so much had changed since I left Houston.) We went to our lockers underground and I was still bitching about Alex Wax, who was still friends with Adrienne. This must have been getting annoying.
/ Adam Jalfon showed up, he was the one who had left the Hebrew CD. It was Matsuyama's (?) first CD, and he translated the Hebrew to me. It started out "October November". I felt bad about being annoyed by it earlier, it turns out he just didn't want to get involved in our drama and wanted us to be friends again. Music: Elton John - Tiny Dancer
Wednesday Morning, 10.8.08: I left the hostel where my friends were staying to get to Morocco. I had so much luggage with me, but some of the suitcases were empty or nearly empty, so I decided to shift things around. I was sure I was going to miss my flight, which was in Barcelona (and I still needed to take the bus there), but I looked at my card calendar and saw that my flight wasn't for another few days.
- I was asked about my mom's "white shark" car, they were going to give it a paint job at the carwash but they needed the specific model name. I didn't know, I looked at a list and thought I saw its name, but I couldn't be sure.
/ I somehow ended up at a lover's island, by myself of course. I wandered off to a shaky wooden suspension bridge where I saw a linx by a lake below me. He came near me and said there used to be a female linx in the area but she hadn't shown up for a while and mostly kept to herself. Most people probably took both bridges, but I would take the first bridge and jump to land, since it didn't look too high up. There were mostly fat people on the island, I was glad the linx was my friend.
Tuesday Morning, 10.7.08: On a field trip, I was drinking lager that tasted a lot like ginger ale. I almost opened a can of soda but offered it to the people I was sitting with instead. It winded up having a winning cap worth thousands of dollars. "Drinks on (dream friend's name)!" We both said it at the same time and I put my hand out for a high five which was weakly received. I can't believe I had lost out on that fortune. I went outside looking for more winning cans and thought I had found one, for a smaller prize, but there were all these other things I had to have to claim the prize so I figured it wasn't worth it and left it there.
/ Federer and Jankovic were playing doubles together. Federer came out of a helicopter, what a show off. It was already dark outside.
Monday Morning, 10.6.08: Claudio didn't make it to the wedding, and I was gutted. I had to make up a French test, but they had already started watching the video in the classroom so I walked out and decided I would make it up another day. I walked to my locker and thought maybe that was inconsiderate of me, expecting the teacher to cater to my needs. I needed to get away, and France would be the perfect destination. I continued through the airport and found Amanda Wernli, bitching about an ex of hers. As much as he rejected her she told him that she loved him. I chimed in and said that if you wanted a man to reject you just tell him that you love him. I saw them together on her birthday, lighting candles. He looked like a football player, and did not seem very enthused.
Sunday Morning, 10.5.08: Karen from HGTV's Design Remix told Karen from The Office to get out and start jogging. The latter Karen just looked at her. Then Dorothy and Sofia from the Golden Girls were eating fried chicken together in the living room. I went up to the loft bed.
- Fat man wanted revenge for killing his adult son, who he said he would fuck from time to time, and came into our small office with a gun. I shot at him but ran out of bullets, came out to my mom and Tia Sandra and asked them to call the police and told them I was out of bullets. Instead, they came into the office and I saw them both get choked. The phone looked like a radial remote control, my aunt had called the deceased son's office and his voice still sounded in his answering machine. It was eerie hearing him and knowing that he was dead. Music: Mel B and Mel C - Sisters are Doin' It for Themselves (cover)
- My computer crashed, but loaded the IKEA website succesfully. I tried to check email, the first email was from Oscar in Spanish, and it was long. I would get to it later. The rest was spam.
/ I had to whack something resembling Taz repeatedly, and was led to a corridor with hotel rooms, many of which had their doors open. I went into one and saw a laptop on, running AIM. The buddy list had only 4 or 5 people on it, but I recognixed the screenname from 7th grade; it was a fellow Spice Girl fan. She even had Mel B's full name in parenthesis, but it had a Jewish last name, something like Geissman. I then saw Kristan in another room, but she was on the phone with Jon Michael's mom. I rather liked looking into other people's organized, colorful little rooms.
Saturday Morning, 10.4.08: Three of us scrambled to hide, two of us went under the sink and were caught immediately. After a bit of chaos I snuck out the emergency exit that led to a parking garage, I saw a Brazilian woman and her daughter walking by. I made it down two flights of stairs when I realized it would probably be better to go back up. Lia came looking for me and told me that if they had caught me sneaking out it would have been much worse. We made it sound as though I had just gotten lost.
- I was led to the top of a water park in the outskirts of Sao Paulo. It hadn't yet opened, it was early in the morning, and I could see the jungle in the distance, covered in mist. I had forgotten that Sao Paulo used to be jungle, and that much of the state still was.
/ Back in the water park in Portugal, barely anyone was there, I thought it was closed. No lifeguards were on duty and the big water slides were more like water stairs. I saw a girl go down the curvy slide in a white tube, and figured the other slides must have been for tubes as well. I stood in the wading pool wondering where I could get one, and if the park was really open.
- I accidentally forgot to tell Michael to take a right on Dunvale until it was too late. We took the next right and somehow winded up by the Pappas Seafood. We were going to look for a place to eat but there were two Pasta places across the street from another. It was a shopping mall setting and while looking at a menu I lost Michael. "Mikey!" It occurred to me that I hadn't called her that in a long time. I went into the girl's bathroom, which was huge, and two girls were fucking in the stall next to mine. I was a bit shocked, there were a lot of people in the bathroom that could hear them. I think one of the girls was Kim Tuthill, and she was complaining about how none of the TVs in her house worked. But she was rich, so how was that even possible?
Thursday Morning, 10.2.08: Whitney was going to Ireland the weekend that I had planned to go to Morocco. I told her it was ok and we could meet up after she got back, but she didn't seem to know what to say to that. I went to Morocco from Barcelona anyway, stayed in a white hostel. I told Michael that New York would be expensive, the website said 10.50 euros a night, but they were trying to charge me $27 or $23. I wanted to argue but I didn't want to make a bad impression.
/ It was night-time when I arrived in Houston. I ran towards Westheimer, but saw a busstop along the way. All three busses would take me where I needed to go, and I could see one coming my way.
Wednesday Morning, 10.1.08: Ms. Nelson made depressed girls (including Elisabeth) clean their carpet with hydrogen peroxide which was making the carpets turn white. I blamed this all on her and she got mad. We were in a large vacation cabin.
- Even though we were in an economic crisis, the Chinese electronics stores in the US were not suffering. I walked through one at night.
- I was in Israel, in the Jewish quarter of Jerusalem. A small store offered calls to the US for 20 cents a minute, but it didn't seem very cheap to me. I went there after reading a Linguaphiles entry about a sign in Hebrew.
Monday Morning, 9.29.08: Zac Hanson was in love with me, but I could tell his crack addiction was going to be a problem. A boy of Italian heritage came up to him to remind him that he owed him $10,000 (the amount was written on a scrap piece of paper), he gave him a little over $8000 in $1000 bills and a few ones. I went back to leave the tip, then we seperated and I was about to tell Sandra about the situation. I could hear him talking to his brothers and friends about how he could give up crack, but they weren't so sure. Sandra and I walked through a casino but got interrupted along the way.
- In Ms. Nelson's room a few of us talked about children who had died at River Oaks. Someone mentioned pedophiles, even though that's not what we were talking about. I went to the bathroom thinking about the "One hand in my pocket and the other one is flushing the toilet" grafitti, knowing well that it wouldn't be there anymore.
/ There was a dead child by Jojo, he was in a cage. I had to get out of there before I was next.
Sunday Morning, 9.28.08: 3-way with German and Clau as German was about to leave. I went in the bathroom to shave my legs, but Clau told me they looked fine.
Friday Morning, 9.26.08: There were 3 bids on the boots.
- I left the bar and watched part of a La Femme Nikita episode with Kristan. She seemed to like it, and when I was about to mention how I felt that Alias was a bad copy of the show she mentioned that she had seen one of the actors at the office, back when they were at Westpark. She wasn't sure if it was him or not; I joked that it was a carpet salesman. Music: Lou Bega - Mambo No. 5
Thursday Morning, 9.25.08: Harvard/Princeton rivalry, I could tell who the real nerds were because we made fun of the ones that were all excited about the rivalry. We stood in the hardware aisle, Cristina Fernandez was there.
- I left a Chinese store, I spent at least $60 there somehow, and came home with vegetarian sushi. My mom came home and I had to hide the food, for some reason under her bed seemed like a logical place to hide it. Mila found it and asked me about it, I denied having put it there. Music: Amy Winehouse - Just Friends
Wednesday Morning, 9.24.08: My mom and I were laughing at the photos of us, in one we came out covered in baby powder when Nicholas accidentally opened a container and it exploded all over us. He was in the photo as well, holding the container. I laughed and remembered another time when we were covered in cake.
Tuesday morning, 9.23.08: Jennelle came to visit me in Florida with Fredy, I saw their trajectory around north Florida and the point where I had convinced them to go farther south to see me. I was sitting in a hotel room.
/ Claudio's neighbor (Reyes?) was about to be killed, the men were waiting for her below the ferris wheel she was riding with her teenage daughter. Her face looked heavily operated on. I could hear Mila narrating. Music: Bebe - Malo
Sunday early morning, 9.21.08: I was in Seattle, or I had just left, carrying a portable DVD player through the mountains at night. I had to watch my step as I jumped over some rocks. The horror movie had just ended and kept me scared. I went to track 2 which was an MTV rock countdown. A System of the Down video came on; I liked it but the CD came out 2 years prior. Then I realized that with internet downloads everything was at our fingertips sooner, and that in the past singles from older albums weren't a problem. So maybe rock wasn't dead afterall. Track 3 I was expecting something else, but "Tamarinda" came on. This was an indie movie about a cute dark Asian girl named Tamarinda, who looked innocent but was kind of a bitch. She was going to make chickpea cutlets and her roommate didn't have lemon juice. Tamarinda got mad because she didn't have lemon juice readily available in the mainroom so all the roommates could use it, and while the girl was juicing a lemon their gay friend Bruce showed up at the door, holding a lemon with a bothered look on his face. "God Bruce, by the time she finishes juicing that lemon you'll be in class." I took it they went to college together. I found the movie very amusing, I didn't initially think it would be that funny.
Saturday Morning, 9.20.08 : Antique shop, I was going to stay in the car but I got out to look around. Of course the owner followed me around like I was going to steal something. I wanted to lash out but I left with the sensation that Ma and Pop stores were incredibly overrated.
Friday Afternoon, 9.19.08: Clau wanted to fuck me in the ass and got mad when I wouldn't let him.
Friday Morning, 9.19.08: Gil told me about a serial killer, suggesting that I do the same and carry a knife if I killed someone. Scene of someone hanging upside down in a straight jacket while the killer lit the room on fire. He fingered through a few files with his knife. This same killer had a cat in a wooden box for months at least. It wasn't completely closed, but it was just enough room for the cat to be trapped completely without being able to move at all. This was in a forest, I was determined to find out where it was so I could rescue the cat, but at some point I must have realized it would never happen. The images stuck in my head as an old woman narrated about the atrocities committed to the cat.
Thursday Morning, 9.18.08: Football marching band and cheerleaders formed a line and walked out, I noticed only the taller ones were walking and carrying everyone else. I was leading and sitting down since I was short. We got to an airport automated floor, then to the baggage carrousel where I accidentally picked up the electric guitar heads belonging to Anushree and Stephanie Louie. I had taken up the cello in our high school orchestra again, I was telling them both how much I missed it.
Wednesday Morning, 9.17.08: My mom and I stopped at a gas station at night, we were on our way to Ziggy's with Cookie in the back. He had two younger retarded boys that he had been keeping secret all these years. We got there and a lot of people were leaving there stuff outside the boys' door, including May Ann, so we did the same. Ziggy went in, the boys were allowed to stay up until 1 that night even though they were usually asleep by 10. Their room was a mess, and I could tell this bothered Ziggy and he was picking up after them. They were fast asleep. I didn't know which shower to use, the clean one that Ziggy and his wife used, or the boys' shower which was probably dirty. I opted for the latter after I saw that I had brought my yellow Havaianas. I was naked and realized I didn't have a towel, and that the oldest boy was awake. To my surprise, they weren't retarded at all. I grabbed a funky colored towel that I assumed was May Ann's and wrapped it around me. The three of us started playing with figurines as a Mexican maid was cleaning up after them. "How are they going to learn to clean up after themselves if they have a maid?," I thought. There was a huge table in the middle of the room now, filled with boxes of small toys. Some of my Gumby stuff was mixed in there, but when I asked them about it they denied it. I searched frantically for my figurines.
/ I was glad that had just been a dream and my figurines were safely at home with my mom. I was in a 4th or 5th grade classroom, I had just started at a new school. The teacher was passing back graded papers, I got a 100 on the first two and a 0 on the last one. I looked at it and there were a lot of points taken off for stupid things; it had been graded in turquoise. I was in a pissed off mood, this made my average a 66.6, just enough to fail me. I realized I had already graduated college and this was just some formality. This teacher reminded me of Ms. Linsley. Some of the students were talking in Portuguese during our Spanish test, which I knew nothing about and was not prepared for. It started with question 5, which was a series of words in Spanish (or German) and we were supposed to circle the words that did not belong in the group. None of the words looked familiar to me. Music: 311 - Homebrew
Tuesday Morning, 9.16.08: I went to Morocco and saw a house on fire.
/ Last day of work, Mila was sick, I found 3 old dream journals, one organized by date and the other by subject. I could scan them and put them on my webpage. They had drawings of my stuffed animals, among other things. I saw my black Sketchers under a table while Mei was talking to me. I didn't want to forget them.
Saturday Morning, 9.13.08: Like La Femme Nikita, I had to kill people and feel no remorse, which came fairly easily to me. I went into the complex after completing a mission. Earlier, I had to quickly put some clothes on in my room in the townhouse. Dirty clothes were strewn all over the floor. I noticed Kristan had on the black Sketchers I had lent her, but there was a hole in the big toe area of one of them. I asked her when that had happened and she shrugged it off as if it were nothing, which made me more mad.
Friday Morning, 9.12.08: A woman had paid $35,000 for a condo in the same complex as my old one, but said it was a 5-bedroom unit. It looked like it was situated in the same position as mine, but there was red stucco in the wall outside the living room window. This was on TV, so people would see that Houston really was cheap.
- I hugged Claudio and was sad because I was leaving for a long time. But we knew I was coming back. Miguel was playing with toy train in the dimly lit hallway; it was an older, smaller apartment.
Thursday Afternoon, 9.11.08: I was controlling an 18-wheeler down the freeway with some levers on a bike, my mom directed me to a motel that looked seedy from the outside but after passing through the patio and getting my key I realized it was nice inside. I think my mom just didn't want me to be with Marty. I wished she had told me I was spending the night, that way I could have brought my laptop. I saw hers in the adjacent room and realized she was also spending the night there, and then turned to see her using my old laptop.
Thursday Morning, 9.11.08: Tracy told me she wanted to drive down England and across the US from Seattle to NYC in a more or less V-shape (she told me the highways she would take). I was in the passenger side of her car, and it was funny because I had just been thinking about driving down England as well. But I didn't know if the rest of the trip would work, she would have to cross the chunnel and everything.
/ My (dream) mom was sick and I went to a rave in France instead of taking care of her. Larisa or someone similar was my sister and I told her that maybe we should let mom have a little Coca Cola even though the doctors told her she shouldn't drink it. We lived in a European apartment, I stood in our small kitchen. Music: 311 - I'll Be Here Awhile
Wednesday Morning, 9.10.08: The stuffed animals in my bedroom in the townhouse had all been neglected. Many were covered in dirt and ants. I could vacuum them, I thought. It saddened me to see them in that state, and I felt guilty for leaving them for so long.
- I was going to be going to UT, Claudio was helping me move into the dorms. First we needed to find them. Or maybe I was just looking for the president or someone important. I went to information at the McCombs School of Business. The girl working there used all these abbreviations that I didn't understand. She led us to a train that went around the campus. We got off at the cafeteria, I thought that it was unforunate that I didn't talk to Dalia or Fauzeya anymore. An army was forming, I was able to break a strong band between them somehow.
Tuesday Morning, 9.9.08: I went to an Indian restaurant in Philadelphia with a couple. I was obviously in a bad mood and the presence of meat platters on the vegetarian section of the menu didn't make it better. They had already started with appetizers on tiny plates, but I didn't want any. We had already been to this restaurant, was it the only vegetarian restaurant in Philadelphia? I looked behind us to a large family seated at an extended table.
- I was playing Hariett Tubman, or some other black woman from the early 19th century, in the school play. I put on a lot of dark makeup but it wasn't making me black enough, so I asked my friends for help in the townhouse living room. One of the girls was helping, she wanted to use a pan on my face but it was on the other side of the room. What was it doing there? It should have been in Claudio's kitchen on the floor by the chair, where it always was when we were using the oven.
- I sat at a large table with Claudio's friends including Carlota and Javi. Others arrived and gave us "magdalenas" which really just looked like tiny frosted cupcakes with stems. I took the first one and then passed a tray of them down the table. Carlota didn't want one because she already had one with the lunch she brought from home. They referred to me as "esa niña" and I had an inner monologue where I thought about how unmemorable I was and how I was sick of it.
- I was with a group of friends, including Pete and Pete, riding a bike to "garage sale" that didn't exist. We had to jump over a construction zone barrier to get there, and magically we were able to do that with the bike. The whole street was torn up, but we made it to the end of the block and went into a small house. I hid with someone else near the refridgerator, and the old couple that owned the house walked in and found us. I was scared of getting caught and was unsure what would happen next. We walked up to a birdcage in the corner. Music: La Femme Nikita TV Theme song
Monday Morning, 9.8.08: My dream friends and I were running in the streets, fighting pedestrian traffic. We stopped at a Burger King across from a shopping center; we were all going to vote for Sandra. I got up to throw my trash away and was making a lot of noise, maybe singing a Spice Girls song.
- Kristan and I were going to start in an all girls boarding school, which I thought was excellent because it would give us new material to use. But we wouldn't have a Paul. It was our first day and we were all seated in an outdoor stadium like the one in Vigo. I was already making a name as the rambunctious one.
/ We went on an elevator in the park, I was telling Grace Burch about how when we went to Yellowstone or some other national park I was the only one who brought a sweater and everyone else was freezing while I stood atop the mountain. Fredy or someone similar had placed red ribbon on this mountain so they wouldn't find him.
Sunday Morning, 9.7.08: Mom and Zachary were in the townhouse, Zachary was taking too long in the bathroom and when we called for him he said "Marty?" We left without him as we were in a rush.
- I was in a Mario Bros 3 level, climbing up a pipe with those floating beams.
- Alec Baldwin was hiding with us in the bathroom of his former roommate. It was a large bathroom and the bathmat was pink. He was sure his ex-roommate would never notice us because it was the guest bathroom, but I was still concerned about the amount of noise we were making.
Saturday Morning, 9.6.08: I had to take the bus to the airport, the 102, but I knew it wouldn't pass from the part of town I was in, which looked like Memorial. Surprisingly, I saw a lot of busses pass, including a 101 which looked like it would go to the airport, but when I asked the driver she told me I needed to go downtown. Someone suggested I hope on the back of a Mexican's bike, so I did just that. There was a lot of traffic, and I kept causing us to lose balance. Ahead of us there was another couple on a bike and they were getting by just fine.
Thursday Morning, 9.4.08: I looked in the mirror and saw that my stomach was full of purple ball-shaped scabs. It was also hairy. I was a freak, how had I not noticed this before? I had gone to the waterpark in Portugal looking like this...
Wednesday Afternoon, 9.3.08: Greenspoint mall had changed, and a new fancy shopping center had opened near it. I thought about the Spanish girl at IAH who had taken the bus to Greenspoint, and of telling her how much it had changed since she went. I ran into a hotel that had a small indoor swimming pool by the glass entrance. Inside I saw an art exhibit where a dead man covered in his own blood stained layers of bed sheets and left imprints that decreased in intensity. The sheets were on display by a rifle. I had the eerie sensation that I had seen this all before, and the front door slammed open and shut by a sudden gust of wind. It was a dusty copper outside.
/ Serial killers were after me for the third installment of the movie. In the first one, all of the hunted had died, in the second one only a few, and in this one it looked like we had outsmarted the killers. They were, however, two women this time, and one was a midget. I went to the water park with Chiquinho, still fearing for my life. I went down a huge steep slide and was starting to have fun. Whitney and I met up and I wanted her to take me home on her scooter since I was still afraid that the killers would get to me. She told me she couldn't, she lived in the other direction. I would even go to Greenspoint and take the bus from there, I just needed to get out right now. We walked down a sidewalk where my dad passed by briefly, looking disappointed. I started to feel bad about not having called him or let him know where I was. A weird black bird that looked a little like the female bird of paradise came up to us and was very friendly.
Wednesday Morning, 9.3.08: I went to my mom's house and saw Tia Blanca and Grish making lentil burgers. When they were out on the balcony I asked my mom what they had been doing these past few days and she just smiled. I got the impression that they didn't do much.
Tuesday Morning, 9.2.08: Dad's black baby Amari was in the patio, I lost her between the door and the utility room. She had a hard head though, she might be ok.
- I was moving to Mexico City and I had to get my paperwork taken care of before I could apply for jobs. In the bus station I saw that someone had posted a blurry photo of Sharmila on LJ and said it was me, so I commented and corrected her, saying Sharmila was my roommate my freshman year of college. I went outside to the shantytown that awaited me.
- Wylie was eating red gummy lifesavers and when I rushed to my closet in Houston.
Monday Morning, 9.1.08: A hurricane was going to hit Miami when I was there, I went to a hotel room to meet up with Mikey and saw Katie Gilger, Ericka Wang, Julie Len and Anushree Kumar were all there with him. Anushree started telling me about how there were guaranteed to be 200 hurricanes every season, but that didn't make sense to me. I wanted her to explain it again.
Thursday Morning, 8.28.08: I ran to the elevator of the hotel to get to the shopping area below.
Wednesday Morning, 8.27.08: Someone had lit me on fire while I was sleeping. I ran out of my room, which was on the basement floor, and onto the concrete steps where I tried to extinguish myself. I had no idea who had done it, but I had so many roommates and all of them were suspects.
- I stood outside of the waterpark in Portugal with May Ann and a dream friend. Part of it was closed, but I could see a Slime costume in a display box, although it was mostly covered by something else. I couldn't remember that it was called "Slime". We went to Big Lots the next day and two little Japanese girls were talking about what I thought was Slime, but May Ann later told me that was the word for Kleenex. I got on top of the pile of stuff with them and concurred. Music: Belinda Carlisle - Heaven Is a Place on Earth
Tuesday Afternoon, 8.26.08: I saw the van Nikita was going to try to escape in at the end of an alley.
/ Wylie's mom had picked us up and we were traveling on the freeway. We passed by Wylie's condo, which looked really nice and modern. Then we were on Greased Lightening. "Are we really going to ride this??" We were all standing up and it didn't seem secure at all. I put my mechanical pencil in my pocket and we took off. It wasn't as scary as I remembered, but then again I had my eyes closed for most of it. Going down still felt the same.
- I told Mila about the dream I had, but I didn't know the word for cataract. I explained it to her and she told me how to say it in Spanish.
Tuesday Morning, 8.26.08: Mila had a cataract in her right eye, I noticed it when we were in the kitchen together.
- Mimi had tried to commit suicide by eating a teabag. She was predicted to have only 2 weeks to live, but that was 15 or 16 days ago. I wanted her to stay alive, I sat at my computer thinking these were her last days, and it made me sad.
Monday Morning, 8.25.08: Gil, Mei and Barbara were sitting outside at night in a well-lit residential area. They were talking about living in the suburbs and how silly it was to drive that far to work.
- Stephen Charba was telling me and Michael about how he lived in a cave and had no expenses. I joked that he was a caveman. He and Michael seemed to be hitting it off well.
/ I ran through the 2nd floor of the school, in a rush for some reason. Music: The Cardigans - Do You Believe?
Sunday Morning, 8.24.08: Mila was washing dishes when she told me about a beautiful black woman she had befriended. Then I was in her apartment, which was extremely tiny. She wasn't beautiful at all, she was rather old. In her hands was a skein of yarn. She had a crazed look on her face; I got the feeling she had killed her son.
Sunday Morning, 7.27.08: I ate some steak from the buffet, but remembered that I was trying to go vegan. It didn't taste that great. I was going to pay when the cashier mentioned vegan desserts, the shortbread. I went back but it was all gone, and I was kind of pissed off. The popular girls were talking shit about Texas, and it bothered me how people always spoke poorly of Texas.
/ Kristan told me she had a sofa like the ultra-modern one we had just seen, but she didn't know where it was. It couldn't have been in the attic, she was making a mental walk-through of her parent's house to try to think of where it was. I saw what I thought were HGTV magazines, but they were just catalogs. I took a look through them anyway.
/ Tia Blanca asked me if I wore contacts anymore, and I told her I just wore glasses because I was too cheap to pay for contacts. She said she couldn't get used to the soft ones. Music: Verdena - Trovami un modo semplice per uscirne
Sunday Morning, 7.20.08: Roger had sat on the jello they were going to eat, Doug explained the different payment options that existed for the shitty cafeteria food.
- Adam Black was speaking French, and I envisioned him in Paris
- Larisa called and was going to come over soon to watch "That Thing You Do" or some other stupid teen movie from the 90s that she suggested. I told her that was fine, but not to rush. There was mold on the living room wall and I would have to clean that up. I went to the mall with my mom and lost my purse for the 2nd time that day. We were on a cruiseship adjacent to the food court when I discovered this. I went back and asked the black ladies at a fried chicken place if anyone had turned it in and one of them took me to the bathroom where she had hidden it. I also needed to pee but when I saw the bathrooms I decided to hold it in. I was delighted everything was still there, although my wallet felt much lighter. Adrienne was driving my dad's white car on the highway when I told her what had happened. All the time I was in the mall my phone wasn't getting reception, and I was concerned I had missed Larisa's call and she thought I had stood her up.
Thursday Morning, 7.17.08: Kristan and I walked back to her car in the mall parking lot. It was hot inside and she found a pair of my black underwear, drenched in water, that was rolled into a ball. She said the car smelled like that now, but I didn't notice any difference.
Wednesday Morning, 7.16.08: On the lower left-hand side of my profile I saw 3 photos that German had posted. I clicked on one of them and saw that it was an album of Xavi's bachlor party. Paul Reverdy was in a photo or two, and I found it funny that German had been taken all those photos. The last few photos in the set were of a white stairway in a beach town, they looked like something out of Body & Soul magazine. Music: Smashing Pumpkins - The End Is the Beginning Is the End
Saturday Morning, 7.12.08: I went into Mariana's email, she had a folder for my emails and I saw Asia Argento's website on a German server. She had DJ info and links to some of my blog entries (as well as other blog entries that mentioned her), which weirded me out.
- A lot of my YouTube videos got deleted.
Friday Morning, 7.11.08: Sandra said she wanted to study toxicology and was telling me how she kinda remembered how to do those sentence diagrams (why would that matter?). I walked outside of River Oaks and Whitney was teaching a small class outside by the wheelchair ramp. We had been assigned a book I had already read years earlier, so I just reread the last few pages. To me, the story was about how a woman was in a relationship she didn't care much about because it was expected of her in those days, but she really just wanted to be (not sexually) with her friends, or her best friend, and be young again. But the other people in class ripped it apart, made it something grotesque. Cheri Garcia was there "Was she gay?," someone agreed. I tried to get my opinion in but it wasn't easy to talk over those people. Music: Kings of Leon - Slow Night, So Long
Sunday Morning, 7.6.08: I was riding an adult tricycle through the hills of Iceland. I didn't care how cold it was, I was enjoying myself immensely. It was exhilarating to know I could almost fall off the cliffs.
- I could see the WWII era sign hanging in the barn from the 2nd floor.
/ I had just walked into work and was on the G4 when Tom closed the door to the press room. I tried to turn on the lights but they weren't really working. Mariana had just sent me a video and told me (in English) she would try to email me after 5pm when I got off of work. I told her I actually got home around 1 every day. She said she was leaving for San Antonio, "Wait... really?" and she hung up (or the call got cut off). I knew she wouldn't call back because she didn't have my number. I didn't care that much. I took a look at the video, she was running around with 2 relatives. The teenage boy called her by her name. She was cute, and she had typical Portuguese features: thin with light skin and dark hair.
Saturday Morning, 7.5.08: I went into the Blockbuster in the mall with Michael. The guy working there had just given us a free movie, so we were pretty happy. A lot of the stores were closing down. I found 2 dresses that I wanted to try on in a small store, but when I asked the cashier where the dressing room was she pointed to a place outside of the store by the food court. This made me feel a little uneasy so I put the dresses back and left.
- I went into the patio in my dad's house and asked Asia Argento how to throw something through a little hole in the fence that looked as though it had an acrylic covering over it. She was sitting at the dining room table and told me to close the door. I told her I would but she must not have heard me. "Okay?? Okaay??" She needed to chill out, she was starting to remind me of my Italian professor from '04, Ms. Novelli Pearson.
Thursday afternoon, 7.3.08: I was in a movie theatre with Kristan and during the previews she asked me if German was coming with me on my trip. I told her I hadn't emailed him in a while, and she asked for his email address. I thought that was strange but I gave it to her anyway. I was having considerable trouble putting my phone on silent.
/ I wanted to hurry up and leave but I had a lot of stuff to go through. I found a bunch of Blockbuster movies, some of them were overdue. One or 2 had a sticker that said they were due back on June 15th, so even with their week-long grace period there were still a few days between now and June 22nd (It must have been June 24th). It was 7pm and Alex was there to spend the night at Kristan's house. I said hi to her and felt like I was subtly being shooed out. I got home and found that the bathroom mold had made its way to my living room area, a few shriveled mushrooms were growing in the middle. There was a small forest growing in my living room, and I thought about how quickly buildings revert to nature when they are left in neglect. But I had a buyer now, so I couldn't be bothered. My phone wasn't working properly so I tried calling a landline to see if it would go through. The only one I knew offhand was Kristan's house so I dialed and starting thinking about something else, not realizing that the call had gone through and it was still ringing. Mei finally picked up, and said "alright alright alright". It was 11:47pm, I wanted to hang up, I felt bad that I had called so late. Kristan was on the phone but I told her I called my accident. "Livin' La Vida Loca" was playing on my boombox, but it started out like an emo song. Eventually the beat kicked in and it was the same Ricky Martin song I remembered all along. Music: Jordan Knight - Give it to You
Wednesday Morning, 7.2.08: I got a lot of coupons from Delta that I could use at hotels and such to receive more than 55,000 SkyMiles. The backs of the coupons had big letters on them, A, B, C, etc.
- Wylie picked me up from the airport at night and I thanked him as we passed the townhouse. He had his music going, it was just like old times.
- McKenna and I were going to meet up after I left the co-op at 6. I kept asking where she worked but she never told me. It looked as though a hurricane was about to hit, so we found an Arab restaurant on a dead-end street and settled on that. There was some confusion as we tried to find the bathroom. Music: Davy Jones - Girl (rock version)
Tuesday Morning, 7.1.08: Barry Williams had said they were in real hot tubs for the episode, which was a big deal in the 70s. I was in one now and I wanted to go inside and put on sunscreen. A fat girl asked me to rub some into her back and I got away from that, saying I would be back.
- I was rollerblading in a parking lot, and doing it well. I had to get inside after a while, but the pavement was falling apart anyway.
/ My mom's boyfriend was driving us to Mexico on the HOV lane. I told them we were going the wrong way but they didn't listen to me. At some point we crashed and I found the way the windshield looked amusing.
Saturday Morning, 6.29.08: Rafa Nadal was in a movie doing pull-ups by a window. The person I was sitting next to didn't know who he was, so I had to explain, mentioning that I couldn't stand him.
- I had to run to catch the train. I found a broken black umbrella along the way and grabbed it, maybe I would find a use for it later. It became immediately useful as the train door was about to close and I stuck my umbrella in to make the door open again. But this was the wrong train, it was going the opposite direction. I was in a desolate place in Eastern Germany, I needed to get to Frankfurt. The train stopped in Switzerland and I knew I should have gotten off and gone on another train, but I thought maybe this was just a detour. As we traveled farther into Eastern Europe I realized I wasn't dressed properly for the bitter winter. We passed a stop in Germany that had old Nickelodeon signs. Claudio got off on the next stop and told me it was very cold. Music: Antipop vs. Asia Argento - Vampy
Saturday Morning, 6.28.08: I met Ido Mosseri (from "Don't Mess With The Zohan") and I tried to hide my obvious crush on him. He was helping us with our computer problems.
- Ms. Ellison had remarried and changed her last name. I walked into River Oaks and the office was to the right of the entrance instead of the left. She seemed to still remember me.
- As I walked to the campus entrance I thought about how I would have gone to a black college if I were black, because those would be the kinds of blacks I would want to be associated with. A black guy started hitting on me and I realized I wasn't black afterall.
/ I wanted to hang out with Miranda before I got married and would probably never see her again. She was warning me about marriage, and how it would ruin everything. There were little kids playing with a video camera by the check out counter, they were starting to get on my nerves.
/ Maybe it was Bethany who wanted to play a 90s movie quote game with me. I could envision the part of "I Know What You Did Last Summer" that she had quoted. It was my turn and I was having trouble thinking of a quote. I eventually thought of the part of Austin Powers (1) where Heather Graham (from the sequel) said she didn't want to lose her virginity to Austin. I did a web search for this quote but it only turned up a few pages including a blog that didn't help me at all. Maybe I was remembering it wrong? So much time had passed that Bethany gave me another quote and looked a little bothered that I wasn't coming up with anything. I looked out the window of my dad's room. Music: Justice - Phantom
Friday Morning, 6.27.08: I was in a mansion, maybe it was my own although I would never really live in a mansion. Asia Argento had done a cover of Mc Tati Quebra Barraco's "Boladona" and I was listening to it on my mp3 player, very much amused.
Thursday Morning, 6.26.08: My mom called me back at night, I listened to the voicemail message in bed and went back to sleep
- Gil asked for my cell phone number and I said I didn't have to give it to him, which obviously made him mad.
Tuesday Morning, 6.24.08: Someone told me I ate too much eggplant, to which I replied that I ate it less than once a week.
- Tia Blanca and I were about to go into Goodwill when she suggested we get something to eat at the empanada place next door. She looked as though she were about to pass out.
- I walked through aisles in a warehouse with Mikey, Natalie and Stephanie. We went upstairs and I sat in a circle with an attractive guy and a bunch of girls he had slept with at one point or another. I left after a while and he came after me, apologizing for something or other. I told him it was ok, I left for a different reason. He was being too nice, I knew that he just wanted to fuck. But he wasn't my type so he was just wasting his time.
Saturday Morning, 6.21.08: I had to sneak through a banquet hall. Someone was playing Megaman and trying to beat the game just using the cutman powers; I knew it would never work. But he managed to put up quite a fight against cutman himself in the hotel room. I went down the escalator alone.
/ Kristan and I were invited to meet the Spice Girls, we couldn't believe it. They were making a film about their lives during the reunion tour, some of their kids were in it, or maybe they were child actors playing their kids. We stood outside by cement stairs, I had on my "Espa�a" shirt. We were going into a cave when Geri started screaming to get out, and a huge wave of water came through. One of the daughters cut herself on a rock. They had later driven their little rental car to the countryside, Geri was lying on a hammock and everything she was saying was showing up with English subtitles (over foreign language subtitles, maybe Dutch). Music: Golden Earring - The Twilight Zone
Wednesday Afternoon, 6.18.08: DJ was told Steve (?) that he only cared about football, and when he went off to college she had second thoughts about their relationship. This was in the family room, and Stephanie was nearby.
Wednesday Morning, 6.18.08: I had an older iPod, but it was still better than the RCA one I have now. This was during the lecture; we could have just gotten in for free since no one was really paying attention to who was coming in. Perhaps Asia Argento was the speaker.
- I was controlling things with my mind. It was raining hard outside, I could see it from the townhouse living room window. I had just mentioned how much I used to like Alanis Morissette. I told the girl to use the two 9-cent coins and dial the two 9s, and then the penny to dial the 1 (9-9-1 instead of 9-1-1). I went upstairs afterward.
- Mikey looked a little irritated when I suggested we buy a ticket for his mom. He wanted her to get into the baseball game with my ticket. Since I wasn't big on baseball I decided this was ok; I stayed in the lounge and watched a soccer game instead
Tuesday Morning, 6.17.08: The sun had recently set and I was waiting for the bus. Najla had to go to the bathroom so I went into the building across the street with her. As we walked up the stairs, I got the feeling I had been there before.
Monday Morning, 6.16.08: I was using Christian's 17 inch Macbook since he was out of town, it turns out it was easy to use and I liked it (only in my dreams). But I wasn't supposed to be there, so I had to get rid of all of the evidence.
- I dragged Kirston to the Sex and the City movie, Kristan sat next to me as well. Kirston and I started making out and I could tell it made Kristan uncomfortable.
Sunday Morning, 6.15.08: I got on a bus with most of my 8th grade class, it became a plane shortly after. I didn't want to be there, I wanted to get the ride over with.
Friday Morning, 6.13.08: We had to build an ad, I was assigned to take photos of cabbage and corn, but I offered to take a photo of carrots as well since they were also on sale. We had to hurry though, so I ran through the supermarket and tried to find the products. I wished I had been assigned the other products, they were much easier to find.
- I told Nicole to just buy the iPod charger, she had been putting it off for over a year. We walked down an alley and I saw some old video games for sale outside. I found a NES Mario game I never knew existed priced at $15, so I went into the store to buy it. The cashier was white trash, she tried to charge me $33 and I told her I didn't want it at that price. "Not even for $15?" I started walking away and she threw the game on the ground. I remembered this place now, a long time ago I had tried to buy that same game and it didn't work. Music: Marilyn Manson - The Last Day on Earth
Wednesday Morning, 6.11.08: Michael told me bras were a luxury item in Russia and she was selling a lot on ebay. Flash to a Russian woman on a boat trying to smuggle a lemon in her twat and getting caught. I had come back from my dad's house on the bus, I went to the door of an old man's place with my friend, I think he liked us. Michael and her nun friend came to his door shortly afterward dressed in shiny blue habits and sang to him about religion. He looked annoyed and slammed the door in their faces, I felt bad for them. I wondered if he would think any less of me now; he probably knew I was friends with them.
Saturday Morning, 6.7.08: Mom told me she took Wednesday off of work to go to the beach and that I should do the same. She was standing in my room to the left of my TV. "But I don't even have a car..."
- Colombian mom was with her pre-teen daughter and her daughter's friends, they went into their school and told her she was too old to go in there. She stood there reminiscing.
- I was in Mexico with Kristan, we had to cross the highway at night to get to the rich people's mansion so we could brush our teeth (outside).
Thursday Monrning, 6.5.08: Wylie had gained a lot of weight, we were together in the airport and I wanted to go to the bathroom. We went up the parking garage in his car to avoid the line cars waiting to get out.
/ Kristan and I were in what looked like a haunted hotel. This was nothing like we had pictured it to be, and were hesitant to stay there the night. I tried to move a sofa-bed into the room with the twin-sized bed so we could sleep in the same room. Her parents came in and didn't like the set up, why should she sleep on the couch?
Sunday Morning, 6.1.08: I thought we had died in the train crash, but the Jewish guy said our car had survived as we walked down the hallway. Outloud I wondered why as I left a voicemail for my dad
Saturday Morning, 5.31.08: I went alone to the Depeche Mode concert in Madrid, I had reserved a ticket online but I needed to pick it up at a booth. I waited outside of the booth for about 6 hours, and I finally mustered up the courage to go to the guy and ask for my ticket after I saw an English woman do it. He told me I only had 6 minutes before the concert started, and I almost started to cry as I realized that wouldn't be enough time to get to Barcelona. I thought I had missed the concert, and all because I was too scared to go up and get my ticket. But then I realized that the concert would be in Madrid afterall, I just needed to get to the pavillion in time.
/ I got on an empty bus with German, he had a cold. We were making out when the driver opened the door, and I scrambled to get my clothes on before he walked in. We both smiled at each other, knowing that something always intervenes.
- I was in bed with Claudio, I don't know where we were. This was before the plane crashed and we wandered around the forest trying to figure out what city was in the distance. I guessed St. Petersburg, but no, it was New York.
- The stationary aisle of Big Lots was very dimly lit.
Tuesday Morning, 5.27.08: Claudio was already married to someone who resembled Debbie (Steve's girlfriend) from Sex & the City. "Entonces no nos casamos". I wanted him to leave her and he said he was going to, but seemed reluctant. Then it was Jensen, and I had a sextape of ours that I was going to show to his wife to ruin their marriage.
Sunday Morning, 5.25.08: I was walking downstairs in the townhouse when a girl around my age told me she was my new neighbor. She said that we shared a wall, but when I thought she shared the wall with my dad's room instead (in reality this is the same wall). I said bye to her and saw a car drive by with Fauzeya in it.
- Looking for bracelets in a thrift store, none of them were good, but I found some cash with paint on it stapled together (like an art piece) for roughly $21, even though it was about $51 cash. The bills were old but they would probably still be accepted. I put it in my pocket with the intention to buy but forgot about paying for it when I made my purchases. There was a young boy hanging off the top of the security screen and setting the alarm off, the cashier had to get him down from there.
Saturday Morning, 5.24.08: I was at the townhouse again, in a rush to catch the school bus. Alina was playing in the living room while I was getting my stuff together to leave. I told my dad I would be back later that night. I noticed a lot of plastic jugs in the garbage and took the time to sort them for recycling.
- Fauzeya and I went to an Arab restaurant and both had the hummus with eggplant on the side. I was about to tell her how I was on speaking terms with Farida and that second chances were in fact possible.
Tuesday Afternoon, 5.20.08: An Indian man on the 82 (or 132?) asked the Nigerian driver which was the best church as we were approaching the Hillcroft Transit Center. His African friend told him he didn't know.
- Edgar came over again, even though he had just been here the day before. I was just about to step into the shower when the doorbell rang, and I told Mila I wanted to shower before I went out. She insisted that it wasn't a big deal, he knew me and I didn't have to worry about anything. It was kind of annoying, I really needed to shower.
Tuesday Morning, 5.20.08: They were going to get rid of the cockatiels in Colombia by chopping down the big tree with the weird fruits on it. I heard about it through a news report, and I walked over to the tree saddened by the news. Two women (maybe the deaf teachers from TH Rogers) said I was sad because of my "abuela", but this was not the case. Heidi came over to me, his wings were recently clipped, and I felt like it would be the last time I would ever see him. I walked over to put him in my arms but he flew high up into the tree. I noticed a few seeds by the black gate and took 3, hoping that I would be able to plant another tree and keep the cockatiels from going away. I tried to look for Heidi but there were so many cockatiels on the tree; it occurred to me that maybe that hadn't been Heidi who had come up to me earlier. I saw how they would suck on the fruits (that looked like tangelos), and noticed there were two diapered babies sucking on them as well. Someone came up to me and said that the fruits were needed for humans, not for birds. On the news report a professor was shown gathering the fruits, saying he didn't like them but maybe the birds could use them after they chopped the tree down. He looked very angry about the situation. I asked Claudio if there was anything we could do, he of course seemed disinterested. I considered handcuffing myself to the tree. It would be sad if there were no more cockatiels on this continent, but then I thought about it and remembered they were only found in Australia.
Monday Morning, 5.19.08: I walked out of the middle of lunch to go to Barnes and Nobles for the Spread Artculture magazine. I just saw an old Asian woman with a copy, and then saw the Barnes & Noble nearby. I thought I found it, but instead it was a different magazine of similar size and make. Maybe they didn't have it... but there was a display of old video games that I decided to take a good look at.
- I had rented an apartment out to a hippie and I hadn't heard from her in a while so I went by with my black friend to see if she was in there. Or maybe she hadn't paid me in a while. We tried shoving the door in but later settled for looking through the frosted window. I saw her laying down to the side. A few days later we found out she had been beaten to death, we were identified as "potential roommates."
- I had just woken up when Claudio came home with his friend Laura. She told me how much she had wanted to meet me, and I apologized for being in pajamas and said that I had just woken up. She sat at the foot of the bed while I muttered something to Claudio and we kissed briefly. Mila asked Laura how much she weighed now and she became embarrassed. She was in pija clothes. Claudio asked her as well and I took out my 5 language translator to convert my weight to kilograms. I told her I weighed 56 kg, "pero yo soy enana... soy como una ni�a" (I actually weigh 46 kg, as I discovered after dreaming this.) Music: Stone Temple Pilots - Big Empty
Sunday Morning, 5.18.08: Ivan was seated at the bar and everyone had gathered round to hear him speak. He mixed vodka together with what looked like blood and drank as he told his story. I was waiting for it to get interesting but it didn't. He mentioned the host of Jeopardy ("Alex Trebek?" I thought, but I didn't want to say it outloud... I was probably the only one in the group that knew), this was shortly before I walked away pissed off. Karaoke was about to start and it would be my time to shine. I went to a table with my friends and told them I had just wasted nearly half an hour listening to Ivan. Michael, Eleanor, and Anushree were there. Some girl felt me up and started kissing me, I mostly felt uncomfortable throughout. While the other girls were encouraging me to go farther, Anushree stood up for me and said maybe I didn't like it. I agreed and stayed quiet afterward.
Saturday Morning, 5.17.08: Val's mom was a librarian, I went to visit her with a friend of mine after we got a fortune cookie telling us to do so or something bad would happen to her. She was cleaning up and about to close the library, and was surprised to see us. There were some books in plastic bags on the wall.
Wednesday Morning, 5.14.08: I heard Madonna's new cd before it came out, and I liked it a lot. I was on a playground listening to it.
- Tia Susie needed a vacation, and was going to ask Tia Blanca for 1 month hotel passes for her and Inam. I thought about it and was fairly sure that the passes wouldn't be good for a whole month.
- Going to the Wiggles movie with a lady, I offered to buy her candy before we walked in, we were a few minutes late. Earlier she had asked to see my to do list (in my black spiral notebook), but I wanted to keep it secret. We were in what looked like San Fransisco.
Tuesday Morning, 5.13.08: With Adrienne in Picadilly, maybe with her dad as well. I used a coupon so it came out to $28 for all 3 of us
Monday Afternoon, 5.12.08: I was in Claudio's room at night, I had surprised him with a visit and he was happy about it. But I went into the living room which was in Mima's house, and my grandfather and Tia Blanca were there. She was with Grish and they were walking out the door when she saw me. She didn't know I had come. Mei was there afterwards, when I was in the laboratory holding some pills I was supposed to take to get my scholarship. Someone asked me about them and I was already in a daze, I could barely read the label. I went into a closet where Gil was, he looked worried when he saw my face. The closet resembled a cell of an insane asylum. The Indian ladies had given me the pills, and I thought I could trust them. The next thing I remembered was sitting at the edge of the bed where Jessica Alba's feet were mangled. There was a jock guy sitting there looking sad, and they were all blaming it on me. It didn't seem possible, but I could barely remember what had happened those past few days. It was the pills... everything was hazy.
Monday Morning, 5.12.08: A homeless black man was on the run, but they caught up with him at night when he was trying to sleep. I thought he would sleep on a bench up the stairs of an apartment complex, but perhaps that would be too obvious.
- Claudio and I were at a basketball semi-final. It looked like Boston was losing (their shirts were blue and on the back they just said "Saved" in yellow letters, with the v in the shape of 2 lightening bolts). The game was ending and they were doing crazy things, like throwing free throws on their knees and dancing around. I wanted to see if the last shot went in or not.
Sunday Morning, 5.11.08: Claudio and I had wandered around some sleepy area of town, maybe the Heights. There was gravel on the ground and we went up a small hill to get to a thrift store. They had just put out some old video games and we got a good look at them. I noticed they had a Gamecube for sale, it was in the display case. We spoke to a boy around my age that was a regular there, and a video game fanatic as well.
/ I was about to move and I needed to figure out what to do with all of my stuff. I went into my closet and saw the stack of VHS tapes I had on the shelf. Most of them were children's movies, but I decided I would like to keep The Secret Garden. The rest I would have to weed through. The shelf to the right had a bunch of old Playstation magazines Claudio had given to me, I didn't know what to do with those. Suddenly my closet seemed jam-packed.. how had I acquired so much stuff? On the floor I saw a "3D Spiderman" Master System game, so I opened the box and noticed it was a fake and so was the instruction booklet, if you could call it that. Music: Verdena - 17 Tir nel Cortile
Wednesday Morning, 5.7.08: We were going on a road trip and instead of riding with the little kids I was going to ride with these prissy black women. One of them wanted a special kind of coke and was freaking out when I told her we didn't have it. But we looked in the back seat of the SUV the kids were riding in and found some, the other black woman was going to give it to a cheerleader. I didn't want to ride with them.
- Sandra was in a library talking loud, I could hear her from the back and I could tell people were getting annoyed. But she must have said something funny or true because a few people started clapping after she said something.
- Elisabeth was going to play tennis with me, and she asked me why I had waited so long to ask her. It was a good question. I started talking to her about "Cifras e letras", and there was a clip from the show where one of the contestants wanted a photo with everyone, but the hosts were saying they weren't supposed to get too close to the contestants. Then Paco Lodeiro said "chinos" instead of "xineses" and it was a huge deal caught on camera. This was a fun episode. She knew the way behind the soundstage and we found a bathroom with a giant fake plastic toilet that we used. It looked like "You Can't Say That on Television" was filmed here.
- Michael and I were in her car and we passed by what looked like a giant museum, but it was her parents' church. They were having a spaghetti supper with delicious cakes (I got two slices), but then I noticed a receipt and it was all pretty expensive. I was under the impression it was going to be free. Music: Sugar Ray - Fly
Tuesday Morning, 5.6.08: Someone had dumped all my paper trash from the side of my trashcan at my desk inside of the trashcan. I suspected it was Gil, and was a little ticked.
- On our way to the car wash I tried talking to the girl who was driving about Brazil. I knew she had lived there with her boyfriend, but she didn't seem to want to talk much. Then she said she met him there when he was engaged (or married) to someone named "TV" (Teresa Veronica). I noticed there were towel drying racks in the car wash, like the ones in the apartment in Paris on House Hunters International. I told the girl that she needed to go to the theme park we had just passed by. I then proceeded to tell her about Astroworld, and how cool it was before they shut it down. I also told her about the summer in which I found out they had closed it.
- I stumbled upon a website Claudio had made, which was in the same format as the index for the Spanish consulates. It was all in Spanish, and he had photos of himself divided up between his age ranges, although many of them didn't load. He had a section about how much he liked blow jobs, with a photo I had never seen before. When I tried to click it, it disappeared.
Sunday Morning, 5.4.08: I was told to go to the Brazilian (?) embassy, which was on Bering, just like the Spanish embassy. I was in Tia Blanca's house, and I wanted to hide my backpack full of clothes before Andrew and Edwin got home, but I had waited around too long. I still tried to hide them under the stairs, but they might have seen me. I nervously went to the bathroom and put on clothes from the hamper, including a dirty bra. It was late Sunday afternoon, what if the cops stopped me before I got to the embassy? Why would I even go there? Edwin asked what I was doing, since I had been in the bathroom so long. But I couldn't trust any of them.
/ I was on a path with my mom and Ramona from Real Housewives NYC. My mom saw a metro map on the ground that listed a few Katy busses. I didn't realize there were that many that went to Katy. I flipped through the pages to see the bus schedules and realized that was wrong, there was only 1 Katy bus. We got home, which looked like Joao's apartment in Natal, and I saw that Pinky could get out of his cage. He was a lot whiter than I remembered. I was talking to Ramona, but I forgot her name. When I asked her what her name was she paused and then said "Dillard". "Oh yeah, Dilly. Sorry about that, I just blanked out for a moment"
Thursday Morning, 5.1.08: I liked Obama, as it turned out. He had a role in a movie I was watching and he was funny and hip, and didn't have a shirt on in some scenes. But then I thought it was odd that he would have time to devote to a movie during his campaign. I saw a really cool action short and then saw Kristan's name during the credits. She had played a part in the storyboard and costume design; I was impressed! We left, but not before scoring some free food set aside for other people. The bartender was going to let the person I was with have a free hamburger and fries, but I think we left before we got it.
- I found 2 pez dolls from the 50s and then 2 identical ones on the ground by the office building. Someone came in asking for yogurt caps so I directed her to Child Advocates across the street. It looked like an empty salon. I told her if she needed to come back that we were by the white building a block away (it had a Puma symbol on it), "but we aren't the white building" Music: The Charlatans - And If I Fall
Wednesday Morning, 4.30.08: I went into Boston Market briefly with Christian, he said he wasn't going to get anything, he just needed to talk to someone. I said I didn't want to eat there either, and shortly after walking in I spotted my messenger bag on a table. Thankfully no one had snatched it. Kirston and I were getting together afterward. We had done a mockup of SNL, I was Tina Fey and he was probably Jimmy Fallon.
Tuesday Morning, 4.29.08: A mountain lion was chasing after me, I ran from the playground into my bedroom in the townhouse.
- I was at gamestop looking at the glass case. I saw some old SNES games and lots of Spice Girls VHS and their Greatest Hits collection.
Thursday Morning, 4.24.08: I was busy with my friends, but signed online for a short while. MSN automatically opened and Thiago started talking to me. I told him I had to leave soon, but that something was going on, and I wasn't sure exactly what. The fonts kept changing as I was typing. Later, Edwin and Nell and I were in the bathroom, and the two of them were vomiting bile from a green alcoholic drink we had all had. I thought it would just be a matter of time before I was vomiting, but then again I had barely drank any. The both of them were fairly drunk.
Wednesday Morning, 4.23.08: I wouldn't have guessed that I would be staying at German's again, but there I was in his bathroom (on the 2nd floor). This was, perhaps, the same big house I had once dreamt of him living in with his parents, after they became rich. He had to come in for a moment so I put a towel on. I hadn't shaved my legs so I tried to cover them. He started doing martial arts moves in front of the mirror.
/ My trip to New York was ending, and I was aimlessly wandering around the city at night. I looked at the photo I had in my hand, it was of me and Maggie Haun and Debra Karson. I was in an elegant red dress, and I looked so happy. I knew I would miss New York, I already did. Music: Amy Winehouse - Back To Black
Tuesday Morning, 4.22.08: I went back to Afton Oaks, it was dimly lit and only the fat Indian teacher was there, not Ron Jon's mom. I had this sexy image to keep. Music: Amy Winehouse - Tears Dry On Their Own
Monday Morning, 4.21.08: Heidi was on my shoulder as I walked down Reims, I came home and saw that there was a door to the side of mine and it was open. I ran into my closet and saw that all my money was still there, miraculously.
Sunday Morning, 4.20.08: The Office- they moved everything around, I needed to get an old tearsheet for Barbers Hill Press. Michael used to have them in his desk but they were moved as well. Pam and Jim's desks were far apart, and I had my back to Jim's. Karen and Jim said this new layout was enough to make them quit, and I agreed and started bitching about the tearsheets. Then I found them on a shelf behind me. Everyone had left and I saw Pam in the hall crying. "Estas bien?... Are you ok?" I don't know why I had asked her in Spanish. She just looked at me and didn't respond.
- I wanted to sell Barbie ice cream at a stand in West Oaks Mall. Two of the flavors were vegan
- A bunch of white teens were on the beach. One of the guys lifted a girl's back bikini strap to see her tan line. Then he suggested they go skiing, where they could get sunburned by the UV rays.
- Thrift store by Sandra's house. I found what I thought were Sega Master Systems but they wound up being keyboards and other lame things with the Sega logos on them.
- Tia Blanca was taking me to visit Papi, but I wanted to go to Sak N Sav for something. I went to the left corner and saw a Spice Girls magazine. I also considered buying Sunbeam hamburger buns but I put them back. Mima or someone who looked just like her was there and said hi to me. I told Tia Blanca about this but she didn't respond. How could she be there if she was dead? Music: Norah Jones - Don't Know Why
Saturday Morning, 4.19.08: Someone had abused me from 8-10 years old, that was a block of time where my memories were blank. He also abused 2 boys, maybe they were my brothers
- I looked out the window and there was ice and some snow on the ground
- They were trying to take my hello kitty planner (from 4th grade) away from me, it had an important receipt in it as well as other notes. I somehow got it before they could and needed a new hiding spot. I was in my room in the townhouse, I hid the planner underneath my mattress but figured it would just be a matter of time before they found it. I needed to go downstairs to photocopy the receipt, although having the original would be much better.
- I was in a pool doing the butterfly on my back like I had seen in "Hotel Very Welcome", then Natalie was swimming with me and 2 Japanese girls came to pick us up. We went to my dad's room and turned on the tv, the entrance was like that of a hotel, I had hoped nothing smelly or embarrassing was around. They laid in the bed exhausted but I had to put the sheets on. We had slept there the night before without sheets and hadn't even noticed.
- Tia Blanca came in to use my bathroom and asked if I had vomited in the toilet. Music: Verdena (end of song)
Thursday Morning, 4.17.08: I made a post in cheapvegan asking about cheese substitutes for pizza. Mentioned my tahina recipe for eggplant parm, as well as the different kinds of ice cream that I had bought, including 1 dream brand of cherry ice cream.
- I had a doctor's appointment in the morning, so I'm not sure why I went to work with Marie. I took the bus back home afterward and waited for the 25 to go back to work. As it was coming I realized that I should probably eat something since I wouldn't be home for lunch. My cell phone said 8:01, but after taking it off of sleep mode it said 9:30. I went into my secret crawl space on the side of my condo because my door was messing up. I had a lot of stuff with me so I had to leave it down while I got inside. A white boy and his mother passed by, he asked what I was doing. Earlier we had been playing a Nerf video game where you had to shoot a foam ball at a target at the most mph, and then navigate through an underwater world looking for vortices. I told the mom that my door was broken so I was going through the crawl space. "Why don't you just use the back door?" "Well I live in a one-bedroom condo so there isn't one". It seemed as though they would be back, but I didn't mind, they seemed nice.
Wednesday Morning, 4.16.08: Going to a Spice Girls reunion show with Kristan in a small auditorium, I guess they couldn't sell out big places anymore. During the intermission we all walked around, we saw some gay guys that were waiting to get in for the concert the next day, they were going to camp out for 24 hours. I spotted Mel C on the escalator next to me. I told her during the breaks we tried to see which Spice Girls we could find, but she and Emma were the hardest to catch. She led me upstairs into a university library or common room. Up here she had a new name and a new identity, no one recognized her somehow. She was a student and people treated her as such. During the intermission I did interpretative dance to an old Radiohead song, but afterward I realized that I kept my Zebra robe on instead of revealing my red robe underneath (like the others were wearing). I had almost bumped into someone during the dance when I had closed my eyes. I was sweaty by the time I took my seat. Simon Fuller was there, and was as svengali as ever.
/ Later, as we were in the airport about to leave, I tried to find Kristan. I saw someone at a payphone that was dressed like Kristan, but it was an old Asian women.
Tuesday Afternoon, 4.15.08: Taking the bus to Mission Bend by accident. Going into the woods, I regretted not having gotten off earlier
Tuesday Morning, 4.15.08: I found a headset that I thought would work for Claudio's PSP at the dollar store but the end part looked cut off. I decided not to risk it
- I had an Iranian exchange student living with me who didn't want to do anything. I told him we could go to the waterwall but apparently he had already seen it and didn't seem too impressed.
- I was in Walgreens with Wylie and some of his friends, the only computers they had for sale were macs and I proclaimed my hatred for them. But as he pointed out, there was a PC mixed in there, it was somewhat old and still had XP on it, but it went very slowly. I saw that someone from poor_skills was there with her metal clothes rack, and had asked the community if there was a way she could use the rack for something else because it was just taking up space. I told her I had the same problem and I was glad she asked. "I mean, if it had shelves I would use it to hold stuff but it doesn't". One of the macs had Wylie's friend's page on it, he was in poor_skills as well, but had just recently joined.
/ I was with some of the cast of Reno 911!, and we had to dodge the bombing going off in Afghanistan. The KKK members were there and were getting us in trouble. I almost got shot at, I freaked out and used my empty plastic water jug to hide my face as I ran. From a distance I could see the rest of the cast accidentally lighting fire to an American flag.
Monday Morning, 4.14.08: The orange Adidas shoelaces were the cause of a lot of trouble. Dawn was approaching and I lay in bed while a car alarm went off outside.
/ Fauzeya had her "Nungoo" shirt on in her facebook photo
Sunday Morning, 4.13.08: Mike Bajsel gave me a ride home from the mall in his new car. As we were on the freeway I asked him why his parents decided to give him a new car. He explained that now that his brother had become a farmer, he was going to take over and continue farming at the house. But all they had now that his brother had left was a goat, which I found amusing. I thought it would be funny if we dated, after having known each other in middle school and not done anything then.
Saturday Morning, 4.12.08: I got off the bus downtown and then realized I didn't bring my backpack with me, and it had my new laptop in it. Even though I knew I would be going back, there were a lot of ghetto high school students and I didn't want to risk anything. I ran to the nearest bus stop and plead with the driver to let me get my backpack out. He was going to make me pay a dollar but I told him I would be out in a minute and that I could use my stored value card (but he reminded me that those expired in March). Eventually he let me grab my backpack. The laptop had fallen out but I found it nearby and no one had stolen anything. I ran out of the bus and thanked the driver. It looked as though I was in New York City.
/ They were expecting us so I took my shoes off and ran over the sand. There were a lot of people at the beach, but this didn't bother me. Kristan and I made it to the shack on the beach where a member of the occult led us into her underground chamber. She told Kristan to go down one way, and I was to go with the other girls. We sat at a large table in a library and I looked around for signs of Kristan, trying not to make this obvious.
Thursday Afternoon, 4.10.08: The waiter came and made my dish look pretty. He took some chocolate marshmallow ice cream and put it to the side, a meat dish, and some couscous like I had requested. One of Claudio's hot pockets was there as well, apparently there wasn't any regular bread. I unraveled it like a tortilla wrap and took a bite, it was disgusting despite how good it smelled Music: Peeping Tom - We're Not Alone
Wednesday Morning, 4.9.08: Kristan asked if she could borrow my thrift store sunglasses
- Mirtha (or Maria) had asked for more money at the shop because of all the work she had done. She was telling this to me in English, but wanted me to talk to Mei about it. When Mei found out she flipped, and started crying out of frustration, knowing she didn't have the money and that things were falling apart.
Tuesday Morning, 4.8.08: I thought about how happy I was that Claudio and I had stayed together all these years. I was crossing the train tracks on Richmond and looked over to see that the train was approaching.
Monday Morning, 4.7.08: I lived in a nice big condo in the Northeast (or maybe near the Galleria in Houston), I had just left a camp where I was volunteering for the day. Macca was driving me home and stopped by for a while. It was my birthday and I had imagined a small get together with some of my closest friends, but I hadn't called any of them so of course no one really came by. I had an excel spreadsheet printed with their names and contact information. Courtney Pepper came by for a little while and we all hung out in my kitchen briefly. Joel Madden, or someone who looked like him, came by afterward and I put some music on from my computer. I was about to skip one of the Yeah Yeah Yeah's songs but he said to leave it because he liked it. I told him I could check him out a copy from the library if he wanted, of either of their cds.
/ Val and Alex had broken up, but were still friends. I was in my dad's room when Alex came by, we chatted briefly. I was in my closet putting my pajama pants on and I played some music even though it was late. Val's mom must have thought I was rude to be listening to music when people were trying to sleep, so I lowered it some.
Sunday Morning, 4.6.08: Some little girls from Brazil led me into their house, down a hallway. There was a couple making out and some of the co-workers from The Office were spying on them. I took 3 post-it notes to the bathroom with me, where they found Phyllis's rotting body in one of the stalls. I guess they assumed I had killed her, but this was not the case. Ms. Nelson was trying to get them to hear my side of the story, I tried to tell them that I had just taken the post-it notes in there out of habit.
- Google sent email out, the maximum hours would be back to 40 not 30. Music: Pitbull - Ay Chico
Friday Morning, 4.4.08: I was in the back of a small school bus with an old, grumpy lady. We had stopped for a while so I tried to switch seats, and eventually got off. Outside the sun was rising, I stood outside of back exit of a school (perhaps) with a few friends. There were weird red fruits at the top of the small concrete stairs. Adrienne took one and hazily wafted into the Napa cabbage fields, walking on top of the sea of green.
/ Claudio played bass in a band with his friends. I got a 360 view into their set-up in his friend's basement, there were hammocks to the side. The music wasn't bad, and the bass lines were simple so Claudio had no problem playing them.
Thursday Afternoon, 4.3.08: Kristan and I went to visit May Ann at UT, she lived in a dorm that looked like apartments around a courtyard. I had no idea that I had two mailboxes, the whole time I was living there I just checked one, but there were some along the side that were much bigger for packages. May Ann apparently also didn't check hers, because it was overflowing. I filled a bin with her mail and dropped it off by her door.
Monday Morning, 3.31.08: I was standing by a cliff in Japan talking to someone, I moved to the side when I saw an old lady trying to get through. She smiled at me.
/ I called my mom who was on vacation. I was in the Seattle area around a national park (with my dream little brother?) and we were trying to escape the zombie bees in the area. We had to run to a cabin for shelter, the sun was setting.
Saturday Morning, 3.29.08: I noticed from the bus window that there was a truckload of money where Vic's BBQ used to be. I imagined myself getting a ladder and getting up into the trailer. It was very sunny out, so I noticed people moving from the right side of the bus to the left. I stayed where I was.
/ We were trying to film in a podunk town, I saw what looked like abandoned Diamond Shamrocks along the way.
/ The star of the film didn't know where he was. He had a card that let him know his identity, he had to make it to the street specified so he asked the bus driver about it. English was not his first language. I knew that he was supposed to be in Phoenix, not New York, but I couldn't give that away. I went to the bathroom with Claudio, then realized I was in the men's bathroom. He waited for me outside crying, he had missed the plane.
Friday Morning, 3.28.08: My mom knew Chapu was in the bathroom and said loudly that I didn't like her. "Yeah, and I know you can't stand her" Chapu wanted me to go with her but Michael fell to the floor, wrapped in a blanket, shuddering. I told her I should take care of the 2 sick people "you mean 3" that's right, my mom was ill as well. But after she left and we were walking up the stairs Michael told me that she had faked it all along.
Thursday Morning, 3.27.08: Claudio had a container of fish byproducts, I was grossed out and told him not to put it in my breadcrumbs (on the craps table). Sucking Claudio's dick in the supermarket line.
Wednesday Morning, 3.26.08: I learned that "arroyo" was "arrogo" in my Portuguese class, even though it sounded wrong to me. The professor started listing students' names.
/ Outside of a beachhouse running through sand to get to Claudio. I saw the moon reflecting on sun (huge). Adrienne corrected me and said it was the sun reflecting on the moon, but I didn't believe her.
Tuesday Morning, 3.25.08: On the bus with my mom, I had brought a sack of potatoes from Spain but there were rotten bananas in there as well.
Monday Morning, 3.24.08: I realized I hadn't returned my movies to Blockbuster and was freaking out about the restocking fee.
- In apt with living room light no longer working. My gay lover was in the apt next to mine and he asked who was on the bottom. I had my computer on the bar where it used to be, and I was constantly online. I went running through the apartment looking for something or someone (the layout was completely different) and the kitchen had been blocked off by junk. I had a GBA cartridge of "Super Princess Peach" (it was pink) and discovered that you could play it without the console, it just went really slow and not all the buttons worked. Eventually it was in color but I had died by then. Claudio already knew of this trick.
/ We took a bus to where we needed to go, but we had to pass by West Hollywood which was far out of the way. "It's going to take about an hour" I told them. Paris Hilton was on the double decker bus with me and told me I was a good imaginary friend. Then she said I would look good with bangs and I agreed, telling her I had been thinking about it and others had told me the same thing. Will got on the bus, he had a big bubble jacket on, and I introduced the two. It was quiet for a little while and then Will said "I hate you" to Paris, which was hilarious and shocking. I tried to tell him that she was really nice, even though maybe I didn't agree with her consumerist ways. Music: [dream rock song]
Sunday Morning, 3.23.08: My UPS labels for Dish Network had arrived, Mei and Gil were about to open them and asked me what they were for.
- Someone had just cut himself in the leg, and ran out after hiding his copy of the Merck Manual under a ceramic duck on the bottom of a bookshelf.
Saturday Morning, 3.22.08: Val was living in Mima's house, she was probably ashamed that she lived in the ghetto. I was with another friend and I gave them a group hug, saying they were my best online friends. She said we knew each other now so that wasn't really the case anymore.
- Mei had gained weight and we were trying to figure out why.
Friday Morning, 3.21.08: Jerry sat in Lewis's chair and I told him that everything that had happened to him I had dreamed.
- In a flea market with Claudio
Thursday Morning, 3.20.08: I was in a large room with Mel B and Montessori students. My horizontal shelf from my room in the townhouse was in the center of the room. Mel B said she wanted teletubby figurines, which I just happened to have so I offered them to her. She also said she wanted a "pink flamengo", which I couldn't understand at first as it came out garbled.
Wednesday Morning, 3.19.08: I stuck my hand in my mouth while we were waiting for the bus and pulled part of 1 of my molars out. It was loose and had been bothering me for days.
Tuesday Morning, 3.18.08: The fire alarm went off, they tried to go down to the Galleria but we knew that would be crazy and took the longer way which wound up being faster. There was a black dog giving birth to Cabbage Patch dolls. I talked to Jerry for a while, I asked him how his new job was going and he seemed hesitant to answer. I could see that they wanted him to answer the phones but he was too busy drawing a train and got fired while his co-workers did his job. Music: Kelly Clarkson - Since You've Been Gone
Monday Morning, 3.17.08: In London with Val (or Adrienne), the Spice Girls were standing in the street and fans were all around, I realized how lucky we were that we came to London 1 day and got to see them. I thought to myself that they must really care about the fans, at least the British ones. We followed them into a hospital where I tried to get a photo with Victoria, Geri and Mel B. They seemed disinterested.
/ Alex gave me all of Val's old email addresses for some reason, or maybe it was just 1 long one.
Sunday Morning, 3.16.08: I was moving back to Barcelona, I decided I would use easypiso again and try to find a roommate as soon as possible. I had 7 Blockbuster movies to exchange, and I had a few picked out that German also had. He got in the elevator with a girl, carrying the movies in a bag. I showed him mine and told him I needed to exchange them, and we went up a street looking for the only Blockbuster in town. I called Claudio and asked him where it was but the phone was garbling his voice, I eventually gave up and hung up. German wanted to stop looking, even though I was sure it was close by as I saw the bar we had passed by the last time I went there. An Asian guy got kicked out for not having a savings account, "maybe you should open a checking account". We must have been the only ones speaking in English.
- I was waiting for the 25 at the wrong bus stop, I wanted to go to the townhouse. I told the driver this and got off at the next stop, without having paid, and had to walk even farther. Before the bus came I asked Claudio if he had read that issue of "Semana" Saturday or Sunday. "Si", I guess he didn't hear me well. The article was about preventing hair loss
Saturday Morning, 3.15.08: In a room with girls, I didn't want to change in front of them so I went into the closet even though the door opened for a moment. A girl gave me a nervous smile before I went in, she probably realized I'd been wearing the same bra.
/ We had to ask Farida if we could wash and dry our clothes in the utility closet. She said washing was ok but we had to dry our clothes in the trunk of the car. I was mad about this, but my friend was the one who asked her everything because if she had known I was washing my clothes there too she wouldn't have let us. I found underwear I hadn't seen in 10 years, flowery stuff, I couldn't believe I still had them.
Friday Morning, 3.14.08: Kristan reminded me about the money for the Spice Girls codes I sold for her on ebay, "But I sent you the check for $71 and you cashed it, remember?"
Thursday Morning, 3.13.08: Playing DDR with Mel B during a Mariah Carey concert. I was self-conscious about my hairy legs
- Calling Juan and his girlfriend answered. He had a 2 year old at home and when she told him I called he was in tears. They were both very happy to hear from me.
Tuesday Morning, 3.11.08: "Never gonna give you up" was playing while I was trying to beat the black bulto of a ghost with a pan in the basement. Michael was there, watching.
Monday Morning, 3.10.08: Tried to leave my phone number for Cookie, she seemed disinterested and surprised that my boyfriend was Spanish (or so I thought)
/ I was whisked away to the Key West ferry, we ran onto it without paying before realizing it was the ferry. We had lucked out completely.
Sunday Morning, 3.9.08: I tried hiding in a Japanese man's closet (which looked like my dads) but he found me, even though I was in costume. I was spying on him, and I noticed he had switched out the polaroid of the new house with a different one.
Saturday Morning, 3.8.08: A man told us that they were giving away free energy drinks on the West side, we could get there by taking Broadway. We ran where he told us to, into an office building, but it looked as though the giveaway had ended. My (dream) friend found a few pastries left over by the air vent, so we stuck them in our bag and took the elevator down. I ate part of a cinnamon roll and asked my friend what we should tell the rest of them.
- Kirston knocked on my door in the morning, he had brought a few VHS tapes and other things for me, I tried to get him to go away nicely
/ I jumped into my twin sized bed, which was a foot away from the wall with the window on it. I couldn't believe the Spice Girls weren't as close as I thought they were. Gwen Steffani started telling me about the start of No Doubt. There was another girl in the band, and they had taken a jet to Australia to get their haircut before the group had even finished recording the Tragic Kingdom album. The record company paid for it, and they couldn't believe it. She then told me about almost getting abducted when she travelled around the Cayman Islands. Music: No Doubt - Tragic Kingdom
Friday Morning, 3.7.08: Going through the dark dorms in UT, I needed to find a bathroom and I accidentally went into the men's where I saw Thomas Morgan. I shut the door right away and went into a small unisex one next door since the lady's was full. I was telling my friend that even though I had missed my senior year, I was still going to try to graduate on time by taking the final exams of the few credits I needed. I was 1 or 2 years ahead on everything except for English. My friend was arguing with me saying that I needed chemistry. I didn't want anything that would hurt my GPA. Music: Spice Girls - Mama
Thursday Morning, 3.6.08: Freeing a bird from the zoo after he talked to me, Mr. Smith went after him. Me and Clau were waiting in line to go on a ride, I saw a Monty Python SNES game on the wall Music: The Wallflowers - The Difference
Tuesday Morning, 3.4.08: I was at my rich friend's house, but his mom kept treating me like the servant, I even told her that when she told me to get the door. We were holed up for a reason, there were zombies or evil spirits or something outside. I answered the door and a blonde preppy girl stood there, insisting that my friend come out because she wouldn't come in. I went through the hall and relayed what she had said to me. We eventually banded together on the lawn, with our jewel encrusted crucifixes on.
- Claudio and I had gone on the beach in Barcelona, but now we were on a busy street waiting for the bus home. There were lots of "ni�atos" there, and it was hard to see which bus was ours.
Saturday Morning, 3.1.08: The skanky girl from "Superbad" was talking about when she and Claudio had sex, and he was trying to ignore her. I was fuming.
Friday Morning, 2.29.08: Mei bitched me out and said I couldn't play music anymore. "Well, I need my music" and offered to just use my headphones.
- Killing zombies with a knife, with Claudio. Scheming how to avoid them, the media was avoiding the subject. We were in a big house on a cliff, we drove to Papi's part of town where I saw a Mexican woman who had become one. I slashed her and her daughters, but another woman I slashed came back to life and looked normal.
Thursday Morning, 2.28.08: A young schoolboy's body and face had been burned by a bully. He was cute and could have looked like Jim from The Office, as I saw on the powerpoint presentation.
- On a ferry or train with Claudio. We were waiting to board outside and it wasn't as cold as I thought it would be in Amsterdam. The seats were rickety and my seat didn't have a tray table in front of it, as I noticed when they were serving doughnuts. I was in a pissed off mood, Claudio got up and we looked for a seat together, even though it was a pretty crowded ride.
Wednesday Morning, 2.27.08: I was in Brazil, on a mountain or cliff overlooking the northeast, and thought about how Josie inspired me to go back.
- With Wylie in his tiny store in the mall. His friends had given him a lot of pins that he decorated the wall with. I was trying to think of some guy's name... "Michael? Wait, then there'd be two Mikes..."
- Israeli schoolchildren and I were on a mountain trying to climb up it. A midget child was there, but I held onto him and threw him up last. Everyone looked like they were having fun when I had to leave, so I waved my hands and fake slow ran away.
Tuesday Morning, 2.26.08: I was building the "Houston Discount Sales" ad, the 3rd item was M&Ms but I didn't know if they were plain or peanut. I asked J-Lo if her baby was going to be plain or peanut, but she seemed confused. This was after the Spice Girls concert.
Monday Morning, 2.25.08: I was clicking through all these websites about Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama that I forgot that there were independent candidates. A yellow and black ladybug passed by Music: Verdena - Il Suicidio del Samurai
Sunday Morning, 2.24.08: The Israeli girl I was walking with was dying, and she was telling me about her condition on the way to the garage. I felt really bad for her, and I tried looking on the bright side, saying that at least she knew when she was going to die so she could do a lot of things in life before it was over. Her arm was losing blood and she wanted to phone her mom so she could die at home. She tried dialing the number but it wouldn't go through, but it started with a bunch of zeros so I knew something was missing. I told her it needed an area code, and helped her find the right one. Her mother was a nurse in a New York hospital. She seemed ungrateful that I helped her and was concerned about her, but maybe she was just preoccupied. Music: Pitty - I Wanna Be
- In a museum with Kristan, the computers were like the ones at the library. We went to the 2nd floor and passed by a gift shop
/ Mel B was being interviewed, she had heavy eyeliner on. She was talking about her new tv show that aired around 4:30am on Thursdays. Music: Dirty Bomb
Friday Morning, 2.22.08: Visiting Clau, he left (with his grandfather? to visit me in the US?) and I stayed with Mila. Kristan came to see me, and we were going to a concert in Madrid, a shitty pop group that I guess I kind of liked. But I couldn't find the e-ticket in my yahoo account and was starting to freak out. I was in my room in the townhouse, and BJ was on my pillow, laying on her side. I asked Mila if she could accompany us to the airport, and she seemed kind of mad that we were only staying 1 day. I think I tried telling her that Mei would eventually be coming to see us.
Wednesday Morning, 2.20.08: I started working at Circuit City (or CompUSA) even though I thought they were going out of business. Some woman called and asked about a specific computer model, when I couldn't find it I asked one of the managers and he laughed and said it didn't exist. He then gave me a hot pink cell phone and said I could use it for business. Claudio was sitting to the side playing PSP. David worked there, I could see him from a distance, he had long blonde hair now but otherwise looked the same. I was excited about saying hi to him, but decided to put it off until I finished my work. We then got on the bus, maybe to go downtown.
Sunday Morning, 2.17.08: We were on the bus on the way to a field trip, I had to pee for 4 hours while we took the scenic route. I saw the 18 Baytown bus stop and realized we didn't go all that far. May Ann and Cristina Fernandez were talking about Daniel, we were asking May Ann what happened to him and she said he went to Ivy League for grad school. Cristina was impressed. "Wait, why are you asking May Ann questions about your own brother??"
Saturday Afternoon, 2.16.08: Alina's stroller outside my window, Farida would come looking for it soon.
/On the bus with claudio on the HOV lane. The Asian female driver knew Mei and pointed to a clock that said 5pm. She said Mei wouldn't call until 9:30 because she was busy working
Saturday Morning, 2.16.08: Olivia Kuan had changed so much, but I still remembered when I had gone to her room in high school and she had a beanie baby collection.
Friday Morning, 2.15.08: Mei and Gil said bye and left me alone in the office, it was 6:44
Thursday Morning, 2.14.08: I was in a parking garage and snuck down where I saw lots of old refrigerators and washing machines (and washing sinks) for sale. I made my way to the townhouse dining room.
- My mom and I parked in the teacher's lot (at Bellaire?) to go to Val's graduation. As we walked in I could see colorful Egyptian hieroglyphics moving to our rhythm. The place was packed, we made our way to the left.
Wednesday Morning, 2.13.08: Claudio and I were in the thrift store by my house with Miguel. Shortly after getting there I spotted a bin with a white Sega Saturn, it was inside of a Genesis box, but they wanted too much for it even though the price on the box said $6. I took the Saturn out of the box and thought we could pay less if we asked them to price just that.
Tuesday Morning, 2.12.08: In Ms. Nelson's class afterschool. I was in a towel and wanted to shower, she got mad at me but I grabbed a travel sized shampoo and body wash and told her I had clothes with me.
/ I went into a large empty room with hardwood floors, two dream friends were with me, a guy and a girl, but maybe the girl was Najla. A crazy guy grabbed us and said the other two he trusted, they looked wholesome. I wondered what that meant about me. They then got into an argument over sea and land, and I could see their argument unfold from an areal view.
Monday Morning, 2.11.08: In dining room, accidentally called Tony then he called me back and asked how to hook up the telephone. Then I was telling Rudy and Val that I had put a metered phone line for a while but they charged me too many fees.
Saturday Morning, 2.9.08: I ran down the stairs in the Asian house (actually the father was white and the kids were mixed), I met my friend outside and we went onto the train. I could see lots of Asian families standing around on the way there. We passed through a Kwik-E-Mart where Ryan Edwards was talking about a Saturn game I had and had just been thinking about, even though I hadn't remembered the name of it. Carlos Ayala was there, and Bart's grandfather was getting pulled apart down below.
- I got out of Jennelle's car, she had parked under a carport by the university. Her parents said we were going to Berlin and Montreal that month. I wasn't looking forward to the cold weather but was still very happy that I was going with Jennelle and didn't have to pay.
Friday Morning, 2.8.08: Road tripping with Jessica to Mexico? We stopped at a gas station convenience store that was also someone's 2 story old house. I looked through a book of national parks, and I considered buying it but saw it was $28 and my dad could get that book for free with his AAA membership. I was spending a lot of time looking at it and realized we needed to get a move on.
Tuesday Morning, 2.5.08: My mom and I were traveling through dimensions, a guy wanted to see naked photos of girls, we were standing at the bus stop. He found a RBD booklet with fake naked photos after he had looked through a similar booklet with drawings of butterflies and flowers.
Monday Morning, 2.4.08: Marie was with me and told me that there would be no more soy milk machine at the office. I didn't know how what I would eat at the company lunches if I couldn't make my lentil burgers. We went to Kirston's house and a girl kicked me out. "Hey I know who lives here!" Music: Hoobastank - Reason
Friday Morning, 1.25.08: In New York with Tia Blanca, coming from Rio, we went to a fancy restaurant where the waiters kept trying to take my food away thinking I was done, and kept annoying me. They offered Tia Blanca another dish and she took it. I told them to just leave my stuff there and sounded bothered. I looked at the slices of cakes and wondered how much they were going to cost. I couldn't spend $3000 on them.
Wednesday Morning, 1.23.08: Heidi wanted to cuddle with me in my bed, but I was afraid I would squash her. I called Tia Blanca at 4am to make sure she was going to the airport, but then realized that it was probably too late to be calling and I had probably woken someone up.
Tuesday Morning, 1.22.08: I visited Jessica by taking the 71 in Miami. When I got home I had the impression she was standing outside my door.
Monday Morning, 1.21.08: I was with Claudio in his bedroom, his mom was in the bathroom which was behind his bed.
- I went for a swim in the indoor pool, then headed for the buffet where I tried to fit too many things on a small plate. Katie Gilger laughed at me and the noodle coming out of my mouth. I interrupted May Ann unintentionally.
/ German and I walked out of a parking garage, he tried to pay with his student card but it didn't work anymore. When we got out I looked onto the street and told him that I missed living in Barcelona.
Sunday Morning, 1.20.08: The mall was about to close, but on my way out I discovered that I didn't have my messenger bag. I ran through the hallway to an area where someone was giving a speech and the audience was sitting in metal fold-away chairs. Everyone's bags were on the floor near the back. I found mine and left through the exit that was farther from my apartment, but much relieved.
- The prices were good in the bodega I stepped into, reminiscent of the 5 peso stores in Monterrey. I filled my small shopping cart with things and scanned the clothes which were not priced as low (I saw some dark green plaid pants among other things). There were sample cereal packs and larger versions of the same cereal. I saw that the "fun sized" nerd boxes were only a penny each, so I scooped many of them into my cart before checking out. The prices were not as low as advertised, which bothered me immensely. I told the cashier that I just wanted the nerds, the only things that were at the advertised price.
- Asia Argento was laying in the bed in my dad's room, the curtains were open and lots of light poured in. Her mom looked younger than I remembered, and spoke to her in Italian. At one point she called her a slut, and I was amused that the word for slut was the same in Italian. The more I thought about it, the more it made sense that the word would be the same.
- I had a bird's eye view of the region of Australia I was visiting, I would soon be hang-gliding and jumping off cliffs into the water as well. I was scared but excited by the thought of it.
- I decided to put my old disposable contacts in, and hoped they wouldn't fuck my eyes up. Music: Natasha Bedingfield - Unwritten
Saturday Morning, 1.19.08: The tenants of an apartment building teamed up and decided to kill an annoying old lady neighbor. Adrienne was part of the team, and it was my understanding that they went through with it. I stopped for a while and opened a tin cylinder that I had filled with water in hopes that fish would grow in it. The water smelled bad and was red from the rust. There was a medium-sized roach inside, but no fish. I asked someone what I had been doing wrong.
/ I saw the lady I thought they had killed, I passed by the rotunda near the Telepizza in Vigo and tried to warn Adrienne. "Didn't you guys kill her?" I thought she would seek revenge but instead she called them one by one and gave them 50 euros or more. She reminded me of Claudio's grandmother. We were standing under a construction ramp and it was fairly cold out. Music: Limp Bizkit - Rollin
Friday Morning, 1.18.08: I was walking along some condensed ghetto at night, a little scared, but I went into an auditorium where it was warmer. I had seen neon signs that said "Amsterdam" in a bar, that was going into the slightly nicer part of town.
/ I met up with Wylie and his friends in a hole-in-the-wall place, but accidentally blew him off when I saw Amanda. She told me she had a huge crush on "Adam" from BHS, and I was trying to think of which Adam it was. I asked her if he had glasses, what color his hair was. From her description I thought it would be Bergen but we walked into the room where he was playing chess and it was Terry from "Reno 911!" He was so nice and cute, but very gay, and after we walked out I told her he was "flaming". I walked by an old house, the sidewalk was pushed up and not level.
Thursday Morning, 1.17.08: Air France was figuring out how to deal with my compensation for the canceled flight. They decided to just refund my money, but that was not good enough for me. I stood with Claudio in my room, by the edge of the bed.
- Val's sister got kidnapped, maybe. It was on the news, her friend had on a white wifebeater underneath a tank top, I thought it looked nice. "She's out of control... and she's only 17!" I assumed she was talking about her spending habits.
Wednesday Morning, 1.16.08: I was in the upstairs bathroom in the townhouse, wearing a weird sweater on top of my blue fleece pajama shirt. My tits were bigger than I remembered, but maybe it was because I was about to be on my period. Claudio and I were making out on a chaise lounge.
- Dalia rolling with a stroller on a wooden bridge, I ran out to the field and Mei gave me gum, I was going to choose cherry but she told me to pick the green apple, which was in a metallic package. We then stopped into Sam's and I saw a display for the green apple gum. There were mini African masks made from the gum, each one was unique and cute. I stood back to take a photo, the place was pretty busy and I went to the jewelry section so I could get the entire display in the photo. People were in the way, I wasn't very happy with how it turned out.
Tuesday Morning, 1.15.08: Kristan and I went to her small (dream)house, the setting reminded me of rural Iceland. Feng Ying was there and I was happy to see her again.
- Mike and I went for a ride around River Oaks. We turned after Avalon and as he (or I?) was on the phone I noticed that there were a lot of logs posted up for Halloween. It was as though things went in slow motion then.
- I brought a guy home, and after suppressing my feelings I finally grabbed him and we made out on my living room floor. He had a PSP and a Nintendo DS, and was putting his games away when I surprised him.
Monday Morning, 1.14.08: I could see Huyen Hgyuen and Gita walking down the street close to where I lived. I hurried home to give Mengfei cute black sandals that I had bought for $1.50. I went into my closest to see if I could give her the shoes Jakeline had bought for me, or my old flowery pair of panties, but decided the latter would be weird and remembered the former had been returned. Mengfei loved the sandals. She was standing in my kitchen and looked shocked or scared. She said she had seen a fly, but used what I understood to be the latin, scientific word for fly. "Oh, psh... I thought you had seen a flying cockroach or something." She looked grossed out. "Not that I have those..."
- I was playing the Taz game, there was a part where Taz was in a dark level and he had to spin into a bunch of enemies on different levels of the screen.
- I somehow got the Sega Genesis to work, and I hugged Claudio as Beast of the Sword 2 was on the screen.
- Claudio told me to meet him at the stairs, perhaps it was going to be our first time together. I could see from the glass door that there were a lot of soldiers shooting bows and arrows, I wondered how I would get to him. I managed to dodge them and he grabbed me and took me with him under the stairs where he had been hiding. We kissed passionately. Music: Shakira - Whatever, Whenever
Sunday Morning, 1.13.08: Val was rushing me to pack my stuff up. She was also packing, and I think her sister was as well. I thought my stuff would fit in two boxes and my luggage but I had a lot more than I thought I did. We had until 6pm, which was later than I had originally thought, so that was somewhat of a relief. I turned around and saw my closet in the townhouse.
- I was trying to buy a bus ticket in secret, I was in the bathroom downstairs when my dad got on the line and said he wanted to use the phone. I told him to wait 5 minutes but of course he only waited 1 or 2 and started bitching again. I gave up and put the phone back, but I unplugged the cord while he was standing by me and refused to plug it back. It was childish, but I was angry and frustrated.
/ I was in a van with my father and Farida, she said something to me and I smiled or agreed even though I still hated her. We parked under the bleachers at a professional sports event.
Saturday Early Morning, 1.12.08: In a van with Kristan, 2 soccer kids got in but eventually left. We were in Miami.
Thursday Afternoon, 1.10.08: I was in a train station, I had missed my flight to Amsterdam and I was with a group of Spaniards walking through what looked like a factory with a greenhouse in it. When I got to work I went through the back door and saw that things had been changed around a bit. There was a table by the entrance and Marie was standing by it. Debra Hurwitz was there telling her about Amsterdam. "Oh did your flight get canceled, too?" It hadn't, and I probably would have been on the same flight as her if my flight there had not been canceled.
Wednesday Afternoon, 1.9.08: There had been a car crash, it was just a brief moment, I think I saw Claudio's face covered in blood and I could see mine covered in blood as well. I stumbled about, I'm not sure if I was laughing or crying.
Tuesday Afternoon, 1.8.08: Val's mom had said something to me from the stairway in the townhouse. I came to my room with Claudio, an earthquake or some other natural disaster had just taken place. We looked out of the window, at first it looked as though the houses around us were ok, but Claudio insisted they weren't so I took a better look and saw that they had all collapsed, an expanse filled with piles of grey rubble. It appeared as though ours was the only house that was untouched.
/ I got on a small motor boat, Sharmila or someone similar was there. We could see houses on either side of us as we drifted on the water.
- I hadn't been home in a while. My apartment was different, the bathroom was closer to the entrance. Someone had left me a small rug that was filled with hissing cockroaches, and my bathroom was a mess. Wylie's friend came over and used the bathroom, I tried to clean things up a bit before she did but I still felt embarrassed.
Sunday Afternoon, 1.6.08: Heidi was in the townhouse, we were at the bottom of the stairway when I discovered that I could take the top part of her beak off and it would grow back in a matter of seconds. When it was off I could see her tongue. I then accidentally took her head off and placed it on a stair, frightened that I had killed her. To my surprise I saw that she was not only still alive but could squawk and blink with her head unattached. I put it back, there were two tendons coming from her neck and her head attached to one of them. I took her head off again and attached it to the other tendon to see what would happen. She was fine except that when she perched on my finger she used the opposite claw to start with, and this confused her. I figured the tendon had something to do with this; it was as if attaching her head to the other tendon had made her the equivalent of left-handed.
- Claudio and some of his extended family from his father's side came with me to what looked like a train station along the coast. The ceilings were high and pyramid-like, all glass. I didn't know what I was going to play on the piano, and right before I was called in I realized I hadn't studied at all, so I became very nervous. The light in the room I was called into was dim, and I was called into an adjacent soundproof room later. (It could be that this was the inside of the music school on Westheimer). The teacher gave me something completely unexpected, something that I could not have prepared for. It was 3 drawings, I guess I was supposed to play anything I wanted, I didn't really understand what I was supposed to do and asked questions that she would not answer.
Friday Morning, 1.4.08: I had to buy a copy of "Siddhartha" for class, so I wondered through an outdoor market until I stopped at a small bookstand. There were a lot of German books; I thought I wouldn't find what I needed until I turned back and found a lot of copies, they all looked new. 25 cents, there were 2 different editions, I preferred the modernist body sculpture cover with red and orange hues. There was a different one for 16 cents, but it was used and had been heavily highlighted. I took a new one, then envisioned Ms. Quaite getting mad at me for having a Spanish language version of the book, or getting lost during a class discussion because I could not easily find the passage we were talking about. My argument would be that in the 2nd year (no, the 3rd) we studied works that had been translated into English.
/ The red headed lush from "The Office" got mad at the boss on the beach, so a fat co-worker, perhaps the guy from that show I couldn't remember the title of, came out and said "yo soy el jefe", grunting like a gorilla. The real boss said "y soy yo... el jefe normal". It was all done in a horrible voiceover.
Thursday Morning, 1.3.08: I was in Claudio's room with Mila, Claudio, and Andres, Michael was asleep in Claudio's bed. We started rolling joints, I suggested we use bible pages, or yellow pages if we ran out of papers. I woke Michael up to see if she wanted one but she sounded annoyed that I woke her up. I barely smoked anything and I already felt high
- We had been given points for good behavior or good grades, and to my surprise they could buy quite a bit. There was a big screen tv for 164 points, we were on a trolly or boat of some sort, gliding through the prize room. I got off in the small area with computers. I saw a black machine that looked like it was a combo console of 3-5 rare computer and video game systems. I considered using my points for it, but it was so large, and it didn't have a price on it. Music: Verdena - Elefante
Wednesday Morning, 1.2.08: I got off the bus at night, my mom took me to a parking garage and told me she wanted me to see a museum exhibition before it ended. We went inside and I saw Christian, he told me he had won a scholarship, or that he was a finalist, but he didn't really need the $1000 since his godmother paid for college. He said he might give it up to someone who needed it more, and it warmed my heart a little
- I was in my dad's van, Farida was in the passenger's side. He dropped me off at the townhouse where my mom was waiting for me. She said something about Farida, maybe that she didn't want to see her with me Music: Rod Stewart - You're in my Heart
Tuesday Morning, 1.1.08: Michael was in my bedroom in the townhouse, someone else was with us, probably Jessica. She told me that Alex Glick was going to the Mary J. Blige concert in Monterrey. I said that was a great idea, and we should go, too.
/ The Mary J. Blige tickets were only $10, we found our seats and got up to get something to drink before the concert started. Jennelle said she had to give some Christmas gifts out so I accompanied her. There was a black girl she seemingly didn't know too well, more of an acquaintance, and she gave her a plastic case with an agenda inside, and a pocket for an umbrella. I was more excited about it than her friend was, who seemed completely disinterested. I wondered where my present was. I walked out with Kristan, who was telling me that she lost her job. I was shocked, but I guess they had caught on to how much she did personal stuff on company time. She said that she figured it out because her Christmas bonus was much larger than it should have been, and it was because it included the severance. We stopped at a closet where she took something out. I wondered how much longer I would be keeping my job. And just then Gil had a discussion with me in the food court. I tried to argue saying that they would need someone in my position, but I guess they had seen that they could manage without me the three and a half weeks I was out of town. Gil also told me that "the bird" had died the day before I got back. I wasn't surprised.
Monday Morning, 12.31.07: Ms. Price had asked us to go to River Oaks to get some information about a Mrs. John that she had worked with in a study of retarded children, or something of the sort. We thought it would be easy to get in, but when we got to the front office they made us sign in and wouldn't give us much information about Mrs. John. They gave us some paper with general information about her, but when we asked if we could see her or at least get her telephone number they asked us all sorts of questions about the study, which we knew little about. We went back to Ms. Price with the paper they gave us, apologizing for not being able to get her what she wanted
- A mother and her 3 daughters were on their way to the Walter Branch library when they noticed that a party was going on in a house across the street. The teenage daughter wanted to go, and then the other 2 did, but they mother didn't want to let them. After getting in the library she decided to let them go, but would secretly follow them to keep an eye on things. The party was lame, a bunch of bikers listening to old rock music. She took a few photos and posted it with her entry on poor_skills. There were 4 comments, I had the page open when she walked back into the library. I was hoping she would see.
- Fauzeya started telling me a story of how Yousef (or a friend of his) lost his disposable contact and went to community college for 2 semesters to get his degree instead of looking for the contact. I was there, I had studied abroad in Monterrey for a semester and I had a group of rich friends. They were telling me that a female American spy was paid a lot of money to go to a secret island for work. The hotel there was like the "Monterrey Inn" which apparently was on a cliff on the beach where the distance to the water was just perfect. We went down a busy pedestrian street with another foreign friend to get to her hostel. I joked with the blonde girl that she was going to the "hostel mamita... y papito"
- Claudio's mom told me that she wanted to make a bet, with money. We were standing outside of Claudio's room. Then she started to say that she was about to go grocery shopping Music: Modern English - Melt With You
Sunday Morning, 12.30.07: I was in a Tom and Jerry game, as Jerry, and I could stick to the walls my putting myself into a bubble.
Saturday Afternoon, 12.29.07: I went to the parking garage of what looked like the condominiums Kris lived in. There was some Monopoly money around, so I used $2000 of it to tip a guy waiting in his car after he explained how things worked. Paris Hilton was the attendant, she was flirting with some high school athlete when I went to her and told her I was new there and didn't have a card to get in. She told me that was fine and to wait in line behind the cars. It looked like drive-thru bank lines. The high school boy explained that he was going to college and might get bigger, and two guys were fighting over her outside of a diner.
Saturday Morning, 12.29.07: Edwin was let out of prison for a while and he came to visit me in my neighborhood. I was happy to see him, but I felt guilty for not sending him the letter I had written him. I started to explain the situation to him. He mentioned the parole letter. I asked what they did for Halloween and Christmas in prison. I wondered if his mom had come to visit him for Christmas Day. We started walking in the direction of Walgreens when he told me that he forgot his acne medicine, and started running.
Friday Afternoon, 12.28.07: Elizabeth's dad had died and I was in the will, inheriting 25%, the same amount as Elizabeth. It struck me as odd because I hadn't seen him since elementary school and we barely knew each other. I asked if her brother was inheriting, and if the stepmother and sister were. They were. But I was under the impression that the money was meant for someone else, perhaps they thought I was his illegitimate daughter. I looked hispanic enough. For a moment Britney Spears came out and started talking in poor Spanish. Two punks came to me and asked if I had been in some horror movie from the 80s, there was a girl that said 1 line but it had a sort of cult following. Since the girl in the will was in the movie, I said that it had been me. They flipped, but all the while I was afraid they would discover my true identity. We went up escalators, I told my friend to play along.
Friday Morning, 12.28.07: Val and I waiting for bus, she decided not to get on because of the people, I walked around and carried some heavy textbooks across the street by the freeway. I went to work for a while, we were in a big office building on a top floor, Bobby was charging for some 2x2s since he didn't know what was what. He said he had called my cell phone with questions but couldn't reach me. I went to class where I normally sat in front of Kristan, but I didn't feel like sitting there anymore so I took Easton Riley's seat which was in front of mine. Kristan asked about it and I told her the teacher was about to move me anyway. Music: 311 - Beautiful Disaster
Sunday Morning, 12.23.07: The three people I met at the Spice Girls concert in LA paid me a surprise visit at my apartment in Houston. I was just about to leave for Spain, I had my bags packed. One of them said I should come with him to the concert in New York. As they were leaving I asked two of them for their email addresses. They hesitated, it seemed as though they didn't want to give them to me. The girl's was something like "fakeskin" and the guy wrote his kind of sloppily. I ran back to my apartment (I had followed them to the car), thinking I had locked myself out, but I hadn't.
Wednesday Morning, 12.19.07: This time the ghost was in the bathroom, I felt it in the bathtub as I was sitting on the toilet. The room was dark
Tuesday Morning, 12.18.07: I went with my friend to the thrift store by our high school to look for costume for the dance. It was night time and we had just gotten off of the 2 by Walgreens. I wasn't very impressed with the selection, but after some digging I found a race car driver costume that was a possibility. Sara Delclos walked by me and said the outfit was worn by some girl I had never even heard of. Maybe if I had ever gone to dances I would know that. "Who?" "She wasn't that popular." I couldn't tell if she was being sarcastic, but regardless I scratched that idea.
Monday Morning, 12.17.07: I was doing the math to see which flight I could get on. I arrived early, my flight wasn't leaving until 4pm, but the 10:28am flight seemed packed. However, there was a 10:30am flight that I might be able to make. How stupid was that? To have 2 minutes separating nearly identical flights. I told this to the friend I talked to on the payphone. I was in the Greenspoint area, I could try to kill some time around there. Music: Placebo - Post Blue
Sunday Morning, 12.16.07: I followed Kristan to the hotel room, knowing that it would bother her. We bickered, apparently she was rooming with Jessica even though there were 3 beds in the room. I eventually left and tried to find Michael. We were in a 3-story high cabin hotel.
- They allowed me to sell the aquarium I had been taking care of. It had dark purple crystals inside, I figured those alone would be worth $150, so I totaled my estimate at $600. My dad was trying to convince me to sell for $12.500, which was absurd. It was going to be sad to say goodbye to what I had called home for those months. My room was quaint and dark, but it was comfortable.
Saturday Night, 12.15.07: There was a ghost in the kitchen, when I went to it I felt its presence. It then turned into a wasp or a bee, I went running toward the bathroom
Thursday Morning, 12.13.07: Kristan and I went to visit ROE again, we had been back there so many times that the teachers were probably tired of seeing us. We talked to Ms. Nelson briefly.
/ We were on a terrace and opened the glass door to get inside. The style of the building was very 60s. We were in Madrid. An old man in a wheelchair came up to us, it had been Kristan's host father or someone related to her host family, and she had loaned him 30 euros and wanted it back. He pulled out a penny and some euro loose change "No, 30 EUROS" I told him.
Sunday Morning, 12.9.07: After walking through the dusty mall parking lot I tried running after the 2 and luckily caught up to it, I was going to Washington Mutual. I had just come from Kirston's newly inherited house, it was 1 story but very large, and was scattered with tables with Singer machines built into them. I walked into his dimly lit and wide open office, he was still in the process of remodeling.
Friday Morning, 12.7.07: Val's family spoke to me in Italian and I answered back in broken Italian, fending quite well for myself, surprisingly. When we were in the car (driving at night or early morning) they said if I had woken up earlier I could have done "hula hooping" with them. Alex said they had gone ice skating, but the skates were more like roller skates which meant they only fell twice. Music: Verdena - Phantastica
Sunday Morning, 12.2.07: Claudio's mom called me from his phone, "Hola bichito", she said she would call me back but didn't. I could see Claudio was about to get into the shower.
Saturday Morning, 12.1.07: Backpacking in Morocco with Kristan, meeting cool people in free hostel in the desert. I walked back and brought some fries for everyone, but then noticed that we were next to a McDonalds anyway Music: Big Country - In a Big Country
Friday Morning, 11.30.07: The Mexican church I was in was serving Pan Riko bread.
Thursday Morning, 11.29.07: Claudio was with me, we sat at a table and Gil told us that flipping a coin did not have a 50/50 chance when used over a newspaper. He proceeded to explain why and I didn't pay much attention, but then he mentioned that when he had told Mr. Mazzoni this years ago he was so happy because other mathematicians had never let him in on the secret. He said Mazzoni was in tears, and I laughed at the thought.
Wednesday Morning, 11.28.07: We had stopped by the Chinese buffet on Fondren before I left for the Spice Girls concert. I was sitting there as it was starting and realized I was alone, Val hadn't shown up. Did her sister's friend still want Kristan's ticket? I moved from my seat and gave her a call, the audience was cheering and the Spice Girls were thanking their fans in every city, listing the cities. Music: Chara - Crazy For You
Tuesday Morning, 11.27.07: Flying, landed at FIU parking garage because it was about to rain, I ran into Kirston and thought I saw Claudio waiting for me but it was a pale Mexican. Then Claudio came and I introduced him. Kirston offered us a ride home and Claudio was making out with me in front of him in the car. I had my purple bra from 4 years ago and a noticeable tan line.
Monday Morning, 11.26.07: I saw in Dalia's facebook profile that she was bald so I assumed it was cancer. She had a cute older Arab boyfriend and looked happy, despite the baldness. I saw her at the airport checking in the attache she had found with drug money inside, thinking "What is she doing?!"
- Of course they were on to us after that. They gave my mom a notice that she was to meet them at the apartments behind Ranoush Cafe. I tried to convince her not to go but she insisted. When we got there we saw that the door was open and my mom asked a Mexican girl if they always kept it open. She went inside and I felt uneasy Music: Verdena - Phantastica
Sunday Morning, 11.25.07: Heidi laying eggs that Mei and Gil wanted to eat, I explained they were her period.
- Going back in time to high school, sitting with Najla and Jessica and Kristan in a dim cabin, I asked a question and realized that doing so would probably mess up the time continuem
Friday Morning, 11.23.07: Running like a black panther through the park, going to Mexico. I enjoyed the colorful houses that surrounded me. Music: Matchbox 20 - Mad Season
Thursday Morning, 11.22.07: With Val in thrift store, wanted to buy plaid pants that fit right, told her to hold on to my jeans with holes (then turned into old navy ones) and she thought I wanted her to exchange them. I looked in the mirror, I had my brown boots on, and as I walked out I realized they were flooded. Music: Third Eye Blind - My Time in Exile
Wednesday Morning, 11.21.07: Bird changing from turqoise parakeet to cockatiel to multicolored. Gil didn't pay attention, I had Bobby take a photo as I posed like a wrestler but then somewhat normal. Ran away from guy through Ren Fest (or something like it), in a grassy field Music: Mark Ronson ft. Lily Allen - Oh my God
Tuesday Morning, 11.20.07: Moms wanting me to mother their sons, being in haunted auditorium with a dream friend, walking up and down the stairs
Thursday Morning, 11.15.07: I was passing by the Korean convenience store (perhaps to buy my lotto ticket) when I looked across the street and saw a few flamingos in the parking lot of the strip mall. Astonished, I crossed the street immediately. One of them was standing by the dumpster and spoke to me. "Crutiiina" in a raspy voice. At first I thought he was saying "Frutina", but later understood that he wanted shrimp. I thought about how flamingos get their pink color from the pink food they eat. "Crutiiina", I had no idea flamingos were so big. I told him I would go into the open mall to my side and try to get some. I consider asking restaurants if I could get some for free, or waiting until they were about to close, but the flamingo was hungry now so that wouldn't work. He tried to follow me in but I told him to wait there while I ran in. He still tried to follow, "wait!" and I grabbed him which he didn't enjoy. "Man, you gonna leave me here?" suddenly he talked like a black man.
Wednesday Morning, 11.14.07: I told my mom we went out of our way going back to Oregon when we had been going that way a few days ago. We were on a bus and had just made a pitstop.
/I got off the bus with Kristan and her mom, in Taipei. Kristan's hair was down and looked very elegant, she crossed the busy street with confidence and the two of us followed. We stopped at a thrift store called "Sester, Sister" only to find that it was more of a museum, or at least the area by the entrance was. We browsed through old documents until we found out chilling details about the 18th century murder.
- Mel B was being carried away by the police who arrested her for something stupid. For a while I looked out of the window to try to understand what was happening. Some of the other girls and friends began to kick a soccer ball around to distract the cops, and it seemed to be working. I finally stepped out of the English mansion and ran after Mel, telling her not to go to jail. "Have you ever been to jail?" She said yes and I told her I had, too. I was giving her advice, telling her not to call cell phones and whatnot. Then I kicked the soccer ball around some. There was a nearby lake (or large puddle) with strange prehistoric looking reptiles in it. The ball splashed on the side for a moment and it seemed to bother one of the reptiles that hobbled out. Mel C and Geri were there, Mel C grabbed me for a moment and I noticed her hands were very soft. I felt awkward but continued to play.
Tuesday Morning, 11.13.07: Chandra had made reservations at a Chinese place for the Rogers group (plus Rose and Ann). I told Rose "well it's your birthday so you should choose what you want to eat", but then realized it was also Ann and Chandra's birthday, "Or.. you should all choose". I looked at the reservation a few hours earlier and saw that we would be put in the bathroom, but I didn't say anything for some reason. Everyone was surprised when the host took us into the stalls, and I kept my mouth shut. A few Asian business men were dining in the stalls. There was a table to the side though, so we decided to eat at it.
- I was at the Ozzy Osbourne concert in Italy with Val. Somehow we had gotten backstage, the acoustics were great, as Ozzy noted. I went up to him later and asked him where we were, because I had been somewhere in Tuscany with great acoustics. Val told me that she knew how to say she was on her period in Italian. I listed to the recording and noticed it was actually in French "Je suis dans ma p�riode". Funny that "period" was nearly the same in French, I wouldn't have thought that. Music: Ozzy Osbourne - Crazy Train
Monday Morning, 11.12.07: I had just finished telling Caryn Robey about these pills that made you skip a period. We got lots of them from a Chinese distributor, they looked like those energy pills I bought in New Orleans, and they came in lime green pouches with elephants drawn on them. Others were orange with tigers drawn on them.
/ I left the house and got on the bus with Claudio, telling him about the pills. He seemed uninterested and depressed. We missed our 82 Sharpstown stop so I got off at Briarhurst. He didn't want to come with me so he stayed on the bus. Later, I was checking email in a glass room and he came in with his cousin Pablo. They looked things up on ebay and I was afraid he would see what I had been looking at.
Sunday Morning, 11.11.07: Claudio and I were walking hand in hand through the mall when he mentioned that he was going to marry Al Gore. At first I thought it was a joke, but he said that he had proposed to him so he accepted. I asked him if it meant that we weren't going to get married, and he said it did, very nonchalantly. I started to realize that maybe he wasn't joking, and I looked it up online later and found about 5 websites that confirmed the marriage. The wedding would be in Spain, and Edgar and Pablo commented on two of the articles.
- I remembered how Bellaire was set up even though I hadn't been there in a few years. They had done so many additions, but I managed to find the old orchestra corridor. Ms. Brown was teaching a few children how to play guitar, although they had to practice on keyboards held horizontally because the guitars hadn't come in yet. She put on a video of a gypsy girl playing and had them try to mimic her finger movements. I tried and did fairly decently. "This will show which of you have had practice on stringed instruments." After class I told her I never expected her to be teaching a class like that.
Saturday Morning, 11.10.07: Claudio had gotten in and we were about to fuck in my room, which was placed more like my father's room but had my bed and sheets in it. I realized that I still hadn't changed my sheets, but it was too late now. Mei came in and tried to give me some size 6 pink tennis shoes but saw they were too small. She commented on how big Claudio's shoes were, since they were in the closet she was standing in as well.
- I thought about my yellow purse as we walked into the bookshop of the museum, losing the crowd we came with. It was badly lit and wooden, and there were lots of old Nintendo Power magazines so the both of us were in heaven. Behind those there were old Japanese video game magazines, a 10-year old boy said something in Japanese that I assumed was the name of the magazine; he must have been able to read Japanese letters. I felt around and found a cell phone like mine with the battery taken out, someone had left it between all those magazines. Claudio disappeared and I noticed my phone was missing, but found it among magazines on the other side, just as I had found the other one. I had panicked when I noticed it was missing but I had a hunch it would be around there. I went back on the yellow school bus and everyone was waiting for me so we could leave. Claudio was Doug for a moment. I realized that I had left my yellow purse somewhere and dragged Claudio with me to look for it. We went running, my plan was to use my cell phone to call my cell phone and hear the purse ringing. I flipped through my phone's address book until I found "Aisha Movil" and dialed. The Japanese concierge had it for me, "Domo arigato... domo arigato gozaimas" In my head I noticed the connection between "obrigado" and "arigato", although it is likely a coincidence as many say.
Friday Morning, 11.9.07: Claudio and I were about to fuck in my living room but we didn't have a condom. "Well it wouldn't be the first time..." I was in my ovulation days though, so I was slightly worried. I had a sofa in my living room Music: Alizee - Lui ou Toi (industrial remix)
Wednesday Morning, 11.7.07: I learned about the touring Spice Girls exhibit at the Museum of Natural Science and convinced Sandra to go with me on a free day. They had a lot of sports trophies on display, and plaques on the wall with a timeline of Spice events.
/ The black girls convinced me to dance around the house with them. There was a purpose behind it but I didn't ask. I was holding an acoustic guitar and was dressed in a flowy magenta dress like the one I had in first grade. I danced as goofy as possible, and they of course laughed. All of us had to keep dancing our way through the house.
Thursday Morning, 11.1.07: Mikey was driving me to eat for my birthday, we were going to park by the townhomes but I saw my dad walking around there so i told him to drive away at the last minute. I felt like going to Lubys, so I said to keep on Fondren until Westpark, but it was actually until Westheimer. He pulled into a Becks Prime and someone brought me a hamburger but it tasted awful and the pattie was big and pink inside. It had been so long since I had eaten meat, and I didn't miss it at all. Mike started eating so I figured we probably wouldn't be going to Luby's afterall.
Tuesday Morning, 10.30.07: Claudio and I were going to rent a car, we were standing in the carport of the townhomes and I realized I didn't know how to drive.
/I was trying to stick a mattress in a wooden frame, but was having trouble. I thought about my glasses and Marylin Manson, and I looked at them and saw that the frame didn't go down to the bottom of the lenses. It suddenly made sense.
Monday Morning, 10.29.07: My teacher had asked about a film, "Do you mean 'Avalon'?" That wasn't what he was looking for. There was a 10 year high school reunion from the class of '92 or '93. I looked up the skinny blonde girl with green shirt about her class on facebook. I was standing by the classroom window in my black bra (that I left in Miami) putting on a shirt when Gil started walking over, so I hovered off to the side as I finished putting it on. The floors were a laminated blonde wood, just as I had remembered them.
Sunday Morning, 10.28.07: Late afternoon, dark out, going home from work on the rail. We were talking about the Ren Fest, Najla was there. She said there was a daybed on freecycle and offered to pick it up for me. I figured this meant she wanted to crash at my place for a while. I wasn't very happy about it, and told her if she was going to do that to come by after 6 or 7 when I got off of work.
/ Claudio and I ran to the bus stop from the Hillcroft Transit Center. It was dark outside and we had to run through fields. I sang a song to myself about the situation (after we had parted briefly), but was surprised to see a pig and a donkey on stage, instead of the other 2 animals I was expecting. I would have to change my song a little.
After we got there I realized we could have just taken the rail there, 1 more stop.
Saturday Morning, 10.27.07: With the Design Remix team painting the roof red. First we used little red foam tiles, but I almost accidentally put an olive green one down. That would have been horrible. Then we started using red paint; I was scared of falling off, especially since I didn't have health insurance. I wondered if HGTV would pay for my medical bills.
/ Mima's death, we opened her bedroom and I commented on how quaint and peaceful it was. There were two twin beds, one was against her sliding closet doors, and it was very Mexican and colorful with knitted bedspreads. The two of us went through things, I found quite a bit of money, even a $100 bill. I moved her dresser forward to see if anything had fallen behind it. Going through her things made me sentimental and I started to tear up. But wait, she had died several years ago, hadn't she?
Friday Morning, 10.26.07: I was in my townhouse looking out of the dining room window.
- I thought I could win over the audience on the competitive cooking show if I made something sweet with oatmeal. I put my ingredients in the blender, generously sprinkled cinnamon on top, and got it whirring loudly. The audience was cheering me on, I thought about Ms. Tartt. But the mixture was expanding in the blender, it was going to flow out. The audience seemed concerned, and I didn't know what to do.
Thursday Morning, 10.25.07: The door to the upstairs bathroom in the townhouse was open. When Mimi came in and saw me standing in my bedroom she got scared, as if she had seen a ghost, and jumped up a few times before running out.
- Adrienne and I were in Brazil (perhaps Rio) and I had asked why anklets had just long strings attached to them. I decided to ask a woman selling some. I got one (they all had small anti-theft devices attached) and said "olha.." but found that my Portuguese was deteriorating and I couldn't think of the words. Adrienne decided to intervene, but her Portuguese was much worse than mine, "Mulher..."
Tuesday Morning, 10.23.07: I was in Miami by Brickell and the sky was very dark. I could tell a hurricane was brewing. As we drove by the water I saw strange birds (I think maybe a Great Blue Heron was one of them) struggling to fly against the wind.
- I was in the 25 going down Fondren by Westpark and I noticed the sky was dark again. I saw a flower inside a flower inside a flower growing in the abadoned field, it was long and falling over.
Monday Morning, 10.22.07: Mandy Lynn's dad had died of cancer and she found out about it after she had been ousted from America's Most Smartest Model. I told her to ask the producers to let her stay in the house for a while so she could be around people but she told me it would be better if she went home. I hugged her and made her promise me she would surround herself with her friends and family. We were all sad to see her go.
- I was selling drugs with my mom and some dream friend or family member. We weren't actually in the act of selling them, but we had them with us in the car. It was 8:53 when we stopped at the mall, and they insisted on going in. By the time we got there it was 9:14. A weird man was lurking around, and I knew he would be trouble and didn't want to get out of the car. The next thing I knew a drug dog was shoving his snout up my mom's butt, and we all had to get against the car.
- I led Claudio and German into the garage, I thought we could be alone but Jakeline was there cutting up small apples she said were called "Ludo" (or "Luso") I shared some of mine with German and Claudio ate some, it was delicious.
- I spoke to German from the airport. As I looked at the postcards he told me I didn't need to pick him up, but I kept offering to help and said I knew the public transit system really well if he wanted me to tell him about it.
Thursday Morning, 10.18.07: Kim Tuthill was a big executive in NYC, but had a weakness for ecstacy pills. I saw her walk into a fancy lotion store and pop a few pills into her mouth, with her business suit on.
/ I walked though the lake until I got to my reunion classroom. I could see an overhead view of the park, it was very beautiful. Betty Kim from Mission: Organization was my teacher, she put some math problems on the chalkboard, square roots inside of square roots. I said it had been a long time since I had done that, but if you multiplied the fractional exponents you should get the answer. I second guessed myself at the end, but she hugged me and said she was so proud of me, which made me feel pretty fantastic.
Friday Morning, 10.12.07: Visiting Val in LA, coke in supermarket shopping carts at night (Sarah Silverman and Laura). We went to her house and her mom offered me snack foods twice, the 2nd time it was a weird new flavor of Pringles. Val's little (dream) brother, who was around 10, loved them. After I thanked her again and declined she made hamburgers for dinner and I heard her say she didn't want to offer me anything because I never ate her food. I could see them eating, I was with Val and my mom in the adjacent room, and I felt incredibly awkward.
/ Val drove us around, when we were on the highway I thought what the hell was I doing there, it was still October and the Spice Girls concert wasn't until December. I looked out the window and saw a banner for the Mamas and the Papas concert.
/ My mom wanted to go to casinos and lost everything, but got a piece of gum for a quarter at the end.
- I saw Juan in a supermarket and I walked through it with him until we decided to sit down and watch the ice skaters below.
- We drove by Papi's neighborhood, Tia Susie was in passenger seat. That's still open? The Grandys was closed down, but I walked by and it was secretly open. There was a long line and as we got closer to the front I realized we didn't get a number. I went back and was 10. My mom was eating the usual Grandys plate and I told Val if she was going to get a pizza she needed to get some sides because they were the best. My choices were limited, I thought about mozzerella sticks, but I was excited about the sides
Thursday Morning, 10.11.07: A friend of mine went into the attic with all the computers and was expecting me to join him in his plot. I went along with everything, to fool him, and crumpled the aluminium sword when he ran at me, then closed the attic door on him. No one would hear his cries.
- I meant to transfer on the 82 that Michael had just got on, it would have been a slight inconvenience but it was on the way. But the bus circled around and I saw it pass. Emma asked me to finish my story, and I laughed as I thought of it. I started telling her petty details that had no importance to the story, and then realized what I was doing and tried to remember the important part so I could finish it up.
Thursday Morning, 10.4.07: I brought ammonia along with me to Papi's house. When Jose saw me with it he got pretty excited. I offered to clean the bathroom and asked him if he already had any, to which he said no.
- Michael and I scanned my neighborhood library for good CDs. She found the Chemical Brothers one I had checked out a year or two ago. Music: Chemical Brothers - The Boxer
Wednesday Morning, 10.3.07: The sun was setting as we drove through amber fields. After it got dark, Kristan and Jessica decided to go the mall instead of going straight to the airport. Our flight was at 7:20 but the two of them insisted on stopping at the mall even though our flight was about to leave soon. I tried talking them out of the idea but they were intent on going, so I followed. Kristan even threatened me saying that if I went alone I wouldn't have a ride home from the airport. I got a cookie in the food court, and when we got to the airport I was put in a like VIP line so I got my ticket first. The automated ticket screen asked me all these questions about Hannah Montana before it would give me my ticket, so I had to watch a short clip from the show and answer questions about it. Luckily I had caught an episode a few days earlier so I wasn't completely confused. As we were walking to the gate I pushed an airport car that had 2 kids in it and set it spinning out of control for a while. One of the boys broke his arm and started crying, I could see how bent it was. I felt bad, I didn't mean to cause that much harm, I was just annoyed by them for some reason. Music: Red Hot Chili Peppers - Fortune's Faded
Tuesday Morning, 10.2.07: I went with Val to the laundromat in her school, she got some sort of VIP treatment even though everyone was waiting in line. Her friend gave her the key for one of the big washers and we threw all our clothes in there. Thiago called and his friend Kaka wanted to prepare a dinner for me when I got in. "Well, I don't eat meat..." "So should I make chicken?" "Umm... I guess"
Monday Morning, 10.1.07: Had been waiting for the bus, it passed me by and I ran after it, seeing Mexican women with children by the library.
- In a hot air balloon, we were going too high and the evil woman told us to throw some people down, then let some of the air go and throw down the typewriter. Of course this weight lessening made the balloon go up even higher. We would probably never see those people again.
/ I walked through a huge comic book store and saw several toys and t-shirts mounted on the wall. There was an "adult" section I tried to avoid but as my mom came I noticed Lacey from Rock of Love had a sex video out! It was on display near the center of the store; I was amused.
- TV cartoons (or real people? The tall skinny boy from Superbad) getting anally raped by another boy, perhaps Cartman. At first I thought it was a joke, but zooming in I could see what looked like a stag penis. The guy said it didn't really hurt that much.
/ I came home (to the townhouse) and looked through my mail. I had several checks, the first one was from Walgreens for my part-time work with them, it was nearly $800! I was excited and thought the others were for me, as they looked the same, but on closer inspection I saw that they were legal ad payments for one of the newspapers I work for.
- Cyndi Lauper on Amazon.com, 3rd to last album was "She's So Unusual"
- "Avevo (dream word meaning that) cinque anni..." Music: Cyndi Lauper - Time After Time
Saturday Morning, 9.29.07: I went to the house I had left a few books in, the 2 children were there alone. Most of the house was hot and stuffy, except for the living room they were playing in. I stopped by one of their bedrooms briefly; they seemed to be bothered and weirded out that I was there. All I wanted was my Tango book, but I couldn't find it among all their children's books. I was annoyed because I went through a lot of trouble organizing my few books and they were scattered and most of them were on the bottom of a huge stack of books in their backroom. The stack of books was on a flimsy silver colored shelf. I left and went to an abandoned house I had told my ex-roommate Michael about. It was in a pretty vibrant neighborhood (in Portugal?), the house was small and open. It had dirt and weeds on the floor, and was in a delapidated condition, but as I was taking photos I noticed that on the right wall there was a twin-sized bed and a shelf on the wall with children's knick-knacks. I took the bed upstairs into my townhouse bedroom, and then I realized it had several ants on it. I took off all the sheets (my old faded pink ones and my newer blue ones that I was about to put on) to throw into the wash. I was worried that the ants would invade, I should have never taken it into that room. Music: Sneaker Pimps - Splinter
Friday Morning, 9.28.07: With Claudio's dad and Jakeline and Miguel and Claudio at a Goodwill. We were about to leave but I found a Super Famicom on a bottom shelf and showed Claudio. It even had a (huge) adapter with a Spanish plug. The price said 99 but we would ask to see how much it really was
Thursday Morning, 9.27.07: Outside, in elementary school, just 2 of us had shown up for class so far, aside from the teacher who was older, blonde, and had a swollen face. Me and a boy. Then we were on the blacktop and 1 of my friends was telling me he was going to Mexico. I asked him where and he listed a bunch of cities, singing them. His friend had some wet yarn hat that I got tired of holding because it was heavy so I gave it back to him and apologized. They seemed insulted, "It's heavy!" I shouted to the one that was going to Mexico, I wasn't sure if the other one knew English Music: Sneaker Pimps - Ten to Twenty
Wednesday Morning, 9.26.07: Bus/rail in Miami, playing the piano with someone, asked for "D" on bass clef, we were horrible and it was my fault. he said he could play both but I insisted on "helping him out"
Monday Morning, 9.24.07: I kept unintentionally breaking fast, this time I drank right out of my gallon bottle of water.
- I rode my bike through the office (out the back door) to the street. I was on my way to Juarez, but later I met up with my mother and we took her car. I could see the signs to the border, we were getting closer. Music: Tori Amos - Juarez
Sunday Morning, 9.23.07: The woman who plays Peg Bundy on "Married... With Children" was showing us where she lived. She and her family had moved deep into the forest, away from modern conveniences. At first glance their house was rugged and empty, but she started talking about their "rooms" and I looked in and saw that there was a few pieces of furniture. Peg had a bag of stuff that looked like hippie cereal and rubbed it on her arms. She said the static from it kept her warm throughout the night; I still couldn't fathom living without electricity. Her blonde 10 year old son invited a few friends from school over for the weekend. Some of them didn't want to stay, but most of them saw it as an adventure. "I hate it when they're like 'see you Wednesday'... it's like 'no, I have to go hunting.'" Her son took out his rifle and showed his friends as he explained why he went hunting: a simple division of labor. The "beauty queen" from Kid Nation was there, in the background.
/ German still lived with his parents, but they were rich. His parents were almost encouraging me to sleep with him, or at least that's the impression I got. He swam to a town near Port Angeles (I could see it happening on the map), which took about 30 minutes each way. Claudio came by so I kept him company since I didn't want him to get jealous. I guess more time had elapsed than I had realized, German came downstairs in his swim trunks and decided to go swimming with his younger cousins. It was awkward, juggling the both of them. Days had passed, and German showed up at my apartment by surprise, wearing a weatherproof jacket. He said I was right, and his cousin did crap on his arm. I was about to record the "Clarissa Explains It All" marathon on Nickelodeon, since they would probably never air that show again, but my satellite was messed up and had changed all the channel numbers. The TV was in the living room.
Friday Morning, 9.21.07: I couldn't believe that after all these years, Elisabeth and I were still friends. Of course we had both changed, but it was a good feeling to know that some people would stay with you no matter what.
Wednesday Morning, 9.19.07: I was telling them that I needed to be at the airport by 8:30 at the latest, but my mom and Marty were taking forever. I got dressed in a dark room and passed the auditorium where an orchestra was playing. I became nostalgic, but I enjoyed the performace, however short. We started to put my luggage into the trunk of my mom's car, we were in a crowded pedestrian Chinatown.
Monday Morning, 9.10.07: I went to Val's and started blasting the new Spice Girls song "Down" out of a caravan. The beat was great, the vocals were mostly Mel C and they were strong. Val shouted "I love this song!" I never actually saw her, she was in another room the whole time. Tia Blanca was in the shower so I debated taking a shower in the other bathroom. I asked my mom, but then realized that I didn't have a towel and I didn't want to borrow one since I was on my period.
/ My mom and my friend walked through the cave. There were little rooms set up in a line, we had to explore each of them. 3 rooms ago we left our stuff there, but it was a dumb idea since more tourists were coming in. We went back and got our stuff, I think my credit cards were still there.
Sunday Morning, 9.9.07: Grey Havaiana platform shoes, the size was too small, I looked at it and it had different numbers for every country. Why would Spain say 80?
Friday Morning, 9.7.07: Jennelle and I found an easy job, but when we walked into the building with aluminum side panels (that looked more like a house) it started to feel sketchy. We walked into a dark room that was eventually opened. Perhaps it was a garage; the light poured in as it opened and we could see a few boxes around us. Music: ZZ Top - Pearl Necklace
Sunday Morning, 9.2.07: I unintentionally found out that Marty had paid $36,000 for his used Cadillac, and not $10,000 like he had told my mother and me.
Wednesday Morning, 8.29.07: I was with Kristan and her mom, walking down the freeway. There was so much traffic at the exit by my house, so we took the next one instead. There was hardly anyone at that exit. After walking on pavement in the dark, along weeds, we snuck into a crazy lady's house, her big black dog kept sniffing me and jumping on me. When I heard her coming out I ran into her small closet, but she found me in no time. I would be subjected to her tortures for years to come, and no one would know where to find me.
Mr. Clark and I went through a tunnel
Sunday Morning, 8.26.07: Farida accused me of peeing all over my closet. My father of course believed her, then we were in Circuit City and Kristan gave me an old notebook that I said I could use as the new phone log at the office
Monday Morning, 8.20.07: Watching for Alina, she was in a plastic car with another little girl. "I haven't seen her in almost a year." Farida stuck her head out of her bedroom window and saw me
- Hurricane with McKenna and her dad, looking for vegetarian restaurants I missed out on the last time I went. We went to the cylinder building and climbed up the stairs, the hurricane started and [unfinished]
Friday Morning, 8.17.07: I saw Stephen Guild again, he had gotten kind of ugly.
- I was at the rodeo for free, had to go to the bathroom to try on the Missy Elliot t-shirt I bought. I knew I should have gotten a small, the medium was too long. The other stalls were taken so I went to the handicapped one, and these ghetto girls came in to change, too. I didn't want them to see me in my bra, and when 1 girl (after more came in) started staring I stared back at her. It pissed me off. So now I had to return the shirt and get a small, but it was already 10:30 and everything was closed. They were about to start with the fireworks and all. Najla was rushing me, so when we sat down to eat, I felt like something was missing. It was my brown mini backpack. I had left it at another table with my green backpack, luckily my laptop was still there but the mini backpack was gone, with my wallet and everything. I was about to cry. And the old man sitting there didn't do anything when they took off with it! He told me about it. I talked to Michael in Spanish, calling the old man the "maestro", and later "profesor".
Thursday Morning, 8.16.07: Friday at Mike's, finding a blank passport in Moroccan supermarket and tucking it in my pocket
- New Kogepan book, skinnier
Tuesday Morning, 8.14.07: Kris driving the bus, he stole my heavy black backpack. I asked him for it and he was driving crazy, I nearly fell down. Had I missed my stop? Michael and Jessica had already gotten off the bus
Monday Morning, 8.13.07: I was in Japan with a black girl's white boyfriend. I had slept with him and she was crying about it. We all lay in that small bed and I felt pretty horrible and left. I passed by the bathrooms downstairs, the structure was all wooden and soothing; very Japanese and beautiful. Gil passed by in taxi and gave me a ride, we stopped at an office building made out of turquoise glass. It was strange to find something like that in that country area.
/ I left the bathroom by Ms. Nelson's (old) room at ROE, and we were we walking out of a mall.
Thursday Morning, 8.9.07: Claudio and I walked around in the early morning, the air was still hazy. We found ourselves at a waterpark, by a tall yellow tube slide, and immediately decided to change into our swimsuits and take advantage of the park's lack of security. I was excited at the thought of going down a waterslide once again, but more excited that we had discovered a free way in. When we finished changing Ed Warner caught us. He acted as though he didn't work there, but his gypsy voice was intimidating. I saw the water splash beneath my feet and sadly realized I wouldn't be going down the slide, afterall. Music: Pitty - Emboscada
Monday Morning, 8.6.07: Getting into Claudio's room from the restaurant owned by the Gordas. We had to pull an attic ladder from the ceiling and climb over a table where two women were eating. I almost fell but they pushed me up as I grabbed onto the comforter and shelf. Claudio got up with ease, as the women had moved their table out of our way
- Fishing in pond, instructor wanted us to rub lotion on our arms and rub them together with someone else to create the worms of various colors we would be using for bait. He listed them all from memory, I thought he must be pretty smart. I caught a fish but he was spinning me all around, even though I had one foot in the water and the other one halfway out like the instructor told us. I went faster and faster until I asked him about it and he told me I needed to put a year on my Flickr photo. I did so and it worked.
- I could tell the new (male) roommate was getting on Dorothy's nerves. He started playing the piano
Tuesday Morning, 7.31.07: A friend had asked me about the "coll�gienne aux bas bleus de m�thyl�ne" part of "Moi... Lolita" so I translated it for her.
- Finding money, $1200 bill plus more, in an arcade. It was dark, I grabbed it and quickly walked away, although I was paranoid the whole time that the police were on to me, especially when I saw them a few moments later.
/ Taking a bus similar to Miami lightrail, high in the air. Afternoon time Music: Alizee - Moi... Lolita
Monday Morning, 7.30.07: I was talking to this guy about playing instruments, and he told me that Dan Castellenetta taught him how to play the drums. I tried to tell him that playing the drums didn't really need to be a taught skill, but he told me how Dan helped him. When confronted about this (behind the bars of the gate) Dan spoke in his Homer voice.
- All of us went on a trainride to dallas? Even "el gato" (Alex) was with us. Everyone but Bobby, who had to put together 3 newspapers. It was Thursday
/ We got out and started going up to the convention center. I noticed they had brought some blankets to sit on, but there were some for sale at the entrance. I figured Gil would buy some, even though they weren't needed. I browsed through the store below, skipping the aisles with hair care products and the like, until I met up with Claudio so we could go up the escalator together.
- I was reminded that my contacts were old and needed to be replaced. I thought about asking my mom if she had another month for me but I realized it had been a while since I had last purchased a refill. But my prescription must have been really old since I was still using my glasses to see far away. That was no doubt making my vision worse. We had been walking around a two-story shopping center and I got in my friend's car.
/ "Moi Lolita" was playing so I started singing along. My friend tried correcting my accent, but I couldn't get the R or E down for some reason. I thought it sounded good enough. We made our way into Samir's dollar store, which was in the corner of a shopping center. One of my friends was named Abir, but I thought that calling her that would be confusing for Samir, so I considered "Abby". We went to the back room, before entering in there I saw a bunch of wheat pita loaves from Droubis - so that's where they ended up! One of my friends was looking for the triangle phyllo pastries but they had run out, so instead she wanted to buy this overpackaged colorful crap. As we were walking out I saw Simpsons Pez dispensers and I tried to convince her to buy one of those instead. It was stuff like Ralph sitting on a giant orange. Someone had solved the mystery and noted that the killer had made a blue icing cake out of his victim. Music: Alizee - Moi... Lolita
Friday Morning, 7.20.07: July 4th fireworks (looked like American flags) went off in the early evening. We were walking down the streets waiting for more.
- The roach was back
Thursday Morning, 7.19.07: In Cookie's room, there were pro-gun posters on the walls
Friday Morning, 6.1.07: Fondren had a lightrail bus passing through it (off the rail) 234 or 235, it looked like a little trolley. I noticed it when I was in the car with Mei and Kristan, and told them about it. We passed by my condo from the outside, and I picked some bananas off the ground. They looked good enough to eat. "How do you tell when a banana is ripe?" "When it falls off the tree, haha... no, actually I guess it has to do with the color" Kristan noted that some people pick them with long poles, and I had forgotten about that, although I agreed.
- My mom left the cats with me and on the van ride to my place (down Westheimer) Mimi got excited. It was dark and I could see the bright lights outside.
Thursday Morning, 5.31.07: Dropping an orange from the 2nd floor of the mall, running down in my PJs to get it. Someone told me not to eat it, I could offer it to a friend (oh God, so I've accepted so many things from friends and now I realize they were probably dropped on the floor)
- I Love Lucy, Ricky getting newspaper
- Going to Christian's complex, dialing #14 for Adrienne, she had me meet her at the front. I was inside, the ceiling fan was barely on, and I was glad the one in my bedroom went faster because otherwise I would be hot. I don't know why Claudio and I kept coming back to my dad's place, we had our own home, but I guess we at least had free food here Music: Alizee - Youpidou
Thursday Morning, 5.24.07: McKenna told me something about Javi, maybe they had broken up Music: Alizee - Moi... Lolita
Wednesday Morning, 5.23.07: Tia Blanca called to see if I was ready. I told her I was just about to jump in the shower and I would be ready by 2 (it was 1:30 when she called). She told me how she liked to turn the A/C on full blast and sleep under lots of covers and pillows. Kristan and Andy and I (and Claudio?) were going to see "Bug" later. There was an ant farm in the room Music: Alizee - Hey Amigo
Tuesday Morning, 5.15.07: Tia Blanca was driving down the 59 feeder and I was in the passenger's side. I had to close the window (which was cracked open) because pine needles from the trees on the side of the road kept hitting me in the face. As we started to get on the freeway I told her we didn't have to go. The sky was a dark gray and it had already started to rain big drops. "No we're already here.."
- I had asked my dad for the VCR and at first it seemed like he would give it to me, but as we walked out of the front door I asked him about the aluminium foil sitting outside by the door (a generic brand, maybe from Target), "no no, that's already empty" as he hurried me along. I thought maybe he had broken up with Farida, since I didn't see her, but as we walked down the sidewalk (it was already dark out) I could see her watching TV in the bedroom upstairs. They had moved the dining room television to the bedroom so she could watch her Arab satellite shows upstairs. I thought she would be spying on us, but she paid no attention and continued watching her soap opera. She had ridiculous makeup on like she would whenever we would go out somewhere, and she had on red lingerie, fingering herself as she watched TV. This was a disturbing sight, so I looked around the room. There was a border of frames around the room, and inside they had their names with decorative backgrounds. It was cheap and tacky, but more importantly it gave this false impression that they were in love and everything was fine. The last picture had two other names in it
Saturday Morning, 5.12.07: I took a look at the keyboard sitting on the floor of my breakfast nook. I was glad I had brought it, but it was soo long. We sat down at the table, a bunch of Spanish college students, and originally there was a professor that looked like the guy who taught my Politics of China class, but then Ms. Nelson led "Twelve Days of Christmas". Debra Hurwitz was there, we were the only other Americans. I started singing along, but it was in another language, and I eventually gave up. It was a stupid song anyway. I could always say I was Muslim and was offended... but Ms. Nelson was Jewish, and Debra was half. I didn't want to be there anyway.
Sunday Morning, 4.8.07: Somehow Claudio and I had gotten into a fight this this Mexican guy who reminded me of Gerson. So he was going to try to kill him, and he had a gun. Even though the police officer was in the uncovered car with the two of them, I was really nervous. Especially given the incompetency of the police. I ran to Jennelle, who was talking with Zuleika and each of their respective boyfriends, asking questions about the futures of their relationships. She seemed to completely ignore me when I asked her for help, saying that Claudio was in trouble. I had to shout again. Luckily a black guy who had a gun was with us, some friend of a friend who just happened to be there. As we passed the glass walls they asked me about the cop and I started telling them the story of when I called 911 after I saw the woman getting beat up "yeah.. within 5 minutes the police car showed up.." I don't think I ever finished the story, though. So the black guy with the gun shot the Mexican, who shot at him but it seemed like just a taser, even though it sounded like a machine gun. We all congratulated him, and I did the same to the cop as a joke. Claudio and I went through the mall, and I felt the need to thank every one I came in contact with.
/ Val and Michael lived in the same apt complex in LA, it was old and shitty looking and wooden. We shared a hotel room for the night, I think I shared my bed with Adrienne. But instead of Michael it was her "sister" (mom), "Oh yeah, you're her sister, aren't you?". Music: "Should I warn the others..."
- "To tell you the truth I never really played disc 2 of Guitar Hero". I put an easy level on, but I was messing everything up. The notes were showing up weird on the screen, so I had to change some of the options. Instead of the normal background it was some person doing interpretive dance on a wooden stage. It was a little distracting. I was surprised that they had a disco song on Guitar Hero Music: "Carolyn" [dream disco song]
Saturday Morning, 4.7.07: Claudio and I got on the bus and this girl sat next to me and gave me two coins. They were similar to the euro, but from Dubai. They were much heavier, maybe even real silver. We started up a short conversation, she seemed pretty cool.
Friday Morning, 4.6.07: Sitting on the toilet in a Taco Bell, or similar, although the placement was the same as
- Riding a bike and I kept falling forward, in the forest. It started to rain so we went inside. And we were under some sort of punishment, it seemed, surrounded by the shelves of books in the library. The black coach was getting mad at some group of kids for talking. "Yeah, you better like to read, otherwise you'll get really bored really quick". We passed by the aisles of frozen food, and it was mostly pizza, which I didn't want at all.
Thursday Morning, 4.5.07: At the shop with Kristan, some visitors were looking and I was trying to hide because I was in a towel still
Monday Morning, 4.2.07: Walking with TJ up an escalator, showing him the Looney Tunes giant figures along the freeway that used to be ads for Astroworld. What a shame that they closed it down. We talked briefly about a radio station, maybe on XM.
Sunday Morning, 4.1.07: I was in Tia Blanca's house, but the guest bathroom was occupied. Since there were 2 other bathrooms on the floor I tried using them. There were some "minority" kids on the other side of the house, I guess I had just never noticed that they lived there before. They were inner-city kids that my aunt let live with her out of the kindness of her heart. But they were real bitches, they wouldn't let me into their bathrooms. The little black girl opened the door on me just as I was about to pee and told me to get out. I wanted to punch her in the face. Then the Germans (4 men, in their early to mid 20s) shot me in the leg. But I would still sleep with most of them, I thought to myself. In a paranoid attempt to [unfinished]
Saturday Morning, 3.31.07: Tim working overtime, wanting extra $20 but Mei just thanked him. He was telling me inside of an old house. Claudio and I were about to catch the bus and got a little bit of pasta (with Alfredo sauce) in a restaurant outdoors before we got on. We caught a bus downtown.
- Will walked into the newspaper office in a suit. He caught my attention, I wondered who that handsome man was and what he was doing here, but on closer inspection I realized that it was Will. What a pleasant surprise, it had been so long since I had last spoken to him Music: Third Eye Blind - Motorcycle Drive By
Friday Morning, 3.30.07: Thinking it was a WaMu in the Chinese shopping center, but it had been changed into a pastry shop (with a line). Then I saw Sharmila on a little tram outside of where I was standing, a 1-story 60s building resembling Dr. Cohen's office. She was wearing a dark green shirt which clashed with her pink purse that everyone has these days. It was just like the one my grandmother had given me the last time she stayed in Houston.
Later, we stood outside and one of my new friends did a drawing of 2 pepto bismol bottles with names underneath to see who would win a cruise with her. Another new friend of mine won, and I was happy for her, but then the 2nd name called was mine. I was so happy, and I knew we would have fun on the cruise. I went to my seat on the bleachers, beaming. It looked like it was going to storm soon
/ We found ourselves outside of an area where "rich" people lived. It was the condos next to where Marie lives. Our teacher, or friend, went scavengening for money, apparently these people didn't even realize when they dropped money. I did an impression of her asking for a watch "a gold watch, with incrusted gold and diamonds", in a haughty voice.
Thursday Morning, 3.28.07: Vanilla Ice (or Michael Jordan at first) texting and zombies coming from cell phone, I wanted to leave so I dragged Claudio along, but as the monsters came we had to run for cover. We stumbled into the entrance of a cemetary where I found a lot of xeroxed copies that I thought we could use. We would have to call everyone we knew, and there would be too many of us for that tiny apartment on the 2nd or 3rd floor. We saw a green car pull up to the cemetary, while it occurred to us to ask for help we ultimately blew them off and ran away, thinking they might be monsters, too. We went through the back entrance of grafikshop, time was of the essense Music: All Saints - Scar
Wednesday Morning, 3.27.07: I saw the house shortly after the massacre had taken place. The watchguard from Highlands was trying to warn me about how fucked up it was as I walked into the living room. There was the father, mother, and younger daughter, all sitting on the couch. Everything was burnt and I started to feel queasy
Monday Morning, 3.26.07: Dalia had stolen a schoolbus and taken it on the Mexico-Bellaire route in an elaborate scheme to avoid doing her homework. "But there isn't a Mexico route anymore". I guess we stopped having students from Mexico, it seemed like a long trek just to come to school, anyway. "If she would dedicate a fraction of this time to doing her homework she wouldn't have to go through all this.."
Later we were walking down a long street in a suburb, similar to West Houston. It was a slow day and we had just left the restaurant
Thursday Morning, 3.22.07: Mei got mad at me for asking for Claudio's work money, saying that she was only going to pay him $45 for the week. I did the calculations and told Claudio that she was only paying him $9 per day, which was less than most people made in one hour. He didn't seem to concerned, he was angry in that way that he gets when he's mad but doesn't want to do anything about it, which in turn bothers me even more.
Tuesday Morning, 3.20.07: Princess Di and charles, fastforward to Chapu and her husband, who got progressively obese throughout the years. She had gained weight too, but in the last part she was alone and pensive, sitting on her bed. I flipped back since I had missed one, they were in the bath and he was scrubbing her, and was so fat and hairy that it was disgusting. I could tell she felt trapped. I even felt bad for her. The narrator was going on about their lives, calling him "bloated"
Thursday Morning, 3.15.07: ROE teachers retiring, as I saw on website. Ms. Paris, Ms. Henry, Mr. Mueller, Ms. Nelson, Mr. Bradford. I told Claudio that they were all the ones that used to teach when I was there. I felt old
Wednesday Morning, 3.14.07: Trying to make already pink scissors pinker by looking for stuff in walgreens. I had to get them the $20 so I could be dismissed for spring break, as I was told over the payphone.
/ They were on to us, we were some of the last few surviving. It was night already, and we were out by some warehouse area. Another girl and I hid behind an old plane and painted it white. Our faces turned to porcelain doll faces, so we could pass ourselves off as flight attendants. The helicopters overhead probably saw us and were fooled, but we couldn't rest easy just yet.
Tuesday Morning, 3.13.07: I got hit on by an engaged young guy, and told Thiago about it on messenger while in a parking garage spying on Claudio. Claudio was taking his shirt off in front of Saira Karim
Monday Morning, 3.12.07: In Japan teaching English, Claudio was there Music: The Go-Go's - Vacation
Sunday Morning, 3.11.07: Almost went into the boys room, which was decorated in orange and brown and had a big burnt orange circle on the door to let you know it was for boys, until a little girl pointed it out to me. then I went into the room I was sharing with Natalie and Les
Thursday Morning, 3.8.07: With Kristan and Andy in the museum, I coughed up something that was stuck to my tonsil, thinking it had been a while since that had happened. It was much bigger and darker than I was used to, and I coughed up a 2nd one, sensing that there was still a little more left even after that. We were going to stay at a hotel, and I walked down a corridor feeling happy with the natural light that was hitting me from above
/ Farida had another baby, and she brought Alina and the new kid over, with Ella as well, and let them run around without watching them in my apartment. My dad was over and I was screaming, at Farida mostly, and filled with rancor. Alina had cut herself, probably with the broken glass by my bedroom window, and they blamed it on me. It had been nice seeing Alina again, she had gotten so big already. Music: Third Eye Blind - Losing A Whole Year
Wednesday Morning, 3.7.07: I knew PJ was going to be fired, or perhaps she had already been fired. I came in that morning and played the answering machine per usual. There was only one message, "deeeeeeath" in a raspy ghost voice. I turned white and hugged PJ when she came in, because I knew the message was about her.
Monday Morning, 3.5.07: I asked Sandra, while walking through Sharpstown mall, if she got the Northeast News at her house. She said yes so I was surprised, and then asked me why I had asked. "Oh, because I basically put that paper together". I looked through it and saw that there were a lot of grocery ads this week, most of them at the bottom of the pages. So I was going to spend the night at her house, and she was explaining the family eating pattern. They ate lunch at 1, chicken or fish, "well I don't eat meat anyway". I later learned that this was probably for religious reasons.
/ A man had taken me to the house that was in my name, in the suburbs far away from everything. It was empty and scary, and I had forgotten to go upstairs until we were about to leave, when I asked to take a look at it. The lighting didn't work in part of the area, and one room had Little Grish's excercise equipment and what looked like a violin in a sporty 80s soft case. (In retrospect, this was probably Tia Blanca's house, but dark and abandoned.) I would be scared to live here all alone, and plus I had no car, this would be totally unrealistic. I wouldn't be able to get to work, and going to the grocery store would take at least 40 minutes. I told him no, and wondered what would happen to the money if I sold it. Because I had never seen any of the paperwork since day one; they would probably rip me off completely. I was happy in my ghetto little apartment. There was a taqueria on the edge of the street, how ironic that these white people had moved far away in a futile effort to get away from "minorities". I saw some guys on the street, riding bikes. They looked cute, so apparently there were perks to living out here. I saw my dad driving in front of us, I could see his face through his rearview mirror. I just stared, I didn't want him to see me, but I couldn't take my eyes off of his car. I talked to my realtor, saying I just wasn't interested, since I had no car. We also talked about how my friends lived far away, except for Sandra. I was hoping he could drop me off at her house since it wasn't too far from where we were, but he mentioned making a quick stop at some family member's house. I was hoping he wouldn't rape me and sever my body parts, but we really did go to his family's house. His mother answered the door, and asked me if I would like to seek penance for my sins. I was a small, dark Mexican child, and told her that the man I was with told me we were going to a geologist's house to have an intellectual conversation
Friday Morning, 2.23.07: Being in Africa, seeing an animal get shot with an arrow, even though I was expecting a gun. These were less civilized people, I guess. But I was on my period, and worried about not having access to a toilet or running water. I called Mexico, my mom and Blanca were there, but instead of asking for them I asked for Andrew. I wasn't sure if the number was right, but apparently it was because they went to go get him. I hung up, because I was nervous, and I wasn't sure why I had asked to speak to Andrew in the first place. Although I suppose it was a less generic Mexican name than my mom's or aunt's. I met Andy, and somewhere along the way "I don't WANNA know what that is" came up. Kristan had said it in 6th grade (or 7th or 8th?), but I thought it was 5th or 6th. Trying to explain it.. it just wasn't as funny as being there when she had first said it. It then occurred to me how long we had been friends.
Thursday Morning, 2.22.07: Claudio had a nintendo@nintendo64.com secret email address, and I was pissed off that he had been hiding it from me Music: The Beach Boys - Cocomo
Wednesday Morning, 2.21.07: Pete (from Curb Your Enthusiasm) the serial killer was stalking girls in the parking garage during prom. I was trying to tell Andrea Clack but she didn't believe me, no one did. He knew where the breaker was, and would make everything pitch black while he killed his victim in the darkness. We all went out to eat at Jack in the Box later, and he ordered a shotgun burger. Did no one else see this? Music: Seal - Crazy
Sunday Morning, 2.18.07: Jose left a message for me, giving me his secret phone number and he told me that the website link he gave me earlier was fake. I think he wanted to talk about the future of the theatre, but when he said his phone number it was silent. Was this a joke or had someone tampered with the message?
Saturday Morning, 2.17.07: Mary told me and Kristan that she was moving to Ireland: "You know Ireland?"; "Uhh.. yeah"; "Well, I'm moving there"
/ I was in a sterile brown building, with long hallways and bright florescent lighting. My dad was getting me a plasma tv for my birthday and throwing me a party, but I didn't want any of it. I saw Alina there and I just wanted to cry and be alone. Then I was in a video game, and I kept losing. It was like a lame version of Ghosts n Goblins set in some huge cave with many different heights.
Thursday Morning, 2.15.07: I had a beard and hair on my neck. I was over at Claudio's dad's house but they said nothing about it. Clau had definitely noticed, though
- I had given birth to twins, a Mexican Indian woman had given me a ride home. We passed by a park and she told me that they arrested her or at least fined her when she had her baby because she only had a bowl to feed him (that they had given her at the hospital) and nothing else. "But don't they just drink milk their first year anyway?" These were absurd laws.. I kept asking if they were twins, because I really only wanted 1 child. But I thought about the cool twins I had known in my life, many of which during (dream) summer school. I remembered us being on the bunkbeds, I was on the floor looking at a magazine. So maybe it wouldn't be so bad.. but I still only wanted 1 child. My parents were still together and we were all living in a rented grey house in River Oaks. We weren't exactly rich, so I'm not sure how my dad could afford it. But I was living close to all of my friends, which was good. I felt like I fit in. The house was new, and pretty, and smelled good. It was a modest size (for River Oaks) and the exterior was modern-looking
Wednesday Morning, 2.14.07: I was beating the shit out of Farida in her room for buying a new clothes basket. Because it bothered me that she bought things when what we had was perfectly fine. My dad was no where
- Wylie and I were in the trunk area of an SUV. It was like the popular girls were in the front row, Elizabeth and others in the middle, and me and Wylie in the back. Some of the girls wanted to trade seats so I offered to trade if they wanted, to be in the middle row. There was a pause and Elizabeth said "No, just stay there". Fine, bitches, Wylie is more fun anyway. We got to the castle and I had to use the bathroom. Shakira was dancing somewhere near the entrace. I put toilet paper on the toilet seat, the bathroom was wooden and I felt like someone could come in at any moment.
Sunday Morning, 2.11.07: Crocodile handshake at pond, the park guide said he usually scratches people, and then everyone wanted a pic with the crocodile. Albert said the pics were coming out good because of the kind of flash that they used, like the kind I had seen on the TV special about Japan.
- Olivia didn't play the violin anymore, but showed me an old book of music that her teacher said would be the best and she disagreed at the time but now she loved it. A keyboard similar to mine fit in the side of the case. So I urged her to continue playing, but it didn't look like she would. I skimmed through my music and found Cher's "The Music's No Good Without You"
Saturday Morning, 2.10.07: With Claudio in store, saw what looked like "Cool As Ice" but it was really just some cheap porno. It was Big Lots, and a girl was going to make her prom dress out of welcome mat material. But it was going to come out nearly as expensive. As I walked through the aisles I thought of how good I looked when I went to prom.
/ A woman who lived close to Marie gave me a ride to work. "Oh, actually the blueberry yogurt is mine.." She was really nice, and as it turned out would be my new editor. She had previously been the editor and was coming back. Was this Donna Mauldin?
Monday Early Morning, 1.22.06: My father and grandmother and I all slept in the bedroom of his old apartment. We each had our own bed and my grandmother's was by the window. I wanted to go somewhere and she was telling me that she was tired and didn't want to go anywhere. I was arguing with her in English saying that she didn't have to come. But my argument was futile, it was time for bed, and I was getting sleepy anyway. In the middle of the night I was awoken by the shattering of glass and the sound of someone fumbling to get the door open. I was still half asleep when I saw my dad rush out of bed to see what was going on. I felt safe having him with me, he was big and intimidating; if I were to go out there alone who knows what would happen to me. As I was waking up I thought maybe I should go out there in case something had happened to him, although I was so tired I could barely get out of bed. But had those noises been real or were they all part of the dream? Music: Detonautas - Sonhos Verdes
Monday (Midnight), 1.22.06: I had just gotten home when Wylie called. He wanted me to read him something from this book quickly, but since I was in the middle of something I told him to call me back in 5 minutes. Time had passed and I didn't get a call from him, so I left and went walking on my way to Chinatown. The road was grey and all I could see on the horizon were the electric poles. I had forgotten to epilate, and it was too late to go back home (plus I had already walked so far) since I had to pick up Claudio from the airport. As I was thinking about how crappy that situation was, Wylie called. I felt like a bad friend for not being able to help him out, and I was so preoccupied with Claudio's coming that I let Wylie down. Music: Detonautas - Tudo que Eu Falei Dormindo
Sunday Morning, 1.21.06: Claudio and I were in a long and somewhat narrow shady Italian motel. It also seemed to be a casino. He noticed that the rolling light along the wall was just 1 away from winning both times, and wanted to try his luck at it. But I hurried him into our room, even though the idea of gambling was tempting.
Tsegereda took part in the reenactment of black women from the 1800s in a log cabin. I was there doing a science project, and my partners and I could see the mountain from the telescope, although the white piece of wood was visible from many angles. There was something very off, I guess that's what we had to try to figure out, and it was exciting albeit frightening. I could see Tsegereda with other black women dressed in 19th century garb under a large carport.
Thursday Morning, 1.18.07: I spilt ketchup on the tablecloth and Mei asked me if I was going to eat it
Thursday Morning, 1.18.07: Marie and I passed by the George R. Brown convention center and she noted that they had changed things. I saw that the ceiling was the same 60s white mod pattern but we questioned whether or not there was still stadium seating. "Well, that professor said she was giving classes here, right?". "Oh... yeah"
- I was in my townhouse closet and saw that I had hidden $20 (an old bill) in my 1st grade diary, and that I had money in my wallet afterall, five 20s and 2 $100 bills. I should take at least 1 of them to the boat. My mom was getting ready in the bathroom Music: Stabbing Westward - Save Yourself
Wednesday Morning, 1.17.07: Touching a lizard in the medicine cabinet of the bathroom upstairs, he looked like he was dying. There were a few animals there, and I gave him the leaf of lettuce that I found. I noticed there was a lobster with his claws tied together, struggling as best he could. Part of me wanted to give the lobster to one of the animals, but I couldn't bear to do it.
/ Mila called me into the townhouse patio, saying there was an "onza". I was expecting a puma-like creature but instead saw a beautiful dark blue parrot with a yellow crest. He looked at me with friendly eyes. I whistled to him and more parrots came to the patio, anxious to hear me whistle some more. I realized I could whistle well because of the small gap between my two front teeth.
- I was in a loft where I saw two lesbians about to make love by the door to the kitchen. One of them was the crazy white girl from jail, who was arguing with the other one about what she called her, implying that she was sexier than that. I turned on the TV to Headline News, which was in French. But it was French with a strong African accent. There were some black people standing around in a dusty plain. Music: Detonautas - Dia Comum
Wednesday Morning, 1.17.07: I took the bus to work, even though I didn't really know where to get off. It turned into a subway for part of the ride, and it was then that I realized that I had gone too far. I got off and decided to run to work rather than wait for the opposite bus to come, but I ran out of breath pretty quickly. A female police officer stopped me, saying I was a suspicious person. Yes, I must have been, since I didn't have my messenger bag with me this time. No ID and no money. I told her I was going to work and told her I could show her where it was. She asked for my work number "713-266.." no wait, that was my old house number when my mom and I were still at the townhouse. "I mean 977..". I got the feeling that everything would be ok.
Tuesday Morning, 1.16.07: Meeting the cute Jewish emo guy and his little sister. They were both in high school, she must have been a freshman or sophomore. I tapped on the glass sliding door to call their attention, we walked around and in my room I changed into a lime green sweater with a purple vest. God, he must have thought I was a dork
Monday Night, 1.15.07: Drinking chocolate milkshake with Kristan in a cafeteria and thinking how it was going to be bad since I had a cold (again). Woke up thinking about the Red Baron
Monday Morning, 1.8.07: These Brazilian guys had taught me to surf, or maybe I was just holding on to one of the three of them. I was watching their dvd and I felt like rewinding to the part where I showed up with them.
/ Kristan and I stopped by La Madeline for dessert where we saw a round table with a few ROE teachers. Ms. Nelson, Mr. Bradford, and Ms. Lawrence were there, along with Mr. Harry and Mr. Mansur, and 2-3 more teachers I didn't recognize. We sat with them and I noticed that 3 out of the 4 5th grade teachers were there, but I couldn't remember who was missing. I had considered getting a never ending coffee cup and maybe splitting with Kristan even though we weren't supposed to do that. But we were getting ready to leave. My dessert wasn't that great, and Kristan was going to wrap hers in napkins and take it home. I thought about how Wylie would speak Spanish with Ms. Henry in our Spanish classes and, after all these years, realized that maybe it wasn't about the Hispanic culture but rather the liking the language itself. I thought this as we were getting up from the table, but before we walked out I took a wok and scooped up a medallon so I could put it in a napkin for Kristan. It had a pinkish tint to it Music: Tori Amos - Concertina
Friday Morning, 1.5.2007: In an outhouse by the washer and dryer. My dad was kicking me out of the house and getting mad at me for not flushing the toilet. He or Gil told me to get my things and get out. So I went to work and was about to put my headphones on. The music was playing before they were on my head so I could hear the song a little.
/ I was telling Claudio how the little book I had wasn't as anti-Bush as the last one I had, although overall it was better. I went into the townhouse bathroom and looked at a calander-like long sheet of things like vitamins for the soul. The stuff in the 2nd half was missing from my body, apparently. So I tried to see where I could find them so I wouldn't be lacking. One of them said I should try walking over hot stones or coals in a zen retreat. Below it was a small ad for Sak-n-Save. Was Sak-n-Save somehow linked to this? I glanced at the other things I was missing..
/ we caught the end of a game show, where the American contestants had to answer questions about Spanish-language literature. The winner was some white guy, I guess he reminded me a little of my ex-roommate Michael. And as his prize he received a trophy and got to meet one of the famous writers, who was either Cuban or Spanish, and walked with a cane. He was dressed in a brown old-man sweater and had thick glasses. He said, in English, that it was a big honor, and the winner and the host kept saying that was "obvious". The host was sweating, maybe the camera lights were too bright. Music: [dream song]
Tuesday Morning, 1.2.07: Siham and Caitlin were in my dad's bedroom. Siham was against the back wall and Caitlin on the wall where the dresser used to be. We were reminiscing, I told them that since my freshman year my number of friends at FIU had dwindled down to Mikey, and that a lot of people had transferred. "FIU is 4th tier". They seemed to have ignored that statement and went on to talk about how FIU was the best for accounting, and mentioned 3 other schools who were highly ranked, including UT. Then they talked about some senile female professor they had, who would ask the same questions over and over again. Caitlin did an impression of her writing at the chalkboard, with a shakey hand and weird handwriting. I noticed she wrote "he" or "je" instead of "I". I laughed at the sheer absurdity of it
Saturday Morning, 12.30.06: I walked in on PJ praying, and I felt kind of embarrassed. But she told me it was ok, that maybe I should join in. She was at the foot of the bed, the design in the room was airy and light, and there were sliding glass doors to our right.
Saturday Morning, 12.23.06: I was in the backseat (right side) of a car with somewhat chubby girls that thought they were really cool. Maybe they were Italian (heritage), maybe they were Long Island friends of Val. The girl in the passenger side was talking about her boyfriend, John. "He's probably Italian, too" I thought to myself as we got out of the car. Music: Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
Thursday Morning, 12.21.06: McKenna had a really gay boyfriend now. I asked her about Javier and she started telling me the story of why they broke up, I guess. She said he was outletting his apartment since he wasn't going to be there (for a short period of time) and that made sense. So her new boyfriend was ultra gay, he reminded me of Jimmy, the gay student on Strangers With Candy, and a lot. We all stood in my room before entering a cave
Sunday Morning, 12.17.06: Sandra and I were in a rush, going from a store to what looked like the beltway (but only 1 or 2 narrow lanes that went up high and curved). It looked as though the sun was rising
Friday Morning, 12.15.06: My aunt and I were in Borders and I was planning on using my free coffee coupon. We were waiting by the counter- I looked around and there weren't that many people there, just a man on his laptop and maybe 4 others. There were large round tables where we could sit and no one could overhear us. It felt great being with her again, I really needed to talk to someone. I took a look at the books and magazines on the counter, the one on top was a small book and the subject was MTV in 1995. This must have been a great year for music and MTV in general, I wasn't the only one who thought so. What happened all these years? I looked through the book and some 2-page spreads were on Argentinian soap operas (for teens) and I recognized the background cartoon drawings of emo girls from somewhere else, another magazine or something. I mentioned it to my aunt Music: Smashing Pumpkins - (Who Wouldn't Be) The One You Love?
Tuesday Morning, 12.12.06: I was going to see a movie with Kristan. We were walking along the mall but I guess her parents had already gotten us tickets, They were waiting in her father's SUV. We saw (on tv) the Spice Girls give some interview on a plane; they all looked the same, it was amazing. There was some quiz about them online or something, a contest, I could do well on it I just needed to review their birthdays.
- Claudio and I were in a room by ourselves. While we were in bed I looked out of the window to the sidewalk, it reminded me of the temporary buildings' area in ROE.
Saturday Morning, 12.9.06: Dalia wanted me and Fauzeya to go along with her to the Dominican Republic and then to Haiti. I would have to come up with some story to tell my dad, but I think I winded up not going. For a while I was in the ROE art room. Music: Lenny Kravitz - Why Are We Runnin'?
Friday Morning, 12.8.06: At 8am my dad wanted to use the phone. I got mad and said they used to only want it at 10 or later
- I was with some Israelis at the airport, Russian ones. We all got on a plane. "Olga" from "Aqui no hay quien viva" was the pilot, but as we were flying low over the city, practically on the street, i jumped out because there was something about the flight that I didn't like. They all thought I was crazy, maybe I was, but in the process of jumping out I realized that I left a few letters that Claudio had written me, or maybe just one, that began "Hola mi ni�a!", as well as my carry-on bag. So that made me sad, I might never see those things again. I got on the new plane, I dont think anyone thought I was actually going to sit there for the whole flight but I did. It was kind of full, but somehow I got two seats on a side to myself. We got out of the plane and I went to baggage claim. Surprisingly, I found all of my bags, including the orange messenger bag I left on the plane. But sadly, the letter was nowhere to be found. I was seperated from the group once more, when I had to walk around what looked like a mall with a group of kids my age. We were being led by some representative from a bank, and I was blantently being rude and looking bored, walking around touching things and straying from the group. One of the free gifts for signing up was a big beige cd wallet, one that held 128 cds, so I took one with me
- I was in Paris with Chapu. I was happy to be there, but it would be difficult to stay with her because of her personality. It looked like she was going to give me a copy of the key, but told me to put it in a plastic container with a blue lid, like the one I have holding stuff that used to be in my desk drawer. She had it in a paper card holder, like the one farida has for her WIC card. So I put it in there, and she got on the phone to order food I presume. Her French was exaggerated, "fwance", and she laughed over the phone. I guess I was glad to see her enjoying herself in Paris. Music: Dave Matthews Band - #41
Thursday Morning, 12.7.06: I was talking to Ivan, who was sitting outside of a restaurant. He asked me about Bergen, "Kasia told me he never liked you.. that guy with the mole on his face". Claudio came and told me he had been waiting, I apologized and said bye to Ivan and took Claudio's hand. I had noticed how small Ivan's were. I told Claudio I hadn't seen him in a while and we were just catching up, and he said I had just seen him at Subway and talked to him a few days ago. I had forgotten about that, but it was because he was getting something to drink when he saw me, and we had just talked for a second about the food or something relevant. We made our way to the buffet restaurant, they were serving fruits outside of the door. Greg was serving pears and saying it in dream Portuguese
Wednesday Morning, 12.6.06: Claudio and I were outside of a parking garage, it was late afternoon and getting dark. We stood on the grass looking at some painting or something. I could see a grate on the side of the garage.
- Mikey was changing his avatars on messenger, eventually he left it at one of a black guy
- Farida told me to eat some pizza before it got cold, at 11am, and I just wanted to go back to sleep Music: U2 - With Or Without You
Sunday Morning, 12.3.06: We had passed by Harwin or a similar area. Inside I had seen someone commit suicide and his face was filled with regret right before pulling the trigger. And that was how his face remained.
- I was in a theater filled with people, caterpillar-like creatures were all over the place. I asked in concessions, they were "alcegas". I warned everyone in the theatre.. this had already happened in the theatre I used to work in.. Everyone fled after I announced that they were alcegas, Claudio and I decided to commit suicide since there was no escaping the alcegas, but before doing so he wanted to take something from the jacket cover of an Asia Argento VHS. It was a different movie cover, something with monkeys on it. I guess there was nothing that I wanted to take with me.. Claudio looked so cute, we were holding hands, and I thought to myself maybe we shouldn't do this afterall. I told him how I felt Music: Dover - The World is Spinning
Saturday Morning, 12.2.06: There were zombies outside of the townhouse on Fondren. I ran inside with Farida, who didn't seem to understand what was going on.
- I was with Kristan and Michael and more (dream) friends. They had all taken pictures of roses and put them on their LJs. I was in a computer lab looking at my friend's page while some black boy had left the room. He came back and looked mad that I was at the computer he had been using. Music: Stone Temple Pilots - Creep
- Mei was claudio's mom, and I was thinking how strange it was that they didnt look alike
- Claudio was driving us around Harwin. I saw a small house on top of an apartment building, he told me it had always been there, and that no one lived there anymore
- I was in Brazil with Claudio, the northeast. It cost too much to go hang gliding so I thought maybe we could just buy some plastic inflatable rafts and go down a giant sandhill in them like we had seen others do.
Friday Morning, 12.1.06: I found a lot of Tori Amos singles for 25 cents, and a few vinyls for Claudio but he already had them on cD. The total came out to around $13, how was that possible? I probably wouldn't even like the b-sides, and now I had accumulated more junk. We looked out of Claudio's window for a while
- One of my chaperones said we could get a group discount at the camp if we were all dressed the same color. I had a long green t-shirt underneath my sweatshirt, what a coincidence that most of my group was in green. The youngest boy was in a white t-shirt, we would try to make him unnoticed, and the male chaperone hid behind a distant tree since he wasn't in green. The ticket salesperson seemed to catch on, but just when she thought that a Mexican boy was part of our group. He was dressed in an aztec pattern. It's a good thing she noticed that there was a discount, each ticket was about $10 cheaper. So we got away with it, and when we passed by our male chaperone, the black girl I was with said he could have given her his green sweatshirt. But it wasn't an issue anymore. We went up the hill to one of the water rides. I saw Jennelle and Fredy there and spoke to the both of them. They said some little kids had fallen off a slide, or down a tube, something like that. I got a funny mental image, and I think we still went on the ride. We landed in a lazy river thing, which was nice.
/ I followed Mengfei and Nini to Mengfei's (big) house. Her dad was white and seemed really nice. I needed to borrow a swimsuit so Mengfei was going through her drawers for one for me. I guess I didn't need a top, since I had something that could be used.
Thursday Morning, 11.30.06: I was in a video game changing colors until I got on the back of a motorcycle in the rain and stopped at the apartment lobby. I saw Edwin and his girlfriend outside kissing, his face was changing color after the injections. I sat on a brown leather chair in the lobby and I wondered why he was dark to begin with but then remembered that when he was younger he would stay inside most of the day playing video games. Music: Anarchy Club - Collide
Wednesday Morning, 11.29.06: I was getting someone out of jail again, after seeing the lunchroom food and using an excuse to get by the guards. I stopped by a Spanish safari in the dust. It was much smaller than I was expecting, so it was sad to see these wild animals pushed together in such small spaces. There were about 5 turkeys, and they were fed a dead turkey. I saw the head being thrown to another turkey. It made me want to puke, but it mainly made me want to just get out of there. I came back shortly after because I left my purse and books behind
/ I went to class, where Ms. Lawrence's room used to be in ROE, and I hadn't read first 2 pages of "The Red Badge of Courage" as homework, but most students hadn't. I looked at the inside of the cover and the author was some kid, he looked like a student in class, it probably was him. I walked to the 2nd floor where Angie wanted some ugly silver high top shoes. She said they would go great with her new skirt, and I thought about offering her the money but it would be stupid to give into consumerism Music: Cheap Trick - Surrender
Tuesday Morning, 11.28.06: Claudio and I normally slept on what used to be my dad's mattress (from his apartment days). It was 620am and I went downstairs looking for him. I expected him to be on the sofa in the dining room but instead found him watching tv in the living room. I assumed he had just finished text messaging some girlfriend
- He had come home from class later than usual and I knew he had seen a movie with someone even though he wouldn't tell me
- I grabbed his cell phone while he was about to text someone but nothing was written yet. "I had this dream that.."
- I was in the (dream) library at FIU, wandering through the old books section to kill time before my flight. There was some book club meeting going on on the other side of the bookshelf. I saw one of the 1950s children's books I had bought at Katy Christians, one about ghosts. There was a book about how to raise children in a mixed household (one Jewish parent and one Christian parent), I guess I could see that being an issue back then. I noticed a creepy guy was following me, so I went to the bathroom to try to lose him. He kept walking faster and faster behind me. Eventually I left and while walking outside I saw Mikey in a car with Cici driving. When she left and it was just Mikey driving I got in and he took me to the airport. We realized that my flight was at 1148am, and not that I had to be there at 1148. This was not good, I didn't have my luggage with me, or my passport, but we were going to try to make it anyway. We went in running and I heard over the loudspeaker that those who thought it was 1130 had their clocks running fast. We ran all over the place, all I could think of was how badly I wanted to be with Claudio again. We were on the wrong level, these were all British Airways, and I needed a subsidiary of Lufthansa.
- I was walking around part of FIU, looking for 3 copies of a form that I needed. I found it among laser printers and copy machines. I bought an ice cream shake in the food court and paid with my credit card, but some fat girl had taken it and threw it away, I guess because I took a while to take it off the counter. I tried to stop her but it looked like she was ignoring me. After I pulled it out of the trash I saw her go to a table with another fat girl, this one in a wheelchair. "She probably makes her feel better about herself". I went to the leftside of the foodcourt and entered myself in a raffle. But I hated Miami, afterall
Monday Morning, 11.27.06: Claudio had pictures of me as a baby and little girl in one of his photo albums. I was dark but blonde as a baby (my father was holding me in one of the photos), that was different from how I remembered looking like. Now I could show the photos to Mila, since she had asked to see baby pictures of me
Sunday Morning, 11.26.06: Claudio was my teacher/boyfriend and he had told the class that someone had tried to steal his collection of coins that was worth thousands of dollars. Feeling that his house was unsafe he decided to keep them in a locker inside of the classroom. It was lunchbreak and a black boy and I stayed in the classroom. I decided to listen to the combination lock to figure out how to open it, and when it worked (after the first try) I gave about $500 worth of coins to a group of little black boys and told them to take them home. Lunch break was ending and I could hear people walking in the hall so I sat on the floor. I forgot, however, to close the lock as well as the one on my locker. I just hoped no one would notice.. but Claudio noticed right away and pulled me aside. We stood out on the balcony, there were glass windows and the students who had come in early could see us in an unpleasant situation. I started crying and confessed everything. After we came out I could hear someone say "and she's his girlfriend, too". I felt horrible. I didn't even need the money, I'm not quite sure why I stole to begin with. I didn't want consumerist products like iPods or anything. Later, we were in a department store and I remembered that I hadn't actually taken any of his coin for myself, but I had given about $500 worth to some black boys. I told him this
Saturday Morning, 11.25.06: I was with Kristan and a few dream friends, we didn't have a plan for the day, but that was ok. "So where are we going again?" "I don't know yet". And that was the beauty of it, we would find out after having stepped out of the door, after we all went to the bathroom in Claudio's apartment. Traveling Europe was cheap and easy thanks to the numerous low-fare airlines. We passed by a freeway similar to the one I had seen in Ilha do Governador, and after having looked at the map decided to stop by a restaurant. The woman working there was rude, and when Claudio and I returned I told the other person working there that we couldn't stand her and would never come back again. This was after the two of us had passed by a playground (with my cousin Edwin?), we still had time to catch the bus if we hurried.
/ The other girls I was forced to be with had left, I could see them below from the second story of what looked like a large wooden cabin. I had to make some attempt to find them, but seeing as I really didn't care I just wandered off to the waiting room area, behind the dressing room. There were a bunch of JAPs there, I must have looked out of place. I saw Amanda, with a ridiculous amount of makeup on, and tapped her on the shoulder. We got to talking, she asked me what I was doing there "Oh yeah I guess this is like prom or something". I saw Sandra in the corner of my eye, and she got out a board game from the back shelf
/ I was picking up trash for extra credit. That's what I told someone when he asked, but noted I probably would have done it anyway Music: Danzig - Mother
Friday Morning, 11.24.06: I was picked by my professor (1 of 6) to be in a play. I had a minor role, but all the better because this way I wouldn't have to memorize a lot of lines. Were we going to perform it in Spanish or English? I seemed to have both scripts. I met up behind the stage with the prof, one of my (dream) friends was cast the lead role, a black girl, and she could really identify with the character because her dad had also not played a big role in her life. Then she started sobbing and going into the story of her life, how her mother wouldn't let her see her father even though he tried to keep in touch, blahblahblah. I wanted to tell her that fathers never really play an important part in our lives, and throughout the animal kingdom they do little more than provide sperm, but I didn't want to be overtly insensitive. I stopped by a gas station so I could use my credit card for something, but everyone kept cutting in front of me and the woman at the counter wasn't paying any attention to me anyway. But then I realized that I would still need cash at some point. I walked outside, passed the outdoor tables and chairs overlooking the beach view, and talked to Kristan for a bit. Maybe she could spot me $20, although I would feel bad asking her. She was cutting things out of paper and she mentioned to me that she and Grace had gone to the mall earlier. I waved at Grace, it had been a long time since I had seen her but she looked the same. I said something to Kristan in an attempt to make my life seem interesting and forgot to ask about the $20.
/ I was in the print shop again. I had finished my assignment but didn't want to bother Mei because she looked busy. I went to a computer so I could start studying. Mei came shortly afterward with my corrected math problems. I had made a lot of mistakes on the triangles, this was no good. She told me to do a few more and then gave me my next assignment, to design a budget page that had already been started. I couldn't get the credit card part to line up correctly.
/ I was frying medellones or an egg in the townhouse kitchen. The plastic surgery had gone bad, I didn't even sign up for it, "But I look good". They had taken fat out of my (thighs?) stomach and chest, so I was left deformed and without breasts. Would I get more plastic surgery to fix this? No, that didn't seem right, and what the hell had happened, anyway? I didn't want Claudio to find out when he hugged me in bed.
Thursday Afternoon, 11.23.06: I discoved that playing all 4 strings on my cello was the first chord to "Aeroplane". I told this to the band, Pamela Anderson was the lead singer. I found some more chords that I could play with my bow, but they beat up Flea for some reason. He seemed ok after a while, and we were about to practice on the plane. First class, of course. The guitar player seemed jealous that I would reder him useless with my cello on this song Music: System of a Down - Hollywood
Thursday Morning, 11.23.06: A Chinese woman who worked for the neighboring hotel gave me tickets for a weekend pass at a somewhat shady hotel downtown, for up to 5 people in a room. The next day they were taken from me in the townhouse dining room through a big misunderstanding, but I probably wouldn't have used them anyway. I rushed so I could meet up with some friends, I was just 4 or 5 minutes late but we were waiting a while for Rose to show up. Kristan eventually winded up calling her, a little angry, asking if she was going to show up or not. Later we were all sitting at a dining table getting ready to order. I went upstairs and my dad kept giving me money for future expenses, even though I tried telling him that I still had money he had previously given me. I went to the kitchen where someone was showing me how to clean the floor with something that looked like Gold Bond Music: Justin Timberlake - Love Stoned (I Think She Knows)
Wednesday Afternoon, 11.22.06: Claudio's aunt Puri came into his room where I was sleeping and wanted to give me a pencil from her purse. She was scantily dressed... it was somewhat disturbing
Tuesday Morning, 11.21.06: I would tell my dad that I was at my mom's for the night and my mom that I was at my dad's. Meanwhile Christian and Fauzeya and I could run amuck in Sharpstown. They had opened a M&W and the two of them were going to go to a Sneaker Pimps concert earlier in the semester but Fauzeya got "nervous" (mad) because Christian got her in trouble by saying something stupid so she went alone. "I love the Sneaker Pimps!" I went on a tangent about how I thought the male lead singer was much better than the female one they had back when they were famous, even though people seemed to think it was a gyp that she wasn't with the band anymore. Clarewood was known by another name, 51, and I had big plans for the area. We passed by a Chinese store I had visited in an earlier dream, when Kristan and I had wandered in there. My dad was in a deal to buy or sell an empty lot of land near the library but the man he was dealing with wouldn't budge. "Everything is fine" is the last thing my dad said, but I woke up and remembered that everything was not fine
- I was an intern for the Japanese television station in Houston. It was my first day, and I was really nervous. My boss was very nice, though. It was my responsibility to make sure the two DVDs got there in time, I put them in my messenger bag while we were in the elevator. There was a special section for people not in business attire, and even though my boss was she stayed with me in the other section. I suddenly felt extremely underdressed and a little embarrassed. A woman in a leopard costume got out of the elevator to go on the air, I wished her good luck in English, and my partner said it in Japanese (something like "ro", a one-syllable word). I wished I knew more of the language. We got to the bathroom and I knew it would be a while, I was in the handicapped stall. I handed the DVDs to my partner and told her to take them where they needed to go in case I couldn't make it.
- Miguel was in the backseat of my dad's car, I asked my dad if he was going to the bank and he said yes, so I went along with them instead of with the other person I was going to ask to take me. He kept nagging me on the way there, saying I shouldn't wait until the last minute to do things.
- I was asleep, Claudio came in and started talking on the phone. I thought he had gone to class but instead he saw a movie with some girl friend. He went into the living room to continue the conversation after he saw I was awake. Later, I played his Playstation special sex game, it was part of the Resident Evil series, it had probably only been released in Japan. We drove through a forest shortly afterward, and stopped by a small cliff.
Monday Morning/Afternoon, 11.20.06: I didn't know what to get Nini for her birthday. Someone suggested that she needed a car so I got her a used one from an ad in the paper, a Honda. "She probably already has a coffee maker" and everything else there for that matter. But on second thought, I was spending all of my savings on a car for someone who was a very distant friend, when I hated cars to begin with, and when it might have been a piece of junk since it was used and from an ad in the paper. The gift wasn't about impressing anyone, it was merely giving her something that she needed. I took another look at the ad and it had a naked Asian woman on it, with a sexual inneundo for the caption. It was a good thing I hadn't paid for it yet.. We were sitting indian-style in a circle on the floor.
- Fritz was my stalker, I saw him at the raised hut close to mine, through binoculars. Or maybe I just knew that he was there somehow. He had killed various women, and our guess was that he had killed them for different body parts that he would use on me. Later, I was with my mom in her oversized apartment. The window to the dining room that she never used was uncovered. I could hear two of my aunts (Sandra and Suzy) outside of her door, plotting against her. They left shortly after and I tried warning my mom. She looked through the caller ID in the townhouse kitchen while I stood nearby in the dining room. She asked me about one of the numbers, "Jen 8" (or similar), "Oh, not that, I know what that is." Secretly I was scared stiff, Fritz had found my house number somehow and probably knew where I lived. It would be a matter of time... soon enough, Mikey called me. I wanted answers but he said he was at work and about to get off soon. I tried some more and he said that his boss stopped giving him free tickets. I was confused for a while, this wasn't what I was asking about, but he said he couldn't see concerts for free anymore, and all because a co-worker opened a resident's mail (she let him). "That's not fair"
- There were Japanese girls wandering through the school, trapped in time, exhausted by heat and a lack of food. My professor asked me for pencils, mechanical and regular, and I thought I could nab a few from the reject students but by doing so I accidentally provoked them. They woke up from their slumber, still in a slow state, and when they felt the A/C coming from the room I went into they began rioting. Why did some students get everything while they were left to rot?
Sunday Afternoon, 11.19.06: German told me on MSN that it was snowing in Barcelona. I had trouble typing at first
Sunday Morning, 11.19.06: I was in a dark street in Vigo smoking a cigarrette, the same kind that Mila smokes. I had been craving one for so long, and it felt so good to get that fix of nicotine. Claudio came shortly after I had lit up so I threw it to the ground and walked away quickly, trying to hide the fact that I smoked from claudio. He hugged and kissed me and noticed it in my breath. He told me he didn't want me to smoke
Saturday Morning, 11.18.06: I walked by the suburban store where I had wanted to buy a skateboard. A hispanic guy was telling a girl she could find one there, and i made a face to him as if to say that I didn't want anyone else to get to that skateboard before me. But she didn't buy it, she just wanted some dust from the wheels to make her witch potion. Later, Claudio and I looked through her witch book in the dining room of my townhouse. My name was all over it, as if I had been a previous owner of the book. But this was not possible... after thinking it over I realized that I must have been, there was even a picture of me in witch garb, baseball card style.
/ Claudio and I drove out of a parking garage in Portugal at night. A leopard came with us as we drove to the roller coaster ride.
Friday Morning, 11.17.06: I saw Stephanie Louie alone in movie theatre and sat next to her. She asked where I was at earlier, "At Burger King?" No, actually I was at some blonde tranny's art show for extra credit. I told her that Kristan and I were becoming "BFF" again, which was strange but I guess it was a good thing
/ Kristan and I walked through the treelined suburb while I talked about how beautiful Florida could be. When asked why, I mentioned the animals, and she said that sometimes she would see a flock of animals and think "Gee, you're the only ones left!" Haha, I agreed. This neighborhood was pleasant, the houses weren't as visible and were highly outnumbered by the trees. We were randomly walking around the area until she pointed out that we didn't know where we were going and should stay on the main street instead of wandering about. Good point. We found ourselves in a park with Jada Pinkett, who had changed her name to Jada Will Smith or something with "Will" in it. Kristan and I were just talking about what her full name was and one of us was right. Jada was with Will Smith, we said hi to them and called them by their first names, as if we were good friends with them. There was a lot of wet laundry, mostly yellow boxers and other pastel underwear, on the playground. I didn't want to move any of it. Music: [dream song (with lyrics, '5,4,1')]
Thursday Morning, 11.16.06: Ms. Murphy was our substitute, she sent me out to the ROE blacktop for my assignment, but I counted my change and I had enough for an episode of Mission: Organization. Amanda was with me, and we ditched class pretty soon after meeting up
- The cuban politician had lost again, but he kept his guard up. I was in his kitchen and he discovered a slot of wood on the other side that was removable. It wasn't the closet next to it, it was a hidden compartment. Inside were a few videos from my childhood, but the earliest one I could find was from 1997. I was hoping for some reference to "Tales From the Crypt", but instead it was a Christmas video.
- I was in a bus in a Natal community (or originally Rio). A woman had either fallen asleep or was blind and missed her stop. The driver was helping her but didn't know the street well. While she was talking to her at the back of the bus the autopilot was in place. After we got off I tried to tell her that the street was far back but that I wasn't sure. We were standing in some outdoor market and I could see Chiquinho pass by but I didnt want to be seen.
Wednesday Morning, 11.15.06: Mei dropped me off at the townhouse (through the back) and I caught up with Jessica, who was with Cleveland and someone else. I told Mei that if she needed me to come in to work she just had to call me, and she said that I should call her. This sounded strange to me, but I figured I would wait a few days before calling
- I was going to David's apartment (in my dad's complex), he told me that his friend in the same complex had a window in her bedroom. Then we were in Claudio's bedroom, David was on the phone for a short while Claudio's mom in the kitchen. Later, in the park, the park ranger caught us and I had to explain everything to Mila, who appeared a short while afterwards. I cried and told everything to Claudio, we sat on a white bench Music: Polaris - I Wasn't Around (Nobody Knows)
Tuesday Afternoon, 11.14.06: I was playing Mario Brothers 1, there was a secret passage before end of the level. If, instead of jumping onto the cloud you just let yourself fall, there were a lot of coins and 1-ups, etc. And you would continue to fall into these things until reaching a different, secret level. Claudio had loaded an option to do unlock this secret.
/ A killer was after me, he had started to kill members of my (white) family. The first was our dog (at the beach), then my brother in law.. I found out after opening the blue duffle bag. I warned my family to stay together, to put the dogs inside and lock the doors. A knife wouldn't be a bad idea either, but it occurred to me later. My mom and tia Blanca gave me pieces of chocolate cake that I ate part of and took the rest with me in the SUV I got into. I hugged them all before I left and Mei took off. I didn't want to tell her about what was going on because I didn't want to scare her, but I was afraid that the killer would come for me while I was in the car with her and cause an accident that could harm the both of us
Tuesday Morning, 11.14.06: A boy used the stairs instead of going into the elevator with his family. He saw some other boys do it earlier and they got to their apartment quicker. He got there before the rest of his family and put his shoes out to dry on the staircase. He could feel that something was not right; his family wouldn't be coming, the zombies had gotten to them first. He stood by the fireplace in fear
Monday Afternoon, 11.13.06: After I had requested the "tools" to do our jobs properly there were rubber gloves and 2 extra long tools (looked like a screwdriver and a tong) available for us to use. Someone was showing me the parts of the throat through these doors or glassless windows in what looked like River Oaks Elementary (but darker). It was pretty fascinating, the two nodes were usually straight but could twist and do the others' job. This generally happened if someone swallowed something the wrong way. I thought about how lucky Kristi was that she had us, and especially Jose, because we were not only normal employees but did jobs that plumbers and technicians did, eliminating any additional costs.
Monday Morning, 11.13.06: I walked along the dirty sidewalk, smelled the pollution in the air, and looked at the park to the side. There were a few wild safari animals walking around, they looked so strange in this inner-city opening. A lion.
- There was something very off about the house next door. I walked through it and felt the presence of ghosts, tormenting me, lights were flickering and flashing. I was in a beige room with a fireplace in the middle, and soon I found myself back home, looking for any mail I had received since I was gone. There were two envelopes for my dad, from the IRS. I found my mail, just a few envelopes nothing important looking. I stood by the door and found out Mimi had died, and I felt horrible for not going to Seattle the past summer. I used the bathroom outside of our front door but then heard the neighbor and went back inside. My hands were covered in blood. It was some annoying black guy who kept trying to forge a conversation so I was polite and then told him I had to go. Mimi was lying on the couch. My grandmother was telling Saul that the neighbor was my boyfriend, and I kept trying to butt in and tell him that she was lying but they continued talking. I guess Saul understood her because he knew French. "Roz negro", Saul brought my father downstairs and they started bitching at me. I explained that it was just the neighbor and that he invited himself over and there was nothing I could really do since he had already seen me. I guess my dad understoood. I told the little kids in the hallway that my father had brought with him that they shouldn't touch the cat because she might scratch them. Alina was walking around the living room
Sunday Morning, 11.12.06: Claudio and I were laying on the kitchen floor when the woman in charge of the cash register went to Claudio's room. She was lying on the bed with Mila, so I imagined, and we could hear them cracking up. The register was wide open, so I took 50 euros out of it. Claudio asked me if I had just stolen and convinced me to put the money back. He knew how to open the register again so he did, but the slot to put the 50 bills in was locked.
Upon hearing the sound of her cash register, the woman stopped laughing. At the time it seemed as though no one had caught on to us.
/ I was with Kristan and other (dream) friends; the Chinese woman knew that I had stolen the money and asked me about my about wallet. I had 2 identical Bubble ones- 1 had lots of euros in it, the other had only 1 bill [probably the 150 one (that I had stolen from Claudio's secret hole in the wall above his bed?)]). Kristan started throwing up, "Oh no, her too?" There was some virus going around and it would only be a matter of time before I caught it. She threw up in a potted plant, her mom was there watching. Afterwards I walked around with my green backpack on, trying to avoid any uncomfortable confrontations with the Chinese woman. In the adjacent room I found 1 of the wallets on the floor.. How did that happen? The lights went out in the room I was previously in, and I knew the Chinese woman would try to sneak up on me and steal my wallets with stolen money in them.
- I saved the city by coming in on my rope and kicking the large metal thing, preventing it from hitting the train that was exiting the tunnel.
Saturday Morning, 11.11.06: Mckenna told me she was graduating in 4 days (or weeks) and I asked her about her plans for the near future. She was most likely going to stay in Virginia next semester with Javier, and there was possible work as model. She kept assuring me of the contacts she had and how many people had told her she had the potential to be a model. I just kind of nodded my head, I didn't think she was model material but I didn't want to say so. We walked through a hallway and into a fried chicken place, and an employee kicked some black people out for bringing an outside can of Pepsi (and later trying to steal a blue plate), even though the manager told him to let the Pepsi slide. As we were walking through the hallway and the swing door Mckenna told them that they could thank her and made other rude comments. Erin Patten finally bitched back at her, I could tell she was trying to reserve herself but just couldn't take any more. I tried to stay out of it Music: Kinky - Soun tha mi primer amor
Friday Morning, 11.10.06: Earlier, in the classroom, I had suggested the teacher bring a certain computer part for us, and when no one (including me) took it he must have felt pretty stupid. That's why Albert grabbed one for me, and gave it to me at the end of the day when I was contemplating either taking the bus home or walking. The truth was I felt more like walking, but it would be a long distance and then I ran into Mengfei (and later Albert) and decided to just take the bus.
- Claudio and I were in my parents' bed, while they were in mine. It would be hard to do anything, especially with my mom constantantly walking in, talking about gay magazines and stuff
- I was asked to pay the taxes for my tickets when I got to the airport (Bush Intercontinental), or maybe buy them there all together. The woman was speaking to me in Italian and I couldn't understand everything. I told her "both" when she asked me a question, but then a woman came to help her and told her that I was a student and would have to pay only the student taxes. And it's a good thing she came; I glanced over at the screen and saw that the student taxes were slightly under $4 while the other taxes were around $78.
/ I hastily made the decision to spend one year studying abroad in Madrid, or at least pay the fees for the program. I gave the check to what looked like a travel agent, and she gave me brochures and pamphlets and a print out of my e-ticket. This was going to be fun, even if I would be with a bunch of white kids who would get drunk off their asses, and in a very enclosed environment. I glanced at my e-ticket, there was a different one-day layover each way, and on the way back it was somewhere in Budapest (or somewhere in East Europe). I was so excited, until I thought about things a little better. Wasn't I already graduating? Where would I get the money to pay for all of this? Wasn't I going to apply to JET and graduate school? Suddenly I felt stupid for splurging all that money without thinking things through. Music: The Carpinters - We've Only Just Begun
Thursday Afternoon, 11.9.06: These kids were looking at the files on my laptop when I let them borrow it so they could help make Mima's powerpoint presentation. I took it away when I saw they were just playing around and was about to put a password on it, or just restrict access to all of my folders for 2 days, but then I thought "What if I need something during those 2 days?" Uncle Grish winded up helping her instead, as my aunt assured me
/ I found a lot of lottery tickets in a drawer while the drawing was going on on tv. They all looked like losers but then I found one at the bottom, 3 13 23 (etc)... "Should I tell people I won?"
/ Tia Blanca left a "Big Bag" with my stuff in it (including my laptop) outside of the 2nd hand shop in the mall that I was browsing through. I went outside and found it, and left it at the side of the store hoping no one would steal anything, or had stolen, since I didn't know how long it had been out there. The mall looked like the one in Braga where I had seen the banners for the Karaoke contest.
Wednesday Morning, 11.8.06: Dawn had broken not long ago, and I was in my room, about to leave. After going through something resembling an obstacle course I realized I was one of the few left standing, maybe I had a chance of winning (or getting out alive). I found myself in a warehouse with another girl, when the monsters came we ran as fast as we could. Music: Mr. Bungle - Sweet Charity
Tuesday Morning, 11.7.06: Claudio and I lived in a big house with beautiful wall-length windows. We killed snakes in the bathroom and ate them for dinner. Our guest asked me why I was eating the sausage-like meat and I smiled and told her that I really had a craving for this. Only Claudio and I knew that it was snake meat.
- Mengfei and I were in the cafeteria, she was in a business suit. I couldn't decide what to eat and settled on a free lunch like Mengfei was having, since it looked pretty good anyway. I took the plastic tray and hoped they wouldn't find out I wasnt't on the free lunch list.
- A building was about to explode and Michael J. Fox warned everyone about it seconds before it happened. This was after someone in a black suit started shooting at the numerous secret agents behind the cars. So I jumped just in time, and felt the heat from the explosion in waves. It happened every five seconds, after a countdown, and I continued to run and jump. I didn't care less about the people around me, warning them would take time that I couldn't spare. I was finally out of the area of danger, and I went into a diner to order something to snack on. For $3.95 I could eat a slice of cake with a iced cream cheese topping, which I thought was ironic considering the explosions outside. I waited in line and ordered, then sat next to Robert Guevera who probably remembered me. Music: Mariah Carey - We Belong Together
Monday Afternoon, 11.6.06: In Tokyo with Claudio, a kind of junky section. We went straight for a second hand shop, although it had mostly clothes and no video games. I put on a blue button up short sleeved shirt, the owner spoke some Spanish. The prices seemed pretty steep, so we left. There were two really gay looking shirts, and I made fun of them but then realized that the owner had one of the rainbow shirts on. He laughed at it, too. We kept walking until we reached the end of the road, which led to a highway/bayou. Kristan took a prehistoric looking fish that she assumed to be dead and accidentally broke its bottom part off. "No it's still alive!" I told her she should just kill it altogether but she insisted on throwing it into the bayou. It hurt me to watch it suffer. There were some Japanese kids about our age hanging out around the bayou. Later I signed online; I knew there was much more to see in the city. Music: Blue Oyster Cult - Godzilla
Monday Morning, 11.6.06: Jessica told me that she had to go "in cognito" with one of her female professors to something that looked like Parrot Jungle for the weekend. So she dyed her hair a dark brown and put on huge bug sunglasses. I was in the hallway and later the girls' bathroom with the lesbian from Aqui no hay quien viva, the both of us laughing. Music: U2 - Mysterious Ways
Sunday Afternoon, 11.5.06: I charged someone money to see porn/snuff movies on the tv in the dining room. But by day two I realized that I hadn't charged the credit card nor did I know how to. I also didn't know how much I should charge per minute. Majda had a baby boy that was a few months older than Alina.
I went up to my room and started packing while I talked to my Indian friends (or aquaintances). Abby was there, too. Finally Fauzeya showed up and I could leave, although it seemed like she wanted to stay a while with everyone else. We passed through an amusement park (Astroworld?) and afterwards her family and Yousef got mad at her and didn't believe she was with me the whole time. I wanted to step in but then I would have to mention Claudio, and somehow my father would find out about him through this. Music: Fiona Apple - Criminal
Sunday Morning, 11.5.06: I was in the car with Gil, he was driving by Harwin and Hilcroft where I saw Amanda under the freeway asking for money. I decided that the next day I would stop by and talk to her. Fireworks were going off, even though it was days before July 4th. I thought they should wait until then, and I told this to Gil. His flight left at 5pm the next day, but he still offered to take me wherever I wanted to go before then. I wished I could drive so I could take him to the airport, to Bush Continental. But he would have to leave really early, I remembered that there would be a lot of traffic and long lines since it was Thanksgiving. Music: Stevie Ray Vaughan - Texas Flood
Saturday Afternoon, 11.4.06: Farida came home, around 4:30pm, while I was in the kitchen. Maybe it surprised her to see me there. My dad followed, dressed in a long beige overcoat with black buttons. He had taken up taxi driving, maybe the business wasn't doing well or the money he was making was no longer meeting his family's demands. He looked tired, and fat. I could see him driving around what looked like Vigo, stopping for gas and paying a lot of money for it.
- A professional organizer came to the house, the janitor woman from Aqui no hay quien viva, and started bitching when she saw snack food in different parts of the kitchen (as opposed to being in one place). I told my mom about it in the parlor while making tea and milk, although it was hard getting a word in edgewise with the guests she had invited (ditzy girls about my age). No one seemed to find it very funny, but maybe it was because I said it in English instead of Spanish. My mom wanted me to serve them something, "me?", while I took out the teabag. I didn't invite them over, or even like them, so it didn't seem fair that I should cater to them.
- My dad came home with Farida and went straight for my room (Claudio's room). I guess we were going to have sex while Farida was in her room (Mila's room), or maybe he just wanted a blow job... suddenly something seemed very wrong about it, especially when he had a wife. I had no interest in it anyway. I looked in the mirror and saw a big swollen sac below my vag... had it always been this way? It reminded me of the balls that children sit and bounce around on. Music: The Carpinters - Rainy Days and Mondays
Saturday Morning, 11.4.06: I looked through an album of photos of the 4 of us (me, Whitney, Alexandra and Annie) with Whitney's dad. He looked different than how I remembered, and so happy. So he wasn't a bad person, afterall.
- In Mila's room watching a documentary while Claudio showered.
/ David and I walked through the halls
- I was somehow in the position of delivering pizzas for a jewelery mafia. What they really needed was a courier service. I came out of an office building and my next stop was Burger King, but not the one I was used to, one off of a feeder. I didn't know the city so another deliverer helped me out. We walked down a treelined residential area. I only had a few cents with me and he suggested I bring money to pay for pizzas just in case I needed to, and I would be reimbursed later. I thought about going back to the car but it was in the other direction. He told me the most he ever had to pay was $5.
/ At the back wall of the post office I saw that someone had written on the dry-erase board. They were giving out one free quarter for every $10 roll of coins "purchased", to the first 10 people to come in. But I read it more carefully and it was only until the 31st. I mentioned to Fauzeya how I could get a lot of money if I bought enough of them, but when I looked again it was after you bought a case of 25 or 50 cd-rs. That was way too many cds, as she put it.
- I looked through a photo album of River Oaks Elementary and the surrounding area. Everything had changed so much since then. The bugs in the photo album (along the sides of the photos) had moved a little. While I was looking at the bat-like bug I was told that I didnt need to eat them if I didn't want to.
- Children were just smaller human beings, it didn't necessarily make them cuter or more innocent Music: Blue Oyster Cult - Godzilla
Friday Afternoon, 11.3.06: Claudio's room seemed bigger. It was just like our first time, all over again. I wanted to capture the moment as best I could, everything felt so marvelous
- Mila came into Claudio's room to tell me something. We knew we had to get out of the house soon. From a distance I could see the 5 ghetto overweight men on their motorcycles and someone explained to me that since one of the men in the back cut in front of his friend that he was willing to risk it all. I was still pretty clueless as to what was going on Music: Bloc Party - Always New Depths
Friday Morning, 11.3.06: My father and I were in a rather large hotel room with hardwood floors. My right eye had been bothering me for a while, and when I finally looked in the mirror I was shocked to see that a small red sac was hanging out of the corner of my eye. On closer inspection I saw that my eye was either deteriorating or had shifted and there was a gap or hole between that same corner of my eye and my eyeball. What had happened?? This was far worse than I had expected. I told my dad and after looking at it he told me it was no big deal. He suggested I ask the hotel staff about it on our way out. But there was no way I was leaving the room like that. I considered getting an eyepatch to cover the eye, not so much for the cosmetic factor but to prevent dust from getting into the gap. I would have to call a doctor, or go to a hospital. I glanced through the large bookshelf room seperator for a phone book and found only a hotel directory. I imagined a doctor trying to get my eye back in place. Music: Sneaker Pimps - Half Life (Half Pipe?)
Thursday Afternoon, 11.2.06: David (Design Star) had won this time again. But I took a good look at his design and although the colors (a bright green backdrop) and furniture were fun and young he unnecessarily split the living room in two with a large white bookcase. His competetor in the final challenge was someone new (a man whose name started with V), but I could see his room from the hallway and it had its faults as well.
Thursday Morning, 11.2.06: We passed by the nice townhomes on west Richmond, and seeing them made me feel a little happier. While I was waiting around I decided to play an arcade game. Apparently all the times I touched an arcade machine I was charged, although I wasn't the one paying. The game I played cost 260 yen, which showed up on the tab afterward, with the price of gasoline and/or laundry. My chaperone (mother?) hurried me along. Music: Earth, Wind & Fire - September
Wednesday Afternoon, 11.1.06: I came out of the video rental store with minor injuries, and when asked I kept mentioning how the kids "did nothing" to help me, insinuating that they could and should have. We got into the white SUV and I realized my door was already open. Maybe I had left it open this whole time..
/ A commercial came on, announcing Alex Kidd and how it was better than other video games. There was nothing on tv anyway. Claudio pointed out the group of cockroahces on the rug in front of his television and I tried my best to ignore them.
- I walked around the mall, initially with Claudio. A black guy rented out a stroller and gave Claudio the change (50 cents). Instead of thanking him Claudio just stood there perplexed. I dragged him into a hardware store with me. Later, shopping cart in my hands, I went into the Ferrero Rocher store with Michael Z and Christian. It was hard getting around the small store with the shopping cart. Michael noticed more expensive chocolates in the corner, "Wait, there's a hierarchy of Ferrero Rocher chocholates? I thought Ferrero Rocher was the top of the line". "Well, you're wrong" as I dashed through the store with my shopping cart. I got called an asshole or something
- Kristan was right, eating just a few of the cookies would have 700 calories. The "Coco delights" had 200 each, whereas the thin mints only had 8. Was that even possible? I ate a coconut cookie and thanked Mei, saying they were good. Music: La Bamba
wednesday Morning, 11.1.06: In Japan at night, looking into the window of a two-story house. The water was running
Tuesday Morning, 10.31.06: claudio and I went to a subway stop, the heat was on and we had been there before. There were a lot of people, mainly teenage girls.
- I was thinking about taking bullets with handmade gun on plane, not seriously considering it but the thought occurred to me. But I wouldn't be able to pass the metal detector, of course. I accidentally left my rolling luggage behind the conveyor belt, and a Korean man threw it on. I suppose he did this to help me but I interpreted his body language as negative and gave him a dirty look. I needed to go to gate 3 with my cousin (who was going to jail) but it seemed like it didn't exist. I walked around the area and passed by the food court. It occurred to me that I could go to gate 2 like his friend did and get on the plane, then find my seat even though I hadn't come in from the proper gate. I was in a rush, as the plane was about to leave. The tickets were like small brown scantrons. But the movie had already ended and it would be a while before it would start up agai; we could just sit in the theatre until then, maybe sleep a while.
/ I walked through the garden late at night and dug up my (white, dream) parents' corpses up so they could see the murder that was about to take place. The mother was still alive, apparently, or had been reserected. She could barely move and tried to wake up her husband but noticed a big lump in his back and realized he was dead. She would have to witness the murder alone atop the hill, and wouldn't be able to move quick enough to get out of the area in time.
Monday Morning, 10.30.06: A black panther was on top of a car with my mom and me. He jumped high and found the (drug) money I asked him to, hidden underneath my mom's pillow. So she had tried to steal it all along..
- I was in line at a grocery store, or hypermart, paying for food when the blonde girl about my age that I was talking to offered sample energy drinks to the people passing by. I took a vanilla cherry almond (or similar) one and thanked her. She was so nice. Just then I saw our black van crash into her car in the parking lot, what the hell?. I pretended as if I hadn't seen anything and I later told my friends in the van that the girl seemed really nice and I felt guilty that they had done that. But her car looked ok, as did the van. I sat in the back left side by the window next to a black/native american girl.
- I was spending the night in German's 2 story house and I had to pee. It was late at night so I tried not to wake up his parents as I went into the bathroom that was next to their bedroom. I thought about going downstairs to see if he was awake. He had offered to sleep on the sofa. The house was very modern looking, all glass and stainless steel. Maybe I did go downstairs.
Sunday Morning, 10.29.06: I got lenses in the glasses Mila gave me and decided to buy another pair of frames while I was there
- I saw German's MSN space, there was a new album of photos of Xavi and a video of him and Xavi camping in US. They were supposed to meet up with some girls in the morning but the girls flaked out on them.
Saturday Morning, 10.29.06: Claudio and I were by the armchair in the living room. He told me that the German 1 class was starting at the language school and he was thinking about signing up for it. I encouraged him saying that we could study together and I could xerox his notes and his textbook. I was probably more excited about it than he was.
- Christian was sitting on my bed with me. Mimi was lying down by my pillow and he petting Nico, who I hadn't even realized was in my room. Christian seemed kind of down so I was trying to cheer him up. I noticed that there was mosquito in the room but I didn't bother trying to kill it. It was just another living creature. Until it bit me and then it became hard to kill.
/ We went through some back door that Christian had a key to somehow and we were close to the theatre. I started singing "Earth below us, drifting floating.." to see if Christian knew the song. But the beginning came out kind of weak, it had been a while since I had last sung, and Kris was there. I didn't want him to think that I was a bad singer so I belted out the "Ooh oh oh oh oh ohoh oh" part a few times, stonger and livelier. We waved and I found myself with two black girls that (dream) worked with me at the theatre. I couldn't remember their names "wait... don't tell me.." and one of them certainly didn't remember me and seemed to be in a bad mood. I thought about asking about David but we were already on the freeway train by then. Nicole G. told me that she forgot something and I told her it was ok since I kind of wanted to go back anyway. This way I could say hi to Jose and see if David was doing well. She told me that the black girl that she was talking to had wanted to meet up after bowling the other day. Nicole had gone with her friends and the other girl had gone with a different group of friends, but she never called Nicole so it's not like she could have done anything. We both started joking about what a flake the other girl was. "Yeah it's like she would have told you she was going to the bathroom and she'd never come back". Nicole said something too but I didn't really understand it. I laughed a little anyway. The train was really curvy, I nearly fell out of my seat once or twice. When we got off I saw a little blonde girl with a long clear pipe in her right eye. Everyone was telling her to take it out but she bent her head down and a white and grey goo squirted out of her eye through the pipe and onto the cement. "We've got to get you to a hospital". A man saw what had happened and decided to help me out. I went to the payphone but realized that I didn't have any change. I didn't really know what number I would be calling, anyway. I offered my cellphone but the man was already on his, dialing 411. He asked for numbers in the Washington area (as in DC), which struck me as odd. I suggested he call someplace in the area and he said it was ok. So we all got on a bus and passed by a large archeological dig near my mom's apartment in Seattle. We were going into unknown territory, I wasn't sure how I would get back home or why I even got on the bus to begin with. All I could see was freeways and dirt.
- Angie had a link on her blog asking people to read the article she had written.
Friday Afternoon, 10.28.06: Mila came home and we opened the blinds to see that the sun had barely risen and it was still very dark outside. Although it was 1:20 in the afternoon. We wondered what had happened, the news wasn't on it. Mila kept mentioning that it should be in English, insinuating that this was some international phenomenon or that international attention should be paid to the matter. From the kitchen window I could see a bus pass by with its lights on, and a few people inside. There was the church in the distance, playing Tom and Jerry on two big screen TVs so that it could be seen from afar.
/ A number of us went up the hill in a bus to have a meeting. Maybe Jennifer and Elisabeth and Adrienne were there and we were all younger. I saw Stephen Charba when I was walking up the stairs and he had added Wylie to his friends on Facebook so apparently he had remembered some of us from elementary school, just not me. I wasn't listening to the speaker in the room, I got up and changed seats. I felt pretty important at the time, although later Bergen and I were dating and he was flirting with someone else. Or maybe he had never really liked me to begin with. My ego was deterriorating, however slightly.
/ We were all assigned an apartment to make over and we all had the same budget. There were a few items on the list that were bonus points if we could locate them in the 2nd hand store, so I was going to go straight for those (a disco ball, a crystal something or other... it might have been a good idea to memorize the list in the van on the way to the store) but then stumbled upon dinnette sets and realized this is what we really needed the most and what would probably go the quickest. I jumped on the first set I found that looked cute, it was a shiny red and had a modernist 1950s design, but then realized that it was far too tiny for the space. We needed a bigger table than the one in the apartment. By the time I realized this the others were already looking at the tables. There were a few more cute tables but nothing with the dimensions I was looking for. But then we found one, a shiny blue, and it was expandable. There was another group already on it, so I tried to feign disinterest. The truth was, though, that that color wouldn't go with the decor and it was a little bigger than what I was hoping for. I told Claudio we could always reserve a chunk of our budget to buy a new table. Music: Depeche Mode - Barrel of a Gun
Friday Morning, 10.27.06: Claudio and I almost missed the plane. We got on a bus with about 20 other people. Earlier I had whizzed by security, it was as if the man wasn't even paying attention, and slid in through a gap between a table and the wall to get to the elevator. we sat down in the plane, relieved, next to a woman in the middle row. I mentioned how about 20 other people were coming on board. They all looked exhausted, almost zombie-like, in ragged winter clothes.
- There was a multi-colored iguana in the cave/jungle I was in, running along a long branch. I want to take picture badly, but thought it was more important to get up close than miss the opportunity while looking for a camera. After I moved he changed to a bright yellow color with magenta spots. I accidentally mess up the spiders web he was making, and he looked bothered by that. I met his child (a mixed race looking baby) and called it a "mallorqui" while I fondled it. The iguana and I bonded after I met the baby Music: Shakira - Hips Don't Lie
Thursday Afternoon, 10.26.06: I went around (dream) FIU looking for the paper I needed to officially declare my major. I went to one of the people I needed to talk to and apparently a white girl was in line in front of me. "Excuse me", when I tried to talk to the woman. I had a very simple question and since I didn't see the two of them talking I went up to ask it. So I backed off for a while after the girl barked at me, but then saw that she continued looking through a book with her friend. She wasn't prepared, so I continued with my question. The woman was very helpful and then the girl snapped back at me again. Throughout the waiting period I was making faces behind the girl's back while the black woman was writting things down about the girl in my Portuguese/English pocket dictionary. We laughed for a while and I wrote "????????" on the back of the chair. This wasn't meant to have any meaning behind it, it was one of those things I did out of my nervous nature, but then I realized it could be interpreted as a funny reaction to something the black woman had asked. After the girl left we stood on a veranda and I thought to myself that maybe this woman could be my friend. I continued down the hall to get the paper I needed. Earlier there had been no one at the booth but now there were two people in front of me, and I could tell they were going to take a while. Someone asked me what I was looking for and I told them, so they looked for it while I went outside to another booth and found it. But apparently the rules were changing. I was given a print out of the new rules, they were more complicated. Great. The person from the first booth asked me if I found what I was looking for and I replied yes. I was still ticked off that they were changing things, when it was silly enough that we had to turn in this paper to begin with. I asked why and wasn't given a clear answer, as usual. Eric Kwartler was sitting on a chair to the side and must have overheard my question. He asked why someone would be charged with plagerism and risk not graduating if, for example, he published his memoirs and all the professor wrote was "good job". This must have been part of the reason why the rules were changing and we needed professors' signatures to apply for a major. No one gave him a clear answer, either.
/ I got on an unknown bus route with a few people I had just met. I figured what the hell, I would eventually be able to get home. I had been talking to an African guy most of the busride, and I asked him for his email address before he got off the bus. But I don't think we ever exchanged them, so I knew I would never see him again. Henry was on the bus, too, and a frumpy middleaged white lady who had helped us out asked us all for our phone numbers, not in a flirty way but you could tell she was just lonely. Henry didn't really respond to her, I could tell he had no interest in keeping in touch. I asked him if he still got on AIM, although it came out weird "Ah-im" and he said rarely. So they got off the bus and I was stuck in the middle of nowhere. I looked around to see if there were any system maps anywhere. I saw a girl get off the bus and flip through papers where the maps usually were, but she didn't pick anything up so I figured there was nothing of interest. After a while I went to the busdriver and asked him if the bus stopped anywhere that I could transfer to a bus that would take me to Sharpstown Mall. He told me the 11 would, and when I asked him to let me know when to get off he said it wasn't very far and I could go sit down and he would announce it over the speakers. But he got up with me to go to the middle of the bus so he could turn the speakers on. Everyone was looking at me and I didn't like the attention. And now I wouldn't be able to listen to music because I would have to pay attention to the speakers.
/I got off the bus by dad's old apartment, after missing a stop closer to the apartment. It would fine weather for walking, though, so I didn't mind.
- The four of us were on some sort of flying contraption. There was no combustible energy involved, we flew with our own bodies, but it wasn't possible to rise higher; we were very slowly dropping to the ground. Two of us thought we would go back to Earth to see whereabout we were and get our directions sorted out. We stopped at a smoke shop and I was flying in it, although I could only rise a foot or two above the ground. It was more like I was floating. Out of the corner of my eye I could see someone, it looked like Jimbo in non-animated form, buying two items while he tried to steal a third by placing it under his black cotton sweater, identical to the one Claudio has. But after paying he knocked the sweater and tin over with his elbow and it was made obvious that he was trying to steal. He ran out of there with his friends. I was alone now, and I ran to a small islet hoping to be able to fly at the edge of it. While running I thought about how the Irish and the Scottish admired heros of war and thought that dying in battle was a noble way to go. This might explain the present American sentiment. But the English were different... The area was so green and damp and beautiful. I stumbled upon reaching the edge, seeing that our rocket had crashed and the other actors were thrown into the water. A number of people from the town came out to see what had happened. The first person to reach the top of the water alive was Liv Tyler. "It's Liv Tyler everyone!", I probably should have used her character's name but I had forgotten it in the midst of the action. I also forgot the guys' names as well, I just knew that one of them had some sort of initials, CB or TC or something. So everyone was safe, except for one of the men. But our partner found him across the street, he came out of a shop (it was already dark out) and was smoking a cigarette. We were all relieved, except on closer inspection when we realized he couldn't have really been alive... We glanced over and saw his corpse floating in the water. He told us to tell his wife (he said her name and it was a weird one) that he loved her. The man who initially found him told us that he thought something was off when he shined the flashlight in the door and saw a ghastly looking man. I could see all of this through his eyes, and it was frightening. How sad, I thought, his wife had just had a baby. I found it odd that he had thought of his wife and not his children. Music:Facts of Life theme song
Wednesday Afternoon, 10.25.06: I had a newborn in my arms and I was trying to teach her things even though I knew she was too young to understand any of it, as Claudio reminded me. I would keep at it, though, giving her all of my attention.
- I found Ivan on myspace, he had changed his last name to something like Kerigan and had a small beard. His hair looked darker than I remembered. I also found my cousin's myspace page. He had a lot of slutty ugly girls as friends, and below their pictures it said he had "gotten lucky" last Tuesday. There was another box of 2 girls' picture, they both had Aisha in their name. Maybe my cousin was really looking for someone like me... it was an unsettling thought.
- Mila was in Claudio's room wearing an oversized t-shirt. We were both trying to put something above his bed, or maybe get something at the top of the bookshelf to the right side of the bed.
/ The Jazztel wireless internet connection had changed, the name was different although it still had "Jazztel" in it. I just hoped that there wasn't a password on it, although that was most likely.
- I could see the inside of my stomach in the x-ray. The nurse showed me the small box inside that was causing me discomfort. What a relief, I thought it was something serious. Upon zooming in I could see that it was a lunchkit, it had a photo of some kids on it, perhaps it was the Brady Bunch.
- While walking upstairs in the townhouse I was thinking about the brilliance of the song "Never Say Never" by That Dog. How it started off slowly and then the drums came in and the real energy of the song was released. I looked for the CD in my room but I couldn't find it. I remembered it had a brown edge with white letters. Music: That Dog - Never Say Never
Wednesday Morning, 10.25.06: Claudio was in my room, a smaller room with a smaller window it was more like an attic. Wylie was downstairs and my mom had just bought a tv that came in the mail. It was an old one with a wooden frame. One of my slippers was discolored (white on the top portion instead of blue). The computer was in the dining room and I was talking to Wylie while I checked email, he was making me laugh as usual. My dad unexpectedly came home a few minutes later, as I was walking up the stairs, and it seemed as though he wanted to go into my room so I had to figure out a way to stop him. I asked him about something in the bathroom, some malfunction I had either previously ignored or made up on the spot, which seemed to work. He went into his bedroom and told me that I should do something to get out of the house (for good). He continued and from what he was saying it seemed as though he wanted me to get married, although he would never put it in so many words. Little did he know that Claudio was a few feet away, and we were about to sleep together hoping not to make too much noise.
- I was with the Sex & the City women, or people similar to them, in an outdoor Indian restaurant. We ordered dessert thinking it was a cake but it winded up being a chutney, as the waitress told us when we asked her later. The large dish somehow ended up in my hands and I ate staight out of it after seeing that no one else showed any interest in it.
- German showed me a video he had made with some friends. It was breakdancing with roller skates on, like the two of us had tried earlier, in the same spot. I thought about mentioning the abandoned parking garage by Alcampo where I had seen guys skateboarding, but kept it to myself. I was blocking the entrance to some store.. we were in something resembling the galerias of Brazil, which is a perfect setting to do stuff like breakdancing with roller skates on. David was there and I asked him if he thought I'd be able to go back to the movie theatre for free and ask for popcorn. He said that Kristi had a few favorites, and I was one of them. This caught me by surprise as I thought she might have disliked me for quitting with 1 days notice. After watching the video, German and I walked outside along the swimming pool and he bought a tiny circular jar of moisturizer for 3 euros. "What a metro.." I thought to myself. The girl selling it was Australian, and I could tell she was making a lot of money off of selling moisturizer to all the metros in the area. I started saying something about how expensive that was for such a small amount but stopped myself, trying not to come off as too shiesty. He took me to a clothing store, saying it reminded him of Paris. Or was he just plain gay? We had to wait in line and be admitted into the store one by one. They let the two girls in front of us in and him, but when it got to me they told me I had to wait because there were too many people. The young slightly overweight light black security guard eventually gathered everyone up and there were only the 3 of them, everyone else must have snuck off. Someone in the back yelled at the guard saying he let people sneak away because he didn't like to cause a scene, even though it was his job to stop them. He shot back saying that people often asked to go to the bathroom which was outside of his area of surveilance, and then they could freely exit without having to pass by his inspection. They were all black and getting into an argument, I was getting embarrassed, German must have thought everyone in the country was this ghetto. But then I thought maybe it was racist of me to assume that they were that way because they were black, and something similar could happen with white people. I reminded myself of Dona Neusa, and I shuddered at the thought. He was browsing the accessories when it happened, and then the guard went outside and gathered everyone who had stepped foot into the store back inside and they lined up around where I was. Somehow I wasn't at the front of the line anymore, but closer to the back. Where had German gone? I looked at the back of the line but saw Oren Freiberg there instead. A number of the girls called back were interning at a finance company and started complaining saying that they had to get to a meeting and didnt have time to be doing this kind of stuff. Everyone was asked to put their cellphones in a basket while they did the inspection.
Tuesday Morning, 10.23.06: I went to Barcelona and decided to stay with a Catalan man I knew. The government was out to get him and had shot at his apartment a number of times. He showed me the bullet holes near his bed and told me that he had to call the police the night that it happened. I was worried about staying there and thought maybe I should go stay with German afterall. I went to the kitchen and found some plain-looking cereal in a tin. I looked through the cupboards for different cereal, pretty hungry after the trip.
/ I got into the elevator, noting that there were only buttons up to the 5th floor and then a button for the 8th floor. I thought German lived in the 8th, pressed the 3rd floor button, and then, somehow, I remembered that it was the 5th floor. There was another girl about my age in the elevator with me. I was bothered by her presence, although I knew I shouldn't have been. She talked to me in English, mentioning how good the pizza in the microwave (across the elevator on the lobby floor) smelled. There was a brief silence and then I replied saying how I was just thinking about Madrid pizza when she mentioned that... I got off on the 5th floor and the door to German's apartment was open. I walked in and saw him cutting various types of meat with the Ronco knives from the infomercials. He didn't pay much attention to me. His parents were there suddenly, telling me that I shouldn't have come and that German didn't really want me there. Or maybe it was just his mother telling me that and his father was standing there, as if in support of everything she had to say. I felt terrible, German didn't argue with her so I figured she must have been right. I asked him how he felt about it and he said I was welcome to stay, not looking at me the whole time. Perhaps it was a mistake, coming to the city in the first place. Music: [Life Goes On]
Sunday Afternoon, 10.22.06: I showed Mila the mix of brown beans and chickpeas that I was about to eat
- Claudio chased after me. I ran into a room thinking I could ward him off but he came right back in. It was like a video game, and he was the villian. There was an old man in the room as well, but there was no discussion between any of us. I told Claudio, right as he was about to attack, that he wouldn't be capable of hitting me, because later we would have to have sex. This made him back down and leave the room. I took a look at the menu with 2 of my dream friends, indecisive as usual. Everything looked so good. There were blueberry pancakes, which were rather thick and covered with vanilla ice cream, and (meatless) spinach canneloni "stuffed with lasanga". It looked as though they were fried, too. Someone made the decision for me, on the latter, and I looked forward to eating it
Saturday Afternoon, 10.21.06: I was looking at the latest 'Star' magazine, noting that they were the only ones to get photos and an interview with the latest Hollywood birth. There was an article about a black woman and how proud she was of her niece. It mentioned that she had the entire season of her niece's television show memorized. I looked through her DVDs, there were a few of Greg Brady's spinoff show, I saw a clip of it. It was the Brady boys with a new family, including the little black girl, and the Brady girls would make occasional guest appearances, although it was mainly Marcia who would come on the show. Greg and Peter were in the kitchen that was in last night's episode of "Super Nanny" and Marcia came in to use the microwave. "I never even knew this existed..." I took a look at the DVD of the niece's show, it looked as though it had been cancelled after one season.
- Kristan's parents were in Miami, so I was on the phone with Kristan asking what they had been up to and suggesting some places they could go. Kristan told me that her father had been cranky, "They just need to lighten up, gosh". As I said this I was walking through a "hurricane", thinking how this city called any little raincloud a hurricane. I was carrying a portable summer chair and I passed by an expo of some sort, seeing a Hummer exhebition and 'hydrogen' cars. I thought to myself that rechargable cars are better for the environment, afterall. There was also a display for a new type of hearing aid. You had to have 4 A/V-type outlets in your skull before you could use it. A deaf Mexican woman came up and the woman in charge offered to install the outlets in her skull free of charge. But she left some novice in charge of things, he clearly didn't know what he was doing and instead of making 4 holes he just drilled into her ear, putting the frequency at maximum. The woman came back and got mad at him, and the Mexican woman was clearly in pain. She would go home still hurting and tell her young daughter about the incident. I felt like the woman in charge was at fault for not doing the job herself Music: Alanis Morissette - Eight Easy Steps
Friday Afternoon, 10.20.06: Kristan pulled over for a while. I heard her phone ring and was surprised to see her pull out a rather large beige and red handset. "It's my other phone..". Yes, now I remembered, it was her cordless phone from home. I called my Aunt Gloria, or she called me, and she casually mentioned the funeral that had taken place that morning. My mother had died... Tia Blanca had gotten in that morning. I was frantic, that wasn't the sort of information I was expecting to hear. I asked how it happened, sure that it must have been a heart attack, and was told that a dog sprayed mucus on her face while she had fallen asleep on the floor and then he bit her "dentures" (which I took to mean 'gums'). A child helped her up onto the bed where she later died. This seemed absurd; surely it must have been a heart attack. The call had broken off, or my aunt hung up on me. I then called Tia Blanca, the tone of her voice was as expected, and I started bawling saying I should have gone to visit her that summer. She agreed, but there as nothing we could do now. What would happen to my cats? "Oh and happy birthday...", what a horrible way to spend it. The call was breaking up, it was as if there were some ghastly interference on the line.
- It was morning and I waited outside of the Buddhist restaurant to ask the monk who owned it for free food. He had a small boy with him "Of course, how can I say no to you?". He came back with a blue plate of what looked like a burrito. Inside it had noodles and vegetables; it was delicious. He brought me a shake as well, with packets of sugar on the side. This man was so generous... I felt bad freeloading on him, especially because I wasn't really as poor as I looked. I would make it a point to come to his restaurant regularly and pay for the food, especially since it was so good. I noticed a tiny piece of meat in it but I didn't care and ate it anyway. I couldn't taste it. I was later in my kitchen and when I opened the pantry I saw that he had left me even more food; it was lunchtime. And an even bigger shake, with what looked like chocolate icecream on top. I wanted to drink it while it was still cold. German came in and we hugged. His face turned into Claudio's for a moment... who was I really hugging?
- We briefly attended the old man's funeral, a gay (but not flaming) man went to the coffin and hugged the corpse. His abdomen was unattached to his legs, so it made the situation even more unpleasant. There were white pyramids around us. I suppose it was because we were in northern Morocco (a few minutes away from Vigo).
/ Claudio decided he wanted to date other people, or maybe that's just the way I had interpreted things. So he could flirt with the girls in his French class while I had a date with a black guy (I had met at the funeral?). His parents wanted us to stay together, maybe we did, too. I kept trying to lock his door so I could change my underwear but it kept coming undone. His mom walked in on me. Music: All Saints - Dreams
Friday Morning, 10.20.06: I ran into the interterminal train with my rolling backpack. An annoucement came on saying that a number of flights were cancelled. The first one announced was San Francisco and everyone groaned. I tried to hush them so I could hear what other flights were cancelled. It appeared as though mine wasn't. I tried to help a couple get to Ohio from Hobby. I didn't think Hobby had any flights up there but on second thought maybe they did.. We were sitting at a patio table outside of a flight of stairs that let to a second floor. Music: Madonna & Britney Spears - Me Against the Music
Thursday Afternoon, 10.19.06: In the backseat with Teresa driving and my mom in the passenger side. They were talking about clubbing and I could see Adrienne exit the Southwest freeway (we were on Bellaire close to the movie theatre) in her dad's old blue car. It looked like a big dog was in the front seat with her. I told my mom, and exclaimed that I couldn't believe that car still worked.
- I was explaining to Mikey why I call him Mikey when most people call him Mike (Caitlin used it and it stuck). Then I got into a van with Caitin, on the freeway. We were both in the backseat and she was driving, but after a few near-accidents I offered to switch seats with her so she could drive a little better. Her leg was in a cast, but she was driving ok. After exiting the freeway and driving a little down Westpark I saw a bunch of counterfeit bills in the parking lot of a warehouse. They were in uncut sheets and a bunch of them were in plastic shrinkwrap according to the amount of the bills. I told Caitlin to make a u-turn, so she did, and it proved a little difficult since there were a lot of Mexican workers on the side of the street and 2 lanes were under construction. I grabbed some of the sheets quickly, hoping that I wouldn't be seen, "Should I grab some of these $100s?" "Yes!" they told me. I could tell this wouldn't fly, the paper seemed too glossy although the printing was impeccable. I got back into the shopping cart and decided to put the bills into my (Claudio's) backpack so that the police officer directing traffic wouldn't notice. We got home and I put the sheets of bills on the bed while Claudio said hello to his mother. She told him she saw the handsoap he bought her and guessed the amount of pesetas he spent on it. I guess he spent 1200, which didn't seem like a lot under later. I was too preoccupied with the fake bills to pay much attention Music: All Saints - Love is Love
Thursday Morning, 10.19.06: Finding Berenstein Bears books in bookstore here for $6 each (when similar books cost $10) Music: Shades of Grey - [track 3 of demo cd]
Tuesday Morning, 10.17.06: Fauzeya and I had dinner plans, but at 1030pm. I wanted a big meal for iftar but apparently she always ate late after a small meal for iftar. I was telling whoever was in my room about this and how I really wanted to stuff my face at a restaurant. She didn't seem to care, and was only listening because it would be rude not to.
- I started playing an acoustic guitar in a forest; the animals stopped and listened to my chords
- Andrew, my mom and I were in Mima's house, making sandwiches. I was very hungry but settled for pb&j instead of turkey.
- Mary Birdsong of Reno 911! was sweeping toxic powder in corner of a room. A mafia man caught on (that she was an undercover cop) and chaos ensued. Music: Natalie Imbruglia - Shiver
Monday Afternoon, 10.16.06: Scoring a goal that bounced back. I didn't think it made it but it counted and my team was cheering
- This bug was in love with me. My roommate would turn into a bug at night and he tried to get in bed with me, killing the other bugs I left it with. I was freaking out and trying to explain it to someone, although it must have sounded absurd. I was too scared to sleep, I would spend the night awake playing video games
- Sao Paulo subway with Claudio, taking it to stop that had been closed when we were previously in the city. Windows above, I sat laying back and I could see a space center from them. White bubbly buildings and a superrocket with the American flag on the side. This must have been top secret. They let it go but it launched badly and came crashing back. We all had to get as far as possible so the wind would not harm us or blow us away. We got into a taxi, a Japanese man was driving and had just dropped someone off and it looked like he wasnt even charging us. I asked him to take us to IHOP; if there was anywhere I was going to die in it would be IHOP.. We had passed by this neighborhood before... Kristan kept talking about how she had helped pick the lemons in Dallas that morning. I was about to pay the driver but he insisted that I didn't. But he did want something from IHOP, "acaican", apparently a pastry resembling an empada. It looked like Kristan already knew him, she knew what he wanted from IHOP. We went inside and Kristan mentioned the lemons again, it was probably those lemons that they were using in their recipes that day. It was dark outside, and raining a little. I wasn't sure if they had already started on the acaican, so I mentioned it again.
Sunday Afternoon, 10.15.06: My dad died, the funeral would be in Moscow, I figured he probably had mafia links all this time. I felt like his death was all my fault. I would have to take a train, and I envisioned the route in my head.
- I was in Walmart with my mom, Tia Blanca and Tia Susie. We hugged (first Tia Blanca and then my mom and Tia Susie together), and I told them I would be back to buy the cheese after I got a price on it. I passed by a refrigerator that I also wanted the price of. I was later with Kristan but this time the customer service lines were long. We made a loop around the neighborhood, by accident, it was getting dark. We could see Harwin from the bus we were taking, I think we both realized just then how pretty it was. There were modern looking office buildings and a community of what normally houses trailer homes, which instead held many high-tech looking tee-pees. They were made of some plastic material and were more rounded at the top. As Kristan put it, it was very "Missouri City"-ish, but still nice. I agreed
- Syd had written an LJ entry that essentially mirrored my feelings. She mentioned, among other things, not feeling at home.
- I found David on the street, we talked some and he seemed in a rush. I gave him my email, although it seemed like he already knew it, and asked for his. Before he could finish his friends came over and they all ran away. I walked up the hill between the 2 townhomes and there was commotion; I might have been blamed for it had I not opened my front door in time. There were 3 small envelope packages, 1 for my dad and one for me. They had not been sealed and there was no return address. Mine was a small mummy in what looked like layers of plastic. My mom was home and saw me pick at it.
- Jewishy me and my friend. I wanted "ruby" (emrald) shoes to match my outfit. What I had on before was nicer but I felt the need to show off. As we walked out of what looked like a mall at night I confessed to my friend that all the fancy clothes were borrowed from a friend of my mother's who was a costume designer. We split up with our prom dates and me and mine got in the first taxi. There was already a black couple in there, and as we passed by a forest they asked my date things he had no idea what they were talking about; they must have had him mistaken for someone else. "Look...we're just kids about to go to prom, can't you tell?" They started getting angry and we jumped out of the taxi. Jennelle and I were walking around the lot at night, trying not to get caught. We got seperated by the time we were in the grocery store, I wanted to call my date to make sure he was ok. I snuck my way into the giant bathroom and went to the last stall. I was pretty sure Alma was in the stall next to mine and was going to rat me out. Mila came in and asked for me, and after waiting a while, not sure whether to come out or not, I ran to her and hugged her. Natalie ("Natalia") was in another stall and came out and the 3 of us hugged.
Saturday Afternoon, 10.14.06: Christian and I were walking around the hotel. The lobby floor was in shambles, the freshmen had destroyed a lot in their short time there. We had nothing better to do than to wander around the floors. Outside of some of the doors were group pictures and a list of names of the people inside. The first one we saw was a group of stuck up hispanic girls. "Oh I hate these... they're just.. 'Argentinian', I can't think of a better name for them. I think my friend used to date one of them". The picture kind of disgusted me. There was a similar picture but male two doors down. On the other side of the floor we found a janitor's closet. When I tried to open it I was greeted with shouts from a slutty girl who was "about to have sex" with someone. "Is it a girl?" I asked. Christian shouted something back to her and we finally left them alone, (but only after messing with another door that led to the same closet). I resented these little punks thinking they were better than us. Although I only saw her a brief moment, the girl looked like Hillary Duff's sister. Maybe the guy she was with was also another Disney Channel superstar. Christian started crying because he didn't have a significant other. I tried to comfort him by saying that mine always left me home alone.
- Earlier, I had suggested that Kristan just walk over to Mengfei's apartments to pick her up. When she called her later she said she could come over and pick her up, that it would be no problem. She then told her that I suggested she walk over to pick her up, but that she wasn't about to do that. We needed to go to Blockbuster at some point in the day. Her parents were apparently nervious about meeting her boyfriend's parents, too. It was funny, seeing them nervious about something. We all got in the car, I went to the backseat passenger side with other Chinese people. Kristan mentioned again how I told her to walk to pick her up "I didn't say that I dunno where you're getting it from!" We argued a little until I remembered that I did in fact suggest that, but only because the Blockbuster was right across the street. We made a right turn and then a left turn. At the latter, I saw a man at the light riding a 4-wheeler bike with a cart attached behind him. I smiled as I saw him, he thought his light was green and had already pushed the button to rev up, but it was our light. After we turned, Gil and I tried our luck on the 4-wheeler and I feel off as we turned onto a residential street. I fell on my feet, so it was no big deal, but it looked as though the 4-wheeler was broken already. Gil was already trying to fix it Music: 311 - Speakeasy
Friday Afternoon, 10.13.06: - I was at Thiago's for dinner with his family and some of his friends. Someone said something and I replied "That's gay...no offense Thiago... I mean... Rodrigo". I had forgotten that his family didn't know he was gay, and everything that came out of my mouth just made the situation worse. I felt awkward when dinner was over.
- The three of us were disguised like maids so we could try to sneak into a hotel room. We were about to get caught but managed to escape outside of River Oaks Elementary and we hid among trees. Eventually the Italian Nazis caught us. I was in the circle drive when I put my knee over a boy's neck to strangle him. It had just been a scenario - what I would do in case it happened. To prepare myself.
Friday Morning, 10.13.06: I told Mila that I had read that sweating was good for people with kidney problems and Claudio butted in saying that her doctors told her to try not to sweat.
Thursday Afternoon, 10.12.06: Adrienne and I found some bullets in what looked like a cigar box, they might come in handy later. We had to survey the area before going any further.
- Fauzeya and I went to the Persian kebab place and the car she had just bought earlier that day had been messed with while we were eating. Someone tried to open the door and although the glass wasn't broken there was noticible damage to the black rubber part between the door and the frame of the car Music: Tori Amos - A Sorta Fairytale
Wednesday Afternoon, 10.11.06: Something had irritated me so I went for a walk along the beach as I normally did when I was angry. The beach was full of families and young people which didn't help calm my nerves. The waves were getting fiece, as I continued walking I could see that they were eating up most of the shoreline. A strong wind followed and suddenly I found myself frightened.. I hurried back to our tent. On the way there a few women tried to sell me "organic" bottled water, and right outside the tent there was a Pakistani heavyset man selling Diet Coke. That was fun, no need to state it was "organic", just a good old fashioned drink that was bad for you. I found Kristan with two dream guy friends inside the tent and I turned on my laptop so we could look something up on the internet. Madonna and Lauren Hill walked by and Madonna waved but only Kristan noticed and waved back. "I wonder if we should tell Madonna and Lauren" she asked. From inside the tent I could see them passing by on the other side and thought it amusing that we were too busy with the internet to notice celebrities. It was as if we hadn't cared; they must have felt non-famous.
/ Kristan was driving me home and as we passed down Fondren from Richmond she pointed out signs of witchcraft. It was taking over the city... By Star Karaoke we found a yellow and red candle and outside of the Mobile gasstation I saw a bowl with what seemed to be an egg yolk immersed in water inside of it. I wanted Kristan to drive into the gasstation so I could inspect it better but she seemed panicky. I noted that I had seen these signs of witchcraft in my neighborhood for a few weeks now but hadn't put it together.
/ I rushed with Kristan through her (grandmother's?) large and rather old apartment. The elderly woman asked me if I wanted an All Bran bar (or something similar) and after a pause I responded yes. We had to hurry
Wednesday Morning, 10.11.06: I heard noises in the hallway of Claudio's apartment building. It sounded like someone was trying to break into whatever door he could jimmy open. He tried this apartment, too, but I don't think he was able to open any. Mila came home, it was nighttime, she had broken up with her boyfriend again and was feeling depressed. I was happy to see her; Claudio was working the nightshift and I didn't want to be home alone. She came into bed and I hugged her. I thought it was strange that I was being so close to someone that wasn't my lover... I thought of her as a second mother and I thought of telling her I loved her like a mother. But I stopped myself, thought of my real mother and how alienated I am from her, how wrong everything felt. I turned on my laptop and discovered I picked up the neighbor's wireless connection again. The Windows Security Alert icon in the notification area had turned into a little red man, which meant that my connection was not as safe as it could be. I was connected through www.satvocabwordperday.com, which opened as my home page on Firefox. I thought I would look up the Spanish word for "corduroy". We found a letter that Claudio had eloquently written in Japanese. Had he really learned this much during his Saturday morning class? (and forgotten most of it?)
/ I went running through the side of the road next to a forest at night with Meera and, initially Wylie, but later a dream Israeli friend. After we passed the part of the sidewalk that was under construction we arrived at a wall with a hole at the bottom that we would have to crawl through. It was like an obstacle course, lots of fun. When we got to the end Meera asked me to come over and tell her what kind of deodorant her friend had on: Teen Spirit or Secret. "Let me smell... Teen Spirit.... the green kind". Then the two of them wanted me to put on my heavy jacket (or Claudio's). I hesitated and my father told me that I needed to do it. He was getting on my nerves... he sat there eating a hamburger with fries in a styrofoam takeout box and told me to throw away what he didn't finish, which wasn't much. I was waiting for him to finish at least the fries and he looked at me as if to say "what are you waiting for?". I contemplated eating the leftover hamburger, imagined dipping it in the ketchup for flavor Music: Sneaker Pimps - Blue Movie
Tuesday Afternoon, 10.10.06: I was with a dream friend of mine until she went to Claudio's bathroom and turned into German. He was on his period and asked me for 2 pads. I gave him 2 different kinds so he could choose which one he preferred. Guys with periods, how odd. But no, I remembered Mikey had one, too.
- I walked into the townhouse from the back and saw my mom and most of her family in the living room. I could tell they were talking about me and I didn't feel like seeing them anyway, so I just waved. Tia Susie was saying she couldn't believe I didn't like her anymore, which wasn't true. I should have gone out there to defend myself but I couldn't be bothered.
- I was in a cafeteria with Lisa Kudrow said she hated all of her characters, she only did it for the money. I was taken aback by this statement.. she seemed like she was having so much fun. I tried to remind her of Romy and Michele's High School Reunion but I remembered the audio commentary she had done on the film, saying it was the first time she had ever seen it put together.
- My top two lockers had locks on them, but the one on the very bottom did not. I didn't think anyone would bother checking that one and I didn't have very expensive things inside of them anyway. I opened my green backpack and grabbed one of the plastic bags inside of it, feeling around the bottom to make sure my stuffed animals were still there. Anushree was waiting for me
- I was with Kristan and dream friends in a parking garage. I tried to check in my puffy jacket with the man working there but since I didn't get a ticket for it earlier it was too late. Everyone dropped their jackets off in the jacket box and paid to check theirs in, while I just left mine in the car with my other stuff. We wanted to eat something more "authentic" so we went to a touristy cajun restaurant with a live band (over Taco Cabana, which I was kind of craving). There was a show going on in a boat on the river, a group of people talking to us in Italian, I was picking up most of it. They were going to tell us answers and we would have to come up with the question. Some Mexican teenager said that some people "had more education" than others, which really meant that they were at an unfair advantage because they were Hispanic and spoke Spanish (and would thereby understand more). But it didn't matter apparently; Kristan seemed really intent on winning or at least pretending like she was understanding most of it. The first girl shouted out "Beck!" and the young mixed race girl she called on couldn't come up with a question. The next set dualed it out and the audience member winded up winning that round.
- It was getting late and I had to get to the other side so I decided I would cut across Sharpstown Mall. I wanted to avoid the theatre as best I could. Across from it was a buffet restaurant. The cook made a "pesto" pasta (I thought pesto pastas were with pesto sauce....) with what looked like gnochi and bell peppers, and was exclaiming how good it had turned out. An obese girl about my age requested something for next time as she got her food. Music: Cheryl Lynn - Got To Be Real
Monday Afternoon, 10.9.06: Mila was cleaning the mirror in the bathroom while I was trying to pee. This was an embarassing situation, especially when I turned off the water that she had let run for no reason. Music: Pitty - Brinquedo Torto
Sunday Afternoon, 10.8.06: I had been jogging around a hill or mountain curve. Dusty roads, my mp3 player on. I needed to get on the boat but I remembered what Claudio told me. And there she was, the one I was warned about. She tried to tempt me onto her boat but she had no stick; she was evil and to be avoided. Another man came and I motioned to him that I wanted to get on his boat so I could cross the river.
- While jogging down the 610 feeder, some men with clipboards approached me asking me to fill out a survey. "I already did" I said, as I continued jogging. They thanked me and I turned left on Kirby. There was a blood drive going on, I wanted to steal a few cookies and maybe something else to eat. My uncle Grish was there and he asked me to sit next to him. He said it was getting hot "in his pants"... I didn't know whether to laugh or what.
- I was given a tour of the apartment, starting with the top floor. Three big, mostly empty rooms with hardwood floors were reserved for the Mexican maid. I glanced out of the window and saw what looked like a first floor (Spanish style) apartment burning. Upon closer inspection I saw that it was merely an oil painting of an apartment taped over the actual apartment. Angie had painted it and set it on fire.
- On the way Mila and I stopped to buy a lotto ticket (as I requested). "May Ann Li" was what I was betting on. I found the papers and everything looked complicated.. I figured a way to subtract the first row of numbers from the second to enable me to bet on her name, not reusing the 2nd A. Some drag queens start talking to me; we could possibly become friends, I thought. They asked me if I make a lot of noise during sex to which I replied yes, of course.
Sunday Morning, 10.8.06: A small orange that my father had brought home around 3 years ago turned up in the storage under the ugly sidetable. I was in his old apartment with the woman who found the orange. Except it wasn't his old apartment, he lived there with Farida and Alina, and their backyard was huge. She threw the orange out into the backyard after she pointed out what looked like larva growing inside. I told her that originally the orange came in a little pot and grew on a tiny tree. From the other side of the glass sliding door we could see that the orange slice had eyes and a short, stubby tail. It had turned into some sort of lizard creature. Another animal was contemplating eating it, but seeing that it was another animal it backed away, perplexed. It was terrifying to think that fruits and vegetables could turn into animals after a few years. What had I really been eating all this time??
- I was back in Barcelona with new roommates. They seemed nice but maybe a little stuck up as well; all of them Europeans. I was walking by the kitchen thinking about how I was going to sign up for Portuguese 3. But everyone from my Portuguese 2 class would be in there as well, and they would see that I had come back to the school like a loser. What was I clinging on to? Why was I even taking classes this semester?- I didn't need any of them and I wasn't getting financial aid so this was all coming out of pocket. I decided just then that I would leave to be with claudio for the semester. I would have to tell roommates at the dinnertable, they weren't going to take it well because now they would have more expenses and it was probably too late to get a new roommate. I noticed a small dark wooden china cabinet on one of the walls. It was elegent yet fit with the slightly more modern style of the apartment.
Friday Afternoon, 10.6.06: Mila, Claudio and I were walking around an outdoor mall together at night. Claudio bought some lamb sandwiches and falafel for the both of them. I had a long face because I didn't know what to eat and didn't want more falafel. Every booth would just have meat. We went into the grocery store and passed by the fish section, I was left out of the conversation and not paying much attention.
- Claudio and I were playing a videogame on his megadrive. I discovered a hidden cave and later, after trying to kill a black spider in the game, I found a doorway with a pit to jump down into. I had nothing to loose, so I jumped in.
Friday Morning, 10.6.06: Maybe it was fate that I would catch David that morning as he crossed the street from the Dalami convenience store to his (new) apartment. I noticed my dad in his grey Volvo passing by, so I tried waiting until I would be completely out of his vision before approaching David. But he was getting closer to his front door, I would have to call out or something before it was too late. I got there just as he was opening the door, trying to caution him to not make too much noise because my dad was around. He was angry with me for having left without telling him or saying goodbye, for leaving him alone, and he had typed something up for me, a letter or some poems, a few pages long and stapled. I grabbed it as he threw it out, and felt like a bad person. I couldn't wait to get home and read what he had typed. It felt odd, holding something he had written that wasn't in his handwriting.
/ My dad was already bitching at me asking me if I had eaten. I thought back, when I was working at Wal-Mart where the rotisery chickens usually are, and how I had stepped into the back room of Kristan's parents' office to look at the dry erase board. I had merely snacked, after having fasted all day, and I didn't open fast on time. My dad told me to make something, potatoes and eggs or a baked potato, among other things. Nothing he listed appealed to me.
Thursday Afternoon, 10.5.06: McKenna hadn't done her Spanish homework and I still had some papers from last year in my locker. I had just ripped them out of my binder and thrown them in a stack, so now it would be a little harder to find. Ms. Nelson was standing by our lockers and I didn't want her to know I was going to help McKenna cheat, but she probably figured it out anyway. After all of this I asked McKenna if it was Spanish 2 or 3 and she said 2, so my papers wouldn't be of any help regardless.
- The public transit system was usually so safe, but just as I was walking in a girl was crushed in the elevator. It was the first time something like this had happened, needless to say. I had one euro left, and I would have to use it for this ride. Kristan, Mengfei and I had agreed to meet up in the gold region, it would be where our trains were crossing, and we said goodbye to each other before getting on our different trains. I envisioned the map of the subway system, it looked more like an organic setup, what with "zones" rather than organized lines.
- The black girl and boy could see a ghost playing the piano when others could not. It was because of their intestinal problems that ran in the family (their great aunt had also had them). But this problem was fixed with corrective laser surgery and they stopped seeing ghosts from then on.
/ David was not the best bus driver, we agreed that he would have been a good manager at the movie theatre as we looked over the gruesome bus crash. A smaller car had come out of nowhere and although he could have avoided swerving, it came as an instinct to him. The bus windows on the right side were shattered glass and blood, everyone in the bus was dressed in black, it was as though they had no faces. Music: The Fugees - Ready Or Not
Wednesday Afternoon, 10.4.06: There was a long closet between Mila's bathroom and the living room closet, where I found a white 8-track stand. The first one I grabbed looked more like a CD with weird black plastic edges. I couldn't figure out how to open it, and thought perhaps it was a CD remastering of an 8-track. I then went into the living room and got online, browsing Claudio's friend's webpage to find that she had made a short movie. How strange that Claudio hadn't mentioned something like that to me. I took a look at it and it was little clips about each of her friends. At the end it said "A Pi.... A Pi is crazy..." followed by a word that contained "api" in it, something like "capition". I felt angry at first, where did this bitch get off writing things about someone she had never met?, but I did have to recognize the fact that a month ago I thought Claudio might have been having an affair with her behind my back and asked him for a non-photoshopped version of a picture of her with her boyfriend. But she had put a Hole song that I liked and didn't recognize and I wanted to get the name of it so I could download it. It was probably called "I Live" but when I went through her soundtrack section it seemed as though it was loading every song except the one I wanted. They were mostly other Holes songs I either already knew or didn't like. I was still ticked off when I turned on the TV to the music video channel. They were showing that horrible English Eurovision white rapper with the "schoolgirls" dancing around desks. Claudio came home and I was partially paralyzed for a moment.
Wednesday Morning, 10.4.06: I was in a River Oaks area at night, among gigantic houses and tree lined avenues; a neighborhood I would have envied as a child but now saw only decadence in the extravegence. It was somewhere from 2 to 3 am, I saw two teenagers out and they looked at me knowing that I didn't belong. I ran to Claudio's apartment, which overlooked this pathetic street, and started folding whatever clothes were dry. Something was missing... the big green couch. Mila came in and told me that she took it down to the basement because she was getting a lot of things from there anyway. She would bring it back up later. I could tell she was still not over Alfredo as we looked out of the window together. An unusually wide apartment building was across the street, there were but a few lights on at this time of night Music: Tori Amos - Cruel
Tuesday Afternoon, 10.3.06: I walked around the apartment with nothing but panties on. Mila didn't say anything, and it wasn't until later that I realized I didn't have clothes on
- Mila was my teacher, and I was studying in Barcelona. The only person I recognized from my semester there was the annoying guy who looked like a teddy bear or raccoon and thought he knew everything. He was sitting in the front row, and I in the back. She wrote a few sentances on the chalk board about cellular telephone companies in Spain and the steps they were taking to save the environment. We were supposed to write an essay reflecting upon this and then she would call on some of us to share our thoughts with the class. Of course the raccoon kid volunteered and as he was going on I thought that these companies didn't really care about the environment, it was a load of bullshit for positive PR. I didn't feel like sharing with the class, especially because I had no evidence to back this up. Afterwards Mila passed out "stickers" which were on our new Sidekick IIs. They were free, ours to keep, no strings attached. I played a little with mine, noting that it could turn into what looked like a normal cell phone as well as the sidekick we were all familiar with, and it could be folded up even smaller. I probably wouldn't use it.. I could sell it on ebay, though. I thought about asking her in front of the class how she got these cell phones for all of us, I thought about it 2 or 3 times, but then we were dismissed from class. Music: Shahita Nurallah - Tension
Tuesday Morning, 10.3.06: I said goodbye to my mother in the dining room and to Mimi in the patio; it was already dark outside. I wouldn't be gone long anyway. Aspen was waiting for me and had parked her car in one of our parking spots, and she had moved to the backseat so as to let me drive. I told her I didn't know how and she drove us out. While waiting for the electric gate to open she asked me if I would rather learn how to drive in Houston or Miami. I thought about it for a second and said Houston and she agreed. I had to explain to her how to get to my place, a right out of the driveway and then a left on Harwin, but she could also make a left up ahead, which is what she winded up doing after trying to make it into the left turn lane at the last minute. We winded up going down Westheimer.
/ We found ourselves with Ivan in a small room somewhere in a building in Montrose. He and Aspen were talking about shooting up and I pretended not to be surprised and later grossed out when he took a syringe and stuck it in his chest to take in whatever was left. Later we ate the food we had made on the stove in the room, they both had meat and I had some vegetable medley with corn on the cob. I was hoping they wouldn't notice that I didn't eat meat, and I don't think they did.
/ I grabbed my small black t-shirt and jumped out of the room, which was filling with blood. I stumbled into the main operations room, it had thick pipes going down the center. Everyone was rushing about, so it meant I still had time to escape before they would notice me and take action. Music: [dream suspense music]
Monday Afternooon, 10.2.06: It was becoming apparent that the country boy about my age had a crush on me. I had written about him and his family in my livejournal, saying they were "white trashy and hickish" and putting an example, exaggerated dialogue from them, but ending the paragraph by saying how they were really sweet and friendly. The two of us sat with a few friends at the bottom of the stairs in my townhouse, and it looked as though he had read what I had written and was hurt about it. This was made more obvious when his father picked us up in his van (with all the children in the back) and the both of them kept dropping hints, quotes from what I had written. The father mentioned that he even looked up one of the hillbilly words I had used because he didn't know what it meant. I was in the passenger seat and was feeling incresingly embarrassed, sorry, and angry as we drove down Westheimer. I snapped back at the son "How did you find my LJ anyway?" He wouldn't answer me, but I knew he must have looked at the history from Jose's computer in the movie theatre office. I apologized for what I wrote but they just kept going off on me, as if they hadn't even heard what I had said.
/ I considered walking from Bellaire to TH Rogers, it could be fun, I missed a long walk and the weather was gorgeous. I liked the way the modern office buildings looked, I was happy again and it felt good
/ I stood on the sidewalk outside of my townhouse when that boy's father came by with his van and stopped to pick me up. I had my yellow rubber gloves on. Things were certainly awkward between us but maybe we could recuperate our friendship afterall. They were always so nice to me, it made me feel even worse about what I had written
- I started watching a cartoon from 1978 with witch animals. Odd that I had never seen it before; it reminded me a lot of Los Fruitis. I started explaining to Claudio what was going on. The aardvark and the pig had lost their powers because they went flying with a wizard who lost his cape on the way. They went back to look for the cape so they could retain their powers.
- I visited Michael in her art class. There were about 12 other students in the class, all at computer cubicles. She was doing a color coded connect the dots sort of thing on her computer and was mostly finished but was shading in everything to find the penis in the picture. It was on the far left side. She told me it was an option when you started the program: penis or no penis.
- Claudio and I checked into a ghetto hotel at night, and switched to a cheaper room. On the way to the new room I saw the hillbilly boy, Michael, and a few other friends. I put our stuff in the room while Claudio went to pay. There was spaghetti on the floor by the entrance and the bedspread was thrown on the floor as well. There were no sheets and everything looked dingy. On closer inspection I saw there were roaches on the floor. I picked the bedspread up and put it on the bed only to find a giant tick. I suddenly threw it back on the floor and made my way out of there. Claudio came in just then and I explained to him why we needed to leave.
- I got 3 wireless connections when I put my laptop on top of Claudio's side of the pillow, one of which had no password and enabled me to get online. I started looking at my flickr pictures. There was one of me and German, his arm around me while squinting his eyes.. It was a bad picture of the both of us. There was also one of Michael, I clicked on the large size to look at the nicknacks in the room. Mila called me to come eat and said the food was getting cold. She put the pasta in a mug and I noticed it wasn't really drained out, which was kind of gross. I sprinkled some herbamare on it which came out looking like cinnamon. Claudio's pasta was in a bowl and had no extra water. The two of us sat at a table by the bathroom door in my bedroom, the bathroom being the kitchen.
Sunday Morning, 10.1.06: The forest at night, the parking garage.. None of it was real, I tried to explain to the woman driving me around that I was really dead, I had died a little under a year ago, and this was all a conspiracy. But something caught my eye just then. Maybe I wasn't dead afterall.
- Jennelle and I were going around town, looking for a store where she could pee. We found a small Marshalls and she bolted for the bathroom while I took a look around. There wasn't anything in particular I wanted to buy, I thought as we walked from her car to the door, except maybe a pair of shoes. Oh, or winter jeans that would go good with boots. Maybe I was just an average American overconsumer, it was somewhat depressing. I had never seen a Marshalls that tiny, and most of the clothes were mens. I took a look at some of the sweaters, the striped designs were interesting but after taking a good look at them I realized they were pretty ugly. Jennelle decided on the beige one (I think after learning that there were no green ones in her size left) and tried paying with a few American coins mixed with the Euro cents. I told her I had 6 cents (of the 56 she owed) but she told me not to worry about it. It was then that the cashier told us she couldn't accept the coins, maybe a few pennies would be ok but not a quarter. I looked around my yellow coin bag that Mila gave me to see if I had any more change. It was taking me a while, I knew I should have seperated my coins from everything else.
- Mckenna and I went for a joyride at night and we made a left turn to go to the bookstore I had spotted. It looked really nice inside, it was a Waldenbooks and to me this was a big deal for some reason. She didn't seem as impressed so we went walking around outside where we found a "Fiesta" stand. Apparently the grocery store had branched itself out to become a tiny Mexican restaurant (to use the word loosely). I tried to buy a bean burrito but the man working there didn't understand English. I said it to him in Spanish... he seemed fixated on McKenna and was barely paying attention to me. It didn't look like they had any dishes without meat, anyway
- Mila and I were in the kitchen and breakfast nook. She kept saying she wanted to eat or drink or do things and I told her to just do it and not worry about me and Claudio or the consequences.
Friday Afternoon, 9.29.06: I had to go around to kick the evil computers in the lab. They would spit out little pixels at me so I had to be careful. The cashier wanted me to give a gift to Toni, Ella's mother, so I agreed, but then saw her out of the corner of my eye at a computer. I asked the cashier if she still wanted me to give her the gift or if she would rather do it herself and she said she would. I got out of there before Toni came to the counter, to avoid any kind of small talk I would have to make with the woman.
- It was winter and I was staying at the Hoffman's, at least for a few days. Mei told me to help myself to whatever food I wanted for breakfast, so I took a look around their cupboards for food. The house seemed bigger and slightly more luxurious than I remembered, but there were a few roaches in the cupboards to contrast. Noting seemed of interest until I opened the far left cupboard and found a big tin of apple pie with granola cereal. This looked delicious; staying at the Hoffman's was going to be great.
/ So what exactly was keeping me in Houston, afterall? Aside from my aunt Blanca I technically had other family in the city, even though I never saw them. We passed by an abandoned Remax office plaza that they used to own by the Southwest Freeway. It had been locked and boarded up but homeless people had managed to get inside and make a home for themselves. Yet as we drove a little farther I could see signs "^ $83", "Only $129 a month", etc. Someone was renting these abandoned offices out?? How absurd! I wanted to see more of the signs, mesmorized by their simplicity and outrageousness, but the other part of the freeway blocked it mostly out of sight before we continued on and passed it.
/ I watched the recording of a special over these "apartments", a woman was interviewing a few of the tenants while they were iceskating, or maybe they were dribbling a basketball. First she interviewed the landlord, briefly, he was a bearded black man in his early 50s, in typical homeless man attire. A darker man was then interviewed, he was a little crazy (they all were), he said he used to be in prison and would love to be back in there. Now he was turning tricks to pay the rent. Next a gay black couple was interviewed, they were complaining about the communal bathroom, saying there was never any toilet paper and it was really dirty. They continued on with their list of complaints while I went into the mall bathroom and washed my hands. I didn't bother with the hand blow dryer, and nearly got lost on the way out. I followed the sound of their complaining and found my way back.
Thursday Afternoon, 9.28.06: Claudio and I had made it to the hostel, but he seemed annoyed with the "french girls" on the bunks below ours. But they were American.. I had considered chatting with them but it didn't seem as though I would get along with them, so I continued talking with Claudio in Spanish in the bathroom. It was SO COLD. We saw another couple take their blankets out into the lobby to sleep on the couches, so we figured we would do the same. So what if it bothered the staff at the posh hotel? Maybe they would ask us why we were sleeping out there and turn the AC off. But they didn't seem to care very much. Music: U2 feat. Mary J. Blige - One
Thursday Morning, 9.28.06: I didn't want to ask Mikey for his ethernet cable again, it was probably bugging him by now. I was in my townhouse bathroom with my laptop while his room was my father's room. But when I passed by I noticed that the blue cord was sticking out of the door.. something was off, but I didn't have time to inspect. I wanted my black ethernet cord, as well as my other stuff. I was on my way downstairs to haul up my luggage
/ I was in my father's room when he came in to bitch at me. I thought this would be a good opportunity to mention the $500 he still owed me, at which point he questioned why I would even need them if I apparently had $1000 saved up. I knew it was unwise of me to have told him that weeks earlier. But what did that have to do with the situation, anyway? I was fuming when I woke up Music: "Highway Blues" (Windows XP Sample Music)
Wednesday Afternoon, 9.27.06: I had just helped a Mexican man with something but I wasn't in much of a mood to talk to him anymore so I put my headphones on in hopes that he wouldn't try to make small talk. The bus ride was a long one, at some point it occurred to me that maybe I should have been studying, but we were almost there and I didn't really feel like studying anyway. I was going to take the linguistics test, which was at 5pm, and it looked as though everyone else was going to take the medical test. While we were walking up the stairs I asked if anyone wanted to come with me to the cafeteria to eat before the test. It looked as though everyone wanted to use this time to cram so the only taker I got was Stephanie Louie. I followed them to the testing auditorium, I thought maybe Stephanie was just saving a seat before going to the cafeteria with me but it looked as though they were going to start the test already. I left and wandered around, wondering how I was going to kill so many hours on my own, and then I noticed that my watch was most likely broken since it couldn't possibly still be 8am. I went back to the medical testing auditorium and asked the proctor for the time and he told me it was 10 after 5. I rushed over to the linguistics room, thinking I would be one of 4 or 5 students, only to find a room filled with students who probably knew a lot more about the subject than I did. Of course it was already 5, after that long of a busride it couldn't possibly stil be morning. I took the only seat that was left after circling the room. It seemed as though everyone knew each other, which only made me feel more anxious. I didn't even have time to look over any notes, the test was starting right then.
-- Adrienne and I were going around the school before the test started, and we went up what looked like a fire escape before a teacher gave us each a paper plate like the other students had in their hands so that we could write our guesses for the answers that the "goat man" was going to ask. "Goat man" was just some dumbass in a goat costume, and I didn't really want to wait around for him to get to me so I asked the teacher if there were any prizes if we answered his questions right. She didn't know, but I looked around and saw that everyone was really into it so maybe it would be in my best interests to stick around. Music: All Saints - Pure Shores
Tuesday Afternoon, 9.26.06: I finally found a dinosaur costume, it looked exactly like the one I had seen on ebay about a year ago. It looked a little small for me but I snatched it anyway. McKenna told me to get a small lined notebook, and showed me a few. Some opened horizonitally and others vertically. I bought a purple one with a purple pen and had already written some dreams in it when i got to the counter. The cashier asked me to enter my social security number in the keypad, I had forgotten it but I entered a few numbers and canceled them and then apparently entered the right one. The screen asked if I wanted to send the canceled numbers to my banks and I chose 'no'. I thought the total was 15 cents, but then I asked the man to tell me the total and he said it had already shown on the screen and was being pissy about telling me how much I owed him. I gave him more than enough money and he only gave me a few cents in change. I walked out of there angry and left with my friend Wendi McClendon-Covey, who was about my age in the dream.
/We drove down Richmond and she told me that her mom worked in one of the strip joints there. The sign was cheap and yellow and the name of the place really made me laugh, but I saw that she didn't find it as amusing so I tried to stop laughing. We stopped by a Chinese supermarket before going to her house. They were installing a pool in her front lawn, but for the time being it resembling a giant swamp, and she threw me in there with her. Gross, now I would have to shower today, bummer. Later I learned that it was all over the tabloids that she and her mother were supposedly fighting over Fabio, who was some distant cousin.
- I told a Salvadorian man that he and his kids should just go to the US, even though the school year has already started, since they could always repeat the grade after learning English. He asked me if they could take classes in German and I said it would only be one class, 1 hour a day at the most. But why would he want them to take classes in German?, I wondered. Music: System of a Down - Metro (cover)
Sunday Afternoon, 9.24.06: I was famous, my name was finally getting out, and they had me try on a few different dresses for the award show. I thought the velvet red one looked a little slutty but it looked the best on me. I was about to try on a long light green cotton dress when some worker came by and said that they wanted a picture of me with Mike. I didn't know if it was Basel or Aranda, I guessed the later, and then he later told me that I was nice so they didn't really want to bother me to get a picture with him (implying that he was rude).
- I put the car on auto pilot while I drove down the freeway, as I wanted to be in the backseat typing up a blog entry about my day. Madonna was torn between two possible boyfriends, the rich old man or the man she was enamoured with. I was going to tell her the rich one when it dawned on me that this was MADONNA. The car was going straight for the exit and was about to crash when I took the steering wheel and exited just in time. I was slightly shaken up but not as much as I probably should have been. I was close to Hobby airport, I could tell because of the billboards. The big one on the left had a message from my mom about how she would rather take the bus to the airport instead of drive, but she had picked me up in her car anyway. This driving business wasn't for me, and just after I had thought about how I would rather my mother drive there she was, making a turn in the underpass to get us back on the freeway.
/ We went into a CD store briefly, it had a circular set up. It had been a while since I had last bought a CD, and it was a sensation I was craving Music: Red Hot Chili Peppers - All Around the World
Saturday Afternoon, 9.23.06: I was back in Brazil with Lia and Titito, but there was a noticible coldness between us. What was I doing back there, anyway?
Friday Afternoon, 9.22.06: After playing with Alina and Ella, I see that the stereo had been found in the living room wall-unit and thrown back into the closet I was trying to make into my new bedroom. Alina asked when I'll be back in town and I said maybe for Thanksgiving. She asked when that was and I told her around the end of November.
- Tia Blanca was driving, I was in the back seat and her neighbor in the passenger side. Grish was angry about some lawn mower as we drove down Hannington Lane. The neighbor asked about Blanca's boyfriend, like what would he say or something of the sort, and I pretended to not be listening. I guess I was slightly hurt that this neighbor would know before I would.
- The art room was in my bedroom, or sprawled out into it, and I was convinced that some (dream) clay turtles that I made back in elementary school would still be around there. I found some of them in the orange aztec bag I was going to give away.
- Claudio and I were in Brazil again and had gotten into some minor argument. I got out of the car at the stoplight to go back into the building for something I forgot and he drove off, making a left turn at the light. Then I realized that I didn't have my jeans on and was walking around in my underwear. He eventually came back for me and we passed by a small waterpark. Earlier, we had gone down two of the yellow slides, but I didn't notice the other two until that moment. Belissima was playing on a television in the building.
Thursday Morning, 9.21.06: Tia Sandra in the tool shed behind my townhouse, eating cereal. Claudio and I walk in on her
Wednesday Morning, 9.20.06: Someone asked us how to leave and get to the movie theatre. I was about to say "come with me" when I realized that I didn't really know, either. Fauzeya was explaining to her, but the directions sounded oomplicated. You had to walk along the golf course and cut through something to get out. Later I started to leave and passed by the tennis courts, where a group of cartoon animals were waving to me. There were some amoeba and a pink elefant, and a lot of other animals of different pastel colors. I had to take a picture; I stepped back and tried to zoom in, but lost them out of the picture. Yousef came over and wanted to see the picture but I hadn't yet taken it
- Robert DeNiro would pay couples a lot of money to have orgies with him. It was around Christmas time so he gave them Christmas presents and stopped the orgies while he spent time with his family for the holiday. Two of the people stopped by his house either on Christmas Eve or day to drop by their presents for him. The white honky woman also wanted to ask for money. They were surprised to see that he had a wife and a grown daughter, and he spotted them before they could get further in the house to get them out of there. He was stuck with their two gift bags and thought about leaving them outside in the utility rooms behind the washer and dryer. When I tried to turn on the lights either the washer or dryer turned on. I was going to stick the bags back there as they were but then I realized that it wasn't really necessary to hide all of the stuff. I seperated it into one bag of stuff to hide, which included a birth certificate and a translation with other official papers, and a bag of stuff I didn't need to hide, which was mostly tennis shoes. Everyone was waiting around the bathroom stalls outside. Only four of the stalls were open and had toilet paper, and they were all occupied. One of the women was doing her nails, she was black with light skin, and was using the Abra Moore brand of nailpolish, the Rio de Janeiro color. I took the brush from her and painted my middle finger, it was a mostly clear color with a hint of gold. She was about to take a picture when I jumped in the shot showing my middle finger and the brush, smiling. Then I took her Kodak digital camera from her and turned it off, only to find that she had another camera, a cheaper film one.
/ We walked down a hill in the forest and saw a grizzly bear in our path. We all stayed calm and tried to ignore him as best we could, but he kept smelling my foot and didn't want to leave me alone. When we finally escaped someone told us that it's best to just run from grizzly bears rather than try to stay calm. Music: Jennifer Paige - Crush
Monday Afternoon, 9.18.06: Claudio was talking in his sleep again as he grabbed me and gave me a huge bodyhug. I asked him if he loved me/wanted me and he said yes of course. I felt loved.
- Earlier, Mila had showed me coupons for a restaurant and said we could go later that week. But then she realized that eating a meal without meat would be a waste of money at that particular place so that idea was scratched. I wanted to clean things up a bit before I left; towels were everywhere (although nicely folded and stacked) and my stuff was strown all over the kitchen table and spilling into the living room area. Then the owner came and sat down on the sofa. She was wearing a cranberry sweater and had long brown hair and light skin. She was young and looked a bit prudish. Surely she must have noticed I was in the kitchen and wondered what a stranger was doing in her house. This was my 3rd time in her apartment, the couple always left the door unlocked and I would come in out of curiosity and for the rush I would get by thinking I might get caught. But getting caught was an awkward and horrible feeling. Strangely the woman said nothing, it was as if she barely noticed I was there, or noticed but didn't feel it was anything out of the ordinary. I continued tidying things up so I could get out of there before any strange situation arose. But then her husband came home, a fat white man, and she knew that something was wrong. I introduced myself to him and he said something to me as to hint that I wasn't welcome there. It was silly of me to think that these people would accept me into their house; I was a trespasser afterall. My luggage was on the wall by the television that had since been turned on. I did my best to clean things up and get my luggage together when the couple left. The man's long red beaded necklace broke as he left and told him about it while holding the door open behind me so as to not get locked out. He told me it wasn't a big deal and started explaining something to me about the beads. I wasn't paying attention, I was looking at his walking stick. So he was blind! They were blind? I figured the woman was probably not 100% blind since she didn't have a walking stick. They went down the stairs and I went back inside. Now that they were gone I took a look at their closet by the front door. Every wall had a few shelves on it and they were filled with collectibles. The man liked sci-fi. I felt strange being in there and went back to my luggage. I couldn't take it all with me at once, I was afraid the doors would be locked when I came back. What would Claudio do if he couldn't get to his room? Music: Arsenium - Love Me Love Me
Sunday Afternoon, 9,17.06: Alina had escaped from the house and had gone toward the apartment complex where my father used to live. She was with a friend of hers when ran after her and found her. In the meantime, I suggested taking a bus to get to a Blockbuster. Even though it would take an hour and half it sure beat walking to the nearest one in the neighborhood. When I came back home I patted Alina on the head; she was sitting in the swing I had bought for her from Second Blessing.
/We got out of the taxi and had requested the driver take us to Walgreens. It looked like we were around Bellaire and Gessner, the fare was around $35 and Mila gave the driver two 20s. The driver then gave her back a dollar and Mila said she appreciated that (in Spanish). All we would have to do would be cross a parking lot to get to the Walgreens. But from there we had to dogde whoever was looking for us. The driver gave me back 5 one dollar bills... I shouldn't have accepted them, but she put them in the trunk of the cab anyway, next to the spare tire.
- I looked in the mirror on the first floor of the mansion, my forehead was covered with nasty skindeep warts, they formed two large triangles on my forehead and then lines to the side. This was horrible! How could I ever show my face again?
- Everyone thought we had died, but I came back to Claudio's apartment to show him I was still alive. I had to keep everything on the downlow, but if there was anyone to know I was still arround it was him. I came in through what looked like a pinball game on his TV, and had slided over into Spain through there using my invisibility powers. His mother was in the room with him Music: Pizzicato Five - Serial Stories
Saturday Morning, 9.16.06: I went to the less frequented (for me) part of Claudio's huge house, and discovered that his father had a DSL connection in the computer room. This was great, all we would need now would be a wireless router.
- I took a good look at the joysticks (or keyboards?) in the thrift store. There were 3 to choose from, one of them was from Apple and looked nicer than the other two but I wasn't sure it would work. Music: Shahita Nurallah - Tension
Friday Afternoon, 9.15.06: I had nothing better to do and everyone was back at school. I stopped by River Oaks hoping to get some writing done on the benches between the walls (they were under structural 45 degree angled wooden beams, giving the appearance of being under the stairs or something similar). But to my surprise both of those had been cemented up. I felt a little shattered, now I didn't know what I was going to do. I went to a small patio area between the 2 buildings to find Ms. Nelson taking a smoke break. I asked her about the benches and she said they had just recently done that. "So I hear you were having financial aid trouble and you aren't going to school this year". It didn't even shock me that she knew this information, I just carried on and briefly explained the situation to her and how I only had 1 more class left to graduate. I started talking about something else when she realized how late it was and ran back to her classroom, without even saying goodbye. Now I felt particularly lonely. I trekked to the girl's bathroom before leaving the school, Ms. Henry saw me and most likely did not recognize me, but she did make a face as though I looked too old to be at that school. I was wearing my tight red thrift store soccer shirt, so that probably gave me away. There was a line to go to the bathroom, and some chinese girls tried to cut in front of me to drop what looked like invitations reminding everyone about the BET awards. "You know, BET?"; "Yeah, don't people usually give those out in their homerooms or something?" They both seemed pretty ticked off that I didn't want to let them pass, but I did eventually let them go, after a girl freed up a stall so I could go inside. I don't know why I can be so difficult sometimes. Music: The Lashes - Sometimes the Sun
Friday Morning, 9.15.06: My dad wanted to come to school with me, or in my place, for a day. I got angry with him for something and griped back at him saying that he wouldn't even know what was going on if he went to school. I imagined him in my English class while we were reading Shakespeare, looking lost. I think maybe I hurt his feelings by saying that, though. It was still dark outside, and while we passed by the 25 busstop outside of my house I thought of the 10 pack of DVDs I had bought (or gotten for free from my dad's cousin's dollar store).
- It turns out I hadn't seen the rest of this episode of The Comeback (the 2nd to last episode on the first disc). Valerie Cherish was trying to prevent some get together from happening. Her agent was with his gay boyfriend, he told Valerie to wait because he was preparing the wine list. "Some of the foods I have on this list are great... pretzel chips, onion dip..." the cameras moved to Jane and the female casting director, laying stomach down on the bed eating strachietella ice cream. The casting director asked Jane some small talk question "I..I don't know", Jane knew she wasn't really supposed to be on camera.
Thursday Morning, 9.14.06: Mikey bday in Puerto Rico- I called him from the airport and I was going to go but then I found out Nat and Steph weren't coming. When I called I think he thought I was nat. I could see him in what looked like the back seat of a limo with his PR friends, I thought I would feel out of place so I decided not to go afterall. He later told me that they didnt do much for his bday, just played football and got things together for Lisa's wedding
- Going through Ms Nelson's paperwork in my living room, taking all the papers with my name on them, including one that said I had completed all the course requirements (with a drawing of a blue crayon on it).
- Big Lots clearance- buying a phonecard for $1, although the woman before me had paid $4 for the same thing. I had thought about telling my dad and Farida about the out of business clearance but then I realized that they didnt need any more junk in the house. The cashier was about to put everything in a large giftbag so I didnt really want to stop her and tell her I didnt want a bag. I checked out the icee machine and there was no more icee syrup, the only thing left was "Hurricane Katrina beef flavored" frozen food, that originally looked like a flavor of ice cream. I laughed at seeing it, it was the woman next to me who had decided to get that when she saw that everything else was out.
Wednesday Morning, 9.13.06: My beard, I realized that I hadn't epilated it before going to claudio's dad's house. How embarassing.
- It was 2 or 3 in the morning, I was standing by the feeder of the southwest freeway, close to where the office buildings and fountain are. I tried to figure out where I would catch the bus from now on, pissed off because I would have to walk farther in the dark. I could either catch it from Fiesta or from a few blocks from my dad's apartment.
/ Kristi had told me that whenever I wanted to come back to work I could just show up. So I did that the day before and I did it again, both days working in the back where hardly anyone would see me. But then I realized that I hadn't clocked in and probably wasn't getting paid. This would have to be stopped, I went to the register to clock in and everyone seemed surprised to see me there.
- (Find children's book about strawberries from a school library in a theatre by the screen, a little wet).
/ (Pick up bag of wood, use the dry ones and leave the wet ones).
/ (Sandra and I sneak in to clothes designer's office. I see that she's coming and slowly and quietly leave. Sandra calls me later to see if I took the test and leaves voicemail messages asking for the answers).
Tuesday Morning, 9.12.06: Calculus test (AP?) the next day, I check my tickets online to see when I was leaving town, still in Oscar's apartment. I don't study all night. Michael calls and I tell her to stop by the townhouse so we can go to House of Pies and drive around. I told my dad that she was coming over, it was 1130pm, but I didn't mention that I was leaving the house.
- Claudio orders a "queen sized" cheese bacon roll. The man working there told him there were only small and large.
Monday Morning, 9.11.06: There were ten bunk beds in the cabin, and earlier I had found a note with Mala Wala's name on it. The other girls started talking about her; I had a feeling she was evil from her name and the creepy sensation I got after finding the note. The first girl warned everyone about her, but the 2nd girl, the one on the bed below the first girl's, said she was her "favorite". She said she was the best kisser and was a lot of fun. The comment she made about kissing her didn't appear to be anything out of the ordinary to the other 12 year old girls. Some of them seemed anxious to meet Mala Wala, even though it wasn't certain that she was coming back.
- [Crazy man outside of Sharpstown Mall by the freeway. A big fire, he talks to news cameras and then they disappear- they were all in his head. He keeps walking, zombielike, with a clear plastic covering over his head].
Sunday Afternoon, 9.10.06: I walked to the back wall of the library and saw a number of the vintage children's books I had bought at Katy Christians. They suddently didn't seem so special anymore. The library led to a Chinese grocery store, hoping to find some of the same food Kristan's mom had bought me in Diho. I took a quick glance and realized that this place paled in comparison to Diho. Danielle was sitting at a small round table with Kenan (?) or some other black ghetto guy. He asked her if she had ever been HIV positive. She said that yeah, this one time she got it from eating out this girl. I was kind of shocked and slightly disgusted.. then I mentioned that I was going to the dentist. I guess Danielle wanted a ride home, but she didn't say it in so many words and I didn't agree on it, so I left without her. Plus I barely knew how to drive and I could never go on a freeway. I got into the passengers side and my dad took over driving. It was already late at night, we were outside of the jewelry store by Sharpstown Mall. Apparently the only dentist that was covered by the government was a 2 hour drive away from us. I told him we should just go the next day, and we stopped by the Texas Pawn Shop on the way home. There were so many nintendo and sega genesis games, and most at great prices. I asked the owner if they were American or Chinese, and he told me I would have to look at the cartridges to find out. The copy of Jaws I had in my hands was Chinese.
-- The three of us caught the bus just in time. There had been talk of a shoe outlet, and I tried to get free tickets but they were given to the girl's cousin Theodore (after she debated giving it to 2 guys she liked). I made a note of the shoes I saw on display and their prices. $3-4 shoes, incredible, but some of them were pretty ugly and pink or had horrid styles, so I just noted the ones I actually liked.
A Utah teacher showed the cameras her fancy suburban house. She said that teaching "paid well" so she treated her and her family to the house. She had an older, fat son that she mentioned she didnt want to buy a computer for and 2 younger twin boys. In the background of the shot you could see chocolate cake in the kitchen, and the fat son swam in his clothes to give her something she asked for. Music: Fiona Apple - Fast As You Can
Saturday Afternoon, 9.9.06: I felt incredibly awkward in Tia Blanca's car when she decided to park in the garage instead, because then I had to see Andrew. We had made out earlier that afternoon; I saw him working on a 4wheeler in the garage. There was no real attraction between us, it was just something that had happened. We pretended as if it had never occurred.
- Two of the girls from my Korea/Japan class in Barcelona were in my townhouse. I was in my room and put it on Sex and the City. I asked them if they watched it in Barcelona, to which they shook their heads. At least one of them seemed fascinated with it, or maybe she was just trying to understand the English. I tried making small talk with them but they weren't very talkative, and they weren't at my place to see me anyway. They got what they needed and said "ciao", then I realized they were saying that to me as they walked out of the front door. I felt a little blown off
- German and I were talking on messenger when he mentioned that he had written a biography of himself on his msnspace but that he had blocked other screennames from reading it. I saw that his icon was kermit so I guessed that as his password and was pleasantly surprised when I was signed into his account.
- The cops from Reno 911! made a guest appearance on some stupid network sitcom. Farida came into my room to ask me how to take off the closed captioning. Her English seemed pretty good for a while but she didn't know the word for closed captioning so she said something totally different that made no sense to me. I played around with the remote until I realized that pressing the "CC" button once turned it off. The cops were now in the police car and Junior and Garcia were speaking in an educated Spanish. Junior was talking surprisingly fast for his character. I turned around and asked Raineesha if it made her feel left out. She agreed and said something that made me laugh. I could tell the women in the car were bored.
Friday Morning, 9.8.06: Tia Blanca gave me a ride to Mima's house, or some house in a similar neighborhood, and I thought about dropping off something but decided I would just run in quickly to get what I needed so she wouldn't have to be waiting outside that long by herself in her fancy SUV in such a seedy neighborhood. A few seconds after I got out of the car my uncle Victor jumped into her car to scare her. I heard her scream and I immediately felt guilty for having her take me to the house, but then when I saw Victor laying in the grass laughing I felt slightly angry.
/ Claudio went out to the balcony to take the call. "Onibaba!" It was his father, and before he even answered the phone I knew it would be about his grandfather. He went into the bathroom to change in a hurry, and told me that his grandfather was in the hospital and in a bad state. Apparently the staff had given him something to make him sleep.. I told him it was probably the Brazilian woman he had married. He denied it and said it was the stupid people that work at the hospital that don't know what they're doing. I offered to go to the hospital with him
Thursday Morning, 9.7.06: Claudio was staying in the tool shed on the side of my townhomes. Things seemed to be working this way until someone locked the tool shed and he had no where to go. I tried to sneak him into my house while my dad was out and keep him in my closet, but my dad came back home and saw him in my room. I tried to stay cool and introduced him as I would any friend of mine. To my surprise he wasn't very mad, he just seemed nervous and asked me not to close my door
Wednesday Afternoon, 9.6.06: Madonna was scared that someone would break into her house during the night. Her guards were off duty, or at least some of them were, so she called some male friends to watch some of the entrances. In the meantime, Alina stood around naked and wanted me to pick her up. She motioned this with gestures but I still felt kind of weird about picking up a naked baby. Mei came back in and she felt a little safer with someone watching the doors.
Monday Morning, 8.28.06: I was in a small science lab and I needed to get out quickly. I hangglided out of the window and flew over the grass.. it worked just as I imagined it would.
/ In the morning, around 8 or 9, the weather had been perfect. I took a long walk during my last day in Rio, it was a bittersweet end to my time spent there. I passed a toll bridge, but pedestrians could cross it for free by going through a small blue metal opening. I had been walking for so long.. When I got to my hostel I talked to a nice Israeli girl who had been there a few days with me. I mentioned how I had lost my mix CD and how I was leaving the next morning. She seemed disinterested in being a friend, or anything more than an acquaintance, so I just told her that if she found my CD she could keep it and she left. I was so lonely... I waddled around the water for a while, it was polluted and filled with families. Ilha do Governador was in the distance, there was a ship passing by. I could see inside one of the apartments, it was my host family from the Northeast. I contemplated saying hello, I guess I just thought it would be too awkward for everyone. I had spent all this time in a hostel that was in the same apartment building they lived in and didn't even say hello to them, how strange was that? I saw German, he lived in the apartment above theirs. We spoke briefly; I mentioned how cold it was getting and he said that everyone was complaining about the weather but this was hotter than usual for September. I wanted to talk some more with him but before I could even suggest it he said he didn't feel like going out this weekend and wanted to just stay home. It looked as though something was bothering him, but I left him to himself. Someone called my name, a girl, but when I looked around I couldn't find who it was (there were so many people around me). Later my aunt and I sat at a small table and she opened a book to show me that there was a symposium that evening at 1030 by a girl who had volunteered and stayed with the same host family that I did, back in 95 or 97. I could see her from a distance, signing autographs. "Well, it's up to you". I didn't really feel like going but after I read that she had stayed with Lia I thought maybe it would be fun. I had nothing better to do anyway... I thought about inviting German, but I stood at his door and decided he probably wouldn't want to go and would feel weird being with me and my aunt.
Sunday Morning, 8.27.06: Kristan and I were in the Galeria, contemplating visiting River Oaks since it was inside (?). We were about to go on a road trip, or maybe we had already started it, and I told her we should stop at the next Walmart to buy some snack food. It was still pretty early in the morning. I went to the bathroom while she stayed in the art gallery on the floor below the bathroom. We lost each other for a while; I brought down one of my friends, a chubby black girl who was about 12 years old. We found the movie theatre that Ms. Nelson and Ms. Beary's classes were in. Ms. Beary held out some apple snacks on a silver tray for us, but when I was about to grab one she snatched them away, eating one as she did so. I guessed it was because I was late and because I had brought a friend who hadn't gone to River Oaks. We were going to look for Kristan but the girl I was with just sat down somewhere. Then I saw Kristan a few rows above us... we were seated facing a different wall than she was, it was strange.
/ I walked out when night had already fallen. I knew it was difficult for me to see in the dark, but I was downright going blind. I took off my glasses for a second and that only made it worse. I struggled to get down the stairs; around me I could hear people laughing and talking. I just hoped that none of them had noticed me.
Friday Morning, 8.16.06: I was walking home and something told me to go to my dad's old apartments. I couldn't shake that intuition, so maybe I did wind up going there for a while. But when I got to the back door of my townhomes the white drunk regular from the theatre came by and asked if he could use my phonebook. "Um, ok, but you can't sit down" So I took the phonebook out of the utility closet in the patio and gave it to him, and he proceeded to sit down. It was when I unlocked the door that he attacked me; perhaps someone else came in too. I then understood the reason behind my intuition, but it was too late now
- We drove past a Shell gas station on the 59 feeder. I pointed out how the location of that Shell was much better than that of the Chevron a block or two away, but for no particular reason. We stopped by some strangly placed candy shop on Bellaire and 59, and while we were in there I got a call (pre-recorded message) from Bath and Body Works, saying they would love to have me work for them and so on. I told my friends while we were getting in the car that I found it strange that they would be hiring at the end of the summer.
/ Kristan's aunt and Ari came over in their light blue van. Except no one from Kristan's family was home, so when I motioned to them from the front door I had to let them know that I wasn't Kristan. They couldn't really hear me so I told them to go to the back and I would let them in. When I opened the back door it was different people, in a different car. That guy Shaun Kolnick (?) was in the car with two other people, and when they came in I saw they were my aunt and two cousins. My cousins talked among themselves as usual, my aunt with my mother, and I felt a little out of place. The entire upstairs was different, it was white and loft-style, and the cable guy was leaving when I asked him what he had just installed. He mentioned something like "you don't want to know" and I convinced him to show me, so he turned on my TV and deleted some channels (or added, but at the time I assumed he was deleting). Channel 26 was HBO! "Heyhey, don't delete them... I'll check them out later, thanks"
- The teacher was about to recycle something and he whole class was suppoed to follow him. This was in River Oaks Elementary, and maybe I looked young but I was more or less my current age. For some reason I led the class, even though I had no idea where to recycle stuff. When I turned around I noticed only Shana Saunders was behind me, I couldn't even find the teacher. I asked her if they had gone out of the door and she said the teacher was in the office recycling things on the 2nd floor. Her and Maya talked about how they wanted to go home already, and the bell was going to ring in about 20 minutes. "Just go then" I said. But they "didn't want anyone to tell on them". I had forgotten how childhood is plagued with stupid rules. I told them how progressively these rules lessen as you get older, they didn't pay much attention to me, though.
Thursday Morning, 8.15.06: We were exiting the gas station when someone in the car mentioned something about the milage. Someone else told her "That just means we've driven 400,000 miles". It had been a nice trip into Portugal. As a joke, we left one of our friends outside and started driving off, but he looked really angry and even stood waiting by a busstop, the 23. We picked him up from there and he sat next to me in the back right side.
Thursday Morning, 8.10.06: I was in the passengers seat, as usual, and captivated by an abandoned toy store; maybe it just wasn't open yet since it was a little after dawn and there was a brown-orange tint to the air. Or rather, I was captivated by the little stuffed lamb (perhaps it was Bubblebee?) in the corner, the only one not partaking in the stuffed animal orgy going on around him in stillness. I caught it out of the corner of my eye at first, and when we passed it I turned my head around so I could take a better look. An overwhelming sense of compassion came over me, I wished I could turn the car back around and take him out of there and into my arms. But I wasn't driving, and if I had been driving I probably wouldn't have noticed the store. Besides, we were making good time.
/ I was so happy to show Claudio the old video game finds at Blockbuster. $1 for old Sega games, and one of the two (Chinese nintendo) games, the red one, I knew I had "found" somewhere before. I told him that but he seemed pretty unimpressed, saying that those cartridges weren't good because the games on them were repetetive and boring.
/ Mengfei walked into the hotel room with me and asked me what happened with Claudio. I couldn't even remember what started the argument, something trivial, but he left during our road trip and hadn't come back for a few days. Now that we were at a hotel and he knew that Mengfei and I would be there for the night I figured he would come to his senses and show up so we could forget this silly situation. Embarassed, mostly, because he was acting this way in front of my friend. I was alone in the room and it felt like I was tripping balls. The room got darker but glowed at the same time, there were interesting art pieces and I could stand parallel to the floor and hover above the walls, bouncing between them as I pleased. In short, the world was a more scary and fascinating place to be.
/ I showed up at the movie theatre a little before it opened, even though I didn't work there anymore. There were a number of people waiting outside to get in, eventually I joined some of them and sat on the floor. I took a look at the new movies. The Fast and the Furious was on there along with 2 or 3 ones with no pictures on the box office display. The new System of a Down movie was out, and that was one I had been meaning to see for a while. I saw the first 10 minutes or so of it and talked to Jose about something relative to the theatre. Music: [dream music fading to] Natalie Imbruglia - Torn
Tuesday Morning, 7.18.06: A woman and the ghost of her fat black husband were at a picnic charging away at his credit card by the fax machine. Everyone else seemed to think he was still alive, or maybe he was and the two of them just knew he was supposed to die the following day. An Indian man came up to the couple at the picnic and told them their credit card had been denied. In there posession were receipts of a Tahiti getaway among other things. They were fuming when they got home, but then realized, as they passed by the kitchen, that at least the bulk of their purchases had made it through, even if many had not.
- Dalia asked me to read over this review for a quiz at 8pm so I could take it, even though I wasn't in that class. Fauzeya was in the class, too. I forgot to read over the thing until around 7:15. I thought maybe I was too late, but Dalia reminded me to read over it. I was taking my time, Fauzeya didn't seem too interested in studying for it. I asked Dalia why she wanted me to do this again and she said that the professor would go over questions with people after the quiz so that they could study for the test. I suggested just taking the quiz without studying.
- I guess I was Frylock. I had a gun with me in the car and was shooting at the madman who tried to kill us. We had to get out of the car, and at some point he stole my gun from me. By the time I tackled him and got it back it was out of bullets. We were standing right outside of a police station, too. The three of us went inside and of course everything was pinned on us. But the deputy gave us each a card. I opened mine right away and glanced at it and noticed that Mikey had signed it. But I had already recognized his handwriting. He started the card by saying that there were two types of friends. The first type was there for you no matter what, and complimented you. The second type would always remind you of things you need to do, as though saying you were too stupid to remember it yourself. He said he probably fit in that second category, I thought to myself that I did too, and he went on but I didn't get a chance to read the rest. I hoped that the card was as sweet as I thought it was and not some bashing in the disguise of something thoughtful. But no, I don't think Mikey would do that, I felt pretty happy despite everything I had been through that day.
Monday Morning, 7.17.06: I was in the office supply store with my dad and Farida. I told him he needed to buy a new ink cartridge to which he replied that we didn't need one. Farida was looking at laptops or something of the sort, I wandered through the store and saw a happy white family buying multi-colored printer paper and ink. A salesman asked them how long it had been since the ink had run out and they said a week. He noted that as long as it had been at least a week it was ok to go ahead and buy more.
- Alma told me that before I left I needed to turn the air conditioning on in one of the theatres. I had passed by that area and I saw Kris playing video games. It was somewhat dark and had two levels of stairs. You had to turn the air on on the giant computer screen... I had never turned on the air, I had no idea how to do it, so I just left and hoped no one would complain or notice. I got into a car in what resembled an airport pick-up zone.
Friday Morning, 7.14.06: The New York City subway was different from how I remembered it. It seemed to only have one working line, at least on the day of the week that I rode, and I was informed later that Barra was the last stop within the city before it sprawled out to suburbs. So I got off at the wrong stop, but at least I wasn't the only one. There were no more seats on the train, I was standing close to where an old Polish woman was seated. I remembered that "oi" meant yes in Polish, and she would say it to her friend every once in a while. My deceased grandmother was there too, but I must not have realized until she got off. She was talking in Spanish. I eventually managed to find the library I was looking for. It had pretty landscaping even if it was pretty far away from the action of the city. I felt like such a nerd, spending my free time at a library, but I had no friends in the city and my competition or whatever I was there for didn't start for another few days. I needed a large Portuguese-English dictionary for my translations anyway. When I got closer to the entryway I saw Angie leaving. I thought maybe we would chit chat since it was pretty strange that we ran into each other in New York, but we just waved to each other as if we were in the hallway at Bellaire. I looked at a catalog to see where the dictionary would be but found that there was a section of the library that sold old nintendo games for cheap. I found a number of them for 3 for 10 dollars, still in their boxes and everything. I couldn't wait to tell Claudio about my find. New York was getting better already.
7.4.06: Claudio and I were in an old-fashioned hotel room that was haunted and scaring the shit out of us. I saw visions (or were they real?) of a small child trapped in a basement with a grave already dug out for him; iron bars as his only window. The elevators even seemed to be possessed, but as soon as they worked we pushed the little black girls out of the way so we could get out of there. We ran into a shopping mall (the same one I dreamed about a week ago), where it was mostly closed aside from a few stores and restaurants that knew that business would be good due to the vacationing Midwesterners. I was hungry, I was even about to get the Chick-Fil-A sandwich I saw everyone eating, the one that Claudio ordered. But I held out, although it did smell pretty good.
- I was about to go down to play tennis with this guy, who was probably much much better than me. I figured it would be fun at least. We stopped by Whitney's new apartment, her mother was still married to Glen. And they blamed us for leaving the oven and lights on; all the food was burned. I walked out onto the circle drive, the grass was springtime green, and I was still in a bit of shock about how they could honestly believe that that was our fault.
6.19.06: I got a new job in the mall, and my boss was an old black woman. She was bossy, I could tell that my job would be difficult because of her, but I did what she requested. She dealt with coffins and the like, my co-workers seemed friendly.
- I was watching one of the consumer products expo shows on tv, and they were promoting a snorkle/goggles for kids. At first I thought "oh, please", but the more I listened to the pitch the more I was convinced that I needed to buy a pair.
6.18.06: Mckenna talks to me about flying, i told her i went hanggliding and apparently she did too for $100 (instead of what i thought was my $200 fee). we were on a tall wire and i thought we would "fly" down it
i watched her play mario bros 1 (different levels)
- We were in Sao Paulo and I invited one of my friends (hispanic) to go out with us. When I stopped by her room she was angry saying to give her an hour and a half to get ready and that she didn't even really want to go to begin with. I was about to cry, I had no friends. I hoped inside that Claudio would never leave me.
- claudio was with me in the store, he left me there while i still wanted to look and it was then that i found a lot of NES games for $3 (or $2.50) each. 3 different Beavis and Butthead games, plus others. I cut one of the leather bracelets off of the display because I thought it was also $3 but kristi told me it was $10 and was pissed off when I told her I didn't want it. I got home later and tried playing one of the Beavis and Butthead ones.
- "Maria" was with her cute blonde boyfriend with black emo glasses and his dad in their house. Her father came by around 1am, drunk, asking for her. But he didn't even know where he was, so the boyfriend told him he was at a house just a few blocks from the father's. That would buy them some time, but I was afraid that her father would see her through the windows, so I told her to go to the backyard through the mud and overgrown weeds in the darkness. Once she was there I was going to sleep in the same bed as her boyfriend. I had to walk through the dark hallway to get to his room, which was positioned the same way as mine. I asked him if this was really a movie, and he told me no, and I insisted I had seen a Lifetime movie a lot like it. While I was undressing his father walked in and made some snide remark, when I told him I was just changing clothes. My dark green sleeveless shirt was cut down the center.
6.14.06: German tells me on MSN that he loves me, I awkwardly (yet not truthfully) tell him that too
- Going to buy a bra at savers, but it was $12. I called my aunt (or mom) to laugh at the prices and say nothing compares to the Katy Christians
- Watching a movie with Adrienne (in Spain?), the theatre was cut and we went into a narrow one. Someone asked how long we had been friends, it was a really long time
6.13.06: Working at golf course, drop phone in muddy water. Call Mikey and he wants to see a movie with me at 1230, even though that one looks stupid I say I'll probably go with him
- Trying for an internship at a hospital, every one else seemed to get the hang of things except for me. Walking down long, wide hall on the wrong side of the hospital
- I was offering valet service, how many places could do that?
6.10.06: Book set from rupyard kipling??
/ Waiting in line behind the "chinese" ("asians")
/ Walking through scary NYC apartments, seeing the same people with their doors open in the special section (stoned man, gypsy woman, some guy cooking)
Wednesday Morning, 6.7.06: This time around German's spare room was much bigger, and even though the furniture looked as though someone had just moved in (or was about to move out), the bed was huge and the sheets were on it. It reminded me of my father's apartment
Tuesday Morning, 5.16.06: I was on my way to Japan, finally. There was a shuttle bus to get me to the other airport, and during a reststop I decided to go back into the bus. Others followed
/ Rose was going to S�o Paulo to study. She was spending 3 years in graduate school, after having graduated from undergrad in 3. "That's a good idea..", I wished I had done the same. Kristan asked her why she wasn't taking any Business classes, and she said she would start on that the following year. She was going to concentrate on learning Portuguese, first. Geo Tu was also in S�o Paulo. He said people couldn't tell if he were Chinese or Japanese or white. Whatever... I told him most people would think he were Japanese because there were many more Japanese in Brazil than Chinese. He corrected how I was saying Japoneses, and it ticked me off. He wasn't even saying it right.
/ Claudio and I ran upstairs, but the rich woman's chandelier was breaking and we had to watch out for the pieces of glass on the floor. Children were playing outside.
Monday Morning, 5.15.06: I stood in the parking lot at night talking to Jennelle on the phone. We were catching up, but after a while we ran out of things to say and I think she actually fell asleep. I told her I should get going and hung up. I reminisced about our times as vols in Brazil and thought maybe I should go visit her in Portland, since talking over the phone just isn't the same.
/ I was in the Big Lots bathroom with my mom and Michael Zimmerman. It was easter season so all the Peeps were out on display. We just had to wait it out a bit.
/ I ran through the subway station, hoping to catch up with them. The woman's breastmilk had dried up, which was her own fault. her two lovers were going crazy, and the baby needed bread. I thought I could help, but after talking to them briefly I decided it would be best to leave them alone. Music: Madonna - Bedtime Story
Sunday Morning, 5.14.06: Kristan and Cristina Fernandez helped me carry the stuffed animals I had brought to Brazil for the children in Vila Do Paraiso. But somewhere along the way, probably when we had to climb the white metal ladder to get out through the window, Cristina had lost the stuffed animals she was carrying. It wasn't until we got to the boat that I realized, and for a while I thought maybe I should just forget about it, since it was only 4 or 5 stuffed animals. But we were in no rush; I told them I would be back.
- On the way back, I walked through a part of the museum which was filled with different species of spiders. I accidentally destroyed the spidersweb of one, which in turn bit me and the person I was with. The pain subsided after a while, but it was very painful immediately after getting bitten. The Japanese curator started talking about the different species; I was eager to get out of that part of the museum.
Saturday Morning, 5.13.06: It was going to be my first day of high school in Ilha, the neighborhood that Thiago is from. However, there was only one bus that would take me to that neighborhood, and it went to the airport, which was pretty far away from the school. I took a closer look at the map and saw that I would be able to get off on a street that was close to one of the school's entrances. Thiago looked at it and told me it should work.
- After hanggliding for a while, I walked over to other hanggliders who had landed on the green hill. One of them told me that the other girl and I were the only ones who didnt eat or drink during practice. I told her I was really thirsty and got some orange Gatorade.
- claudio and I were in Hong Kong, ordering soup. The woman put a raw egg in Claudio's soup, which nauseated him after taking a sip. She in turn put 2 in my soup. I tried to be courteous and eat it, but I couldn't take it. The raw egg taste lingered in my mouth. Angry, we both went out to look for a restaurant, walking through an outdoor market to leave the area. While there, we saw a booth that sold personalized t-shirts with some optional pre-made designs available. We both decided to get one made. I saw a black shirt with Hello Kitty and years in the background. But I opted for the one of Hello Kitty behind wooden bars, with Engrish on it. Unfortunately, the woman translated it into Spanish for me, I saw it printed on the newspaper page. Music: Kelly Clarkson - Because Of You
Friday Morning, 5.12.06: I ran into Dalia in the street, it was dark outside and it had just rained. She was with a few friends that I didn't know, but I was able to talk to her as if we were still in high school. I told her I would be back, and I ran through the streets and a few small shopping centers. Claudio and I met up in the grocery store and as we were checking out he said he didn't care if I cheated on him or not, which took me by surprise. I wondered what he really meant by that. Music: Mariah Carey - Shake It Off
Wednesday Morning, 5.10.06: They were showing an episode of The Facts of Life; I mentioned to Claudio that I liked the show more when the girls were younger.
Tuesday Morning, 5.9.06: All this talk about Alina, I had totally forgotten that my dad had another kid, named Fahad. He was about 6 years older than Alina, and his mother was a blonde woman. But there wasn't much more that I knew about him. That day my father told me about how he met Fahad's mother, and how she was basically just after his money and left him soon after meeting him. The story was depressing and I had no interest in hearing the details.
Monday Morning, 5.8.06: The woman at the front desk told me that my father was in the hospital. I had just come in off the street (Raul Pompeia) and it was a shock to me. I was upset that no one had let me know, and I asked her to phone the hospital he was staying at. I finally was able to talk to him, but he told me not to worry, and that he liked being in the hospital; He felt like he "was on vacation". This was some sort of relief, but later I was told he was rushed to intensive care.
Sunday Morning, 5.8.06: Some sick man was after the both of us, and after he slashed my mother to pieces with a butcher's knive he came running after me. I suffered some minor wounds but managed to escape and call 911. I was sure he would catch up to me soon, so I had to be quick. I asked the woman on the phone if she had my address, since I had seen that calls are traced in 911 calls. She just laughed at me and told me there was no way she could get my address. Then I explained my situation and told her to send an ambulance over. I could tell she was trying to keep herself from laughing, and that made me feel so much worse. My mother was probably dead by now, no one could possibly know the pain that I felt. The 911 operator intensified this pain.
- Claudio was my professor, and even though most people in the class knew this (including Kristan), I had to stop myself from doing things like calling him Cao and holding his hand as the class walked along the alleyways. I stood close to him always. We saw an 18-wheeler roll down the street and crash into a brick wall. It seemed as though no one was hurt. I suspected the mafia was behind it.
Wednesday Morning, 4.26.06: It was late, 4 or 5 AM, the sun was going to rise soon. I went with Mikey to someone's party; there weren't too many people so I didn't feel unconfortable. I danced alone for a while as if I were on e. Natalie asked me to send her the pictures, the ones from January. I told her I still had them on my camera and I could leave them on Steph's laptop
- I was in Namibia(?) and as I walked through the small plaza to the sidestreet I was deep in thought, another one of my mental ramblings that tries to amount to something. The country itself was changing, there was no such thing as a nation-state, etc etc. I walked through the grass and passed another white person. A Jewish woman. I could see the GC building of my school in the distance. I noticed a lot of us were walking up to it. All of us from the global South, convening in Miami.
/ There were 8 or 9 of us seated at the restaurant table. One of them was the blonde with curly hair from "La fea m�s bella", she was sitting opposite of the fat girl sitting to my right. The waiter spoke to us in Spanish, but I could tell the fat one didn't really speak Spanish that well, from how she said "agua". Later, she ordered chorizo but didn't know how to explain how she wanted it. I wanted to sit closer to my friends. Music: Radiohead - The Bends
Tuesday Morning, 4.25.06: I walked into the room leading to the garage, it was late at night. Just then I heard McKenna's dad walking down. I was going to go back to my room when I heard him, but he opened the door before I got a chance to. He looked surprised to see me, and I must have looked shocked, but I told him I just came down to get a soda. He gave me a genuine smile and told me to help myself. I thought McKenna was lucky to have such a nice father.
/ I was in a rush between the stoplights, to take my finals. Some of the cast of The Facts of Life was with me, and they helped me get there in time.
Monday Morning, 4.24.06: I woke up in my tiny seasonal first-floor apartment. The window looked out to a mall, specifically to the Baskin Robbins in the mall. My window allowed me to look out without others being able to look in, but it still made me feel uneasy as I put my clothes on. I had a romantic interest, he came by to pick me up.
- It was Adrienne who told me about the lizards for sale. There were 5 or 6 small wooden crates, one for each color of lizard. This type of lizard changed color with age, and the vendor recommended that we not get the ones in the first crate, the dull green ones, because they were more likely to die prematurely. Adrienne mainly got the ones from the third crate, the dark green ones, but I wanted to mix mine up a bit so I got a number of red and yellow ones. As we were walking through the indoor tunnel I realized maybe it would have been better to do as she had done, since those lizards would probably sell better. I could feel my lizards crawling on top of one another in the small burlap sack I was carrying. I think we were passing them off as baby crocodiles to make a profit, I didn't really understand, I was just going along with Adrienne. Adrienne's parents walked with us through the tunnel, but her mom had a different name. We passed Pasadena, TX on the way there. The chemicals in the air were nauseating, I looked out the window at the faceless factories. I thought about how the lizards were being treated as possesions, and I suddenly felt guilty about selling them. After I sold the first one, he turned into a myna bird that flew with uncertainty to a branch on the tree in the center. But I could see the fear in his eye. He could fly away, why didn't he? I urged him to do so in my mind, but he chose to torture me by staying, with the same look in his eye. The second did the same; I couldn't look anymore. I didn't bother asking what was going to happen to them, I probably wouldn't have gotten the answer, anyway Music: Madonna - Sorry
Saturday Morning, 4.22.06: Elizabeth was in a bitchy mood. We (the two of us and Adrienne) walked into River Oaks from the entrance from the playground area. My nose was still runny so I opened her locker and took a kleenex out of it. She told me I should stop taking so many of her kleenex, even though she had a big box full of them. She gave me 5 and told me they needed to last the rest of the day. I stopped talking to her and walked into my classroom. Earlier, I had shot 10 to 12 people dead outside of a grocery store, just for fun, and I knew no one would catch me. I had even forgotten about it until just then. Class was boring, someone gave a presentation and having the lights off nearly put me to sleep. I had to stay late afterwards to make up a quiz.
Friday Morning, 4.14.06: Jellyneck, Noblet and Larry King were in a car going through a tunnel, Noblet was driving and Jellyneck was in the backseat. They were taking callers. one 80 year old teacher called in asking why children these days misbehaved so much, and why he couldn't hit them like he could before. Jellyneck kept hinting that maybe he should just retire, but I felt for the old man.
/ I was moving out of my first floor apartment. But I would be back soon enough, to pack everything up. Since I had some extra time I thought maybe I could start packing, even though I didn't have any boxes. I thought about grouping things together in plastic bags and labelling them. I stood in the doorway between the bathroom and the hallway
/ We trekked up the rugged dirt mountain. I saw a Chinese girl biking up it. We fucked in the car
/ I went into the giant thrift store with some younger girls. It was dark outside, and the leader didn't know where we were. He found us as we were leaving, though. I got in the plane bound for Madrid before he could do anything to me
/ The plane had nearly landed in Madrid. It was dark outside, I could see stars through the window. I told him not to move, that I would be back as soon as I came out of the bathroom. I wanted to go to the bathroom before everyone would go into the building. I walked in wearing only panties, as I couldn't find my clothes from earlier. There were quite a few people in there, mainly upper class snobs. I ran into the bathroom. It was packed, and someone else was in the stall with me. I tried waiting until all the only ladies had left, but more kept coming in. Since there was no door on the stall they could see how I barely had any clothes on. I suppose I could have looked for an exit closer to the bathroom, but I went out where I came in from. The plane had landed, which meant everyone had gotten off and we wouldn't have any privacy. But I was pretty sure I saw him dressed in a Santa costume, about to leave. I couldn't be sure because I didn't have my glasses on, but when I went to where I told him to wait for me I didn't find him. I had a green skirt on now, and my old pink and grey jacket from 3rd grade (that I hated). I zipped it up, at least now I wasn't naked, just mismatched. I saw some Korean girls and a lot of people from BHS. I basically wanted to avoid everyone but Kristan was in charge of shovelling out roasted almonds for everyone. I thought she had forgotten about me but she called out my name indicating that the next batch was for me. She seemed pretty happy. Then I saw him, dining with the Princess and her family. I couldn't have felt more rejected Music: Mariah Carey - Shake It Off
Thursday Morning, 4.13.06: I called my dad and talked to Farida for a little while. Even though her English is weak, I managed to understand that something was wrong between her and my father- eventually I understood that my father was cheating on her. It seemed unlikely, but my first day there I noticed he seemed slightly suspicious. He wanted me to be out of the house for the day, and he made plans for me to stay with Abir. But he had always avoided my being with her, so I figured he just wanted me out of the house to carry on his affair. I told him I already had plans with someone else. I didn't, but I hated how he was bossing me around.
- The mood was cheery in the classroom. I was a 2nd semester junior at Bellaire, but sadly, it would be my last day at that school. The principal came in and told me that my mom had wanted to pull me out of BHS and stick me in my ghetto zoned school. That seemed ludicrous to me, the only reason I could think she would want to do so would be to spite me. After thinking about the fact that there were only 2 Mexicans at that school that automatically became friends (the rest were black), I shrugged it off. Then the principal came back into the room with a letter from my mother. She wanted me out that very instant. I was nearly in tears. My friends, and my academic efforts would all be in vein. I wondered if the new school even offered AP classes. I stood in the hallway (outside of Ms. Warman's class in River Oaks) and looked out the window. It was a beautiful day. Music: Green Day - Give Me Novacain
Tuesday Morning, 4.11.06: It was late at night and I wanted to take pictures of graffiti in the favela. Kristan was with me, I took out my camera and went up the cement stairs to get a better view of the graffiti I really wanted a picture of. But before I could take it a bunch of black guys came running after us, wanting to steal the camera. We ran and eventually they caught up to us. I took out the hot pink fiscar scissors from my purse and after a while they left us alone. Unfortunately, though, the episode meant I wouldn't be able to snap that picture.
/ I told some AzN guy about what had happened and he quickly designed some computer simulated program to recreate the area. It was good, but I still wanted my picture of the wall.
- Mimi was back at home and playing in the hamper in my mom's room at the townhouse. It was some point around then that I had learned that Michael had died of cancer. I wanted to cry, and I thought about sending my condolences to her mom, but that would be too depressing. I went into Dalia's facebook photos and saw that at one of their parties they had a background photo of some girl who had died. Why was everyone dying?? It still wasn't sinking in about Michael.
/ Juan somehow knew I was in Miami again (I didn't realize this was strange until after he left), so he texted me and we got together. He picked me up and we went to Burger King. In a sort of drive thru haste I told him I wanted a kid's meal, which was kind of what he was hinting that I should get. But I just ordered it to not be picky, I didn't eat meat, and the bite that I took out of the burger was disgusting. It tasted like chemicals and presertatives. I took the patty out of the burger and just ate the bread (with no condiments). He just ordered a shake. I asked him why and he said he wasn't really hungry, so I felt kind of stupid for ordering a kid's meal that I wasn't even going to eat most of. I offered him the meat "I stopped eating meat a few months ago and now this tastes really weird to me". We eventually hit a quiet spot in the conversation. I thought about mentioning how some more of the people I went to school with had died (Elisabeth, that friend of Dalia's, and Michael), but I mentioned that the last time we hung out and I didn't want to sound morbid. Eventually he said something.
Sunday Morning, 4.9.06: I walked through the ruins of an ancient civilization, lost myself amidst the giant grey slabs of stone.
/ Elisabeth and I had gotten into a fight for some stupid reason. She stood at the computer with Adrienne and took pictures of the two of them with her super tiny digital camera that looked like a toy. I pretended to be disinterested. She took another picture a minute or two later, I knew they would end up on fotolog.
/ I had just finished writing an essay about the horrors of overpopulation. My aunt was about to give her third child up for adoption, because they couldn't afford her, and I felt somewhat responsible and guilty. I helped her get the diaper bag. For a moment I thought maybe she just was just trying to trick me and make me feel guilty, after a while I still couldn't figure it out. She had me read an adoption agency number outloud for her so she could dial it while she held her baby. I wrote it down in pencil next to where it was printed while I read it outloud. 12 digits grouped by 4s, the first 4 were 3825. Music: Bluvertigo - Always Crashing in the Same Car (David Bowie cover)
Saturday Morning, 4.8.06: After walking through a labyrinth I mentioned to the two white gay friends of Thiago that I was going to Sao Paulo soon. They reminded me that they were from Rio and wouldn't be coming with me, I don't know how I managed to forget that. I went up the metal stairs into the plane, and I knew I would never see them again.
Thursday Morning, 4.6.05: I had read, perhaps through Geo Tu's blog, that Kristan was now dating Rob Seilheimer. I was surprised by this, but it explained why her writing was so vague in the recent month or two.
/ I walked through the corridor of the apartment building, there was a long row of apartments. The fat black girl who was my new roommate asked me if I could turn my music off and listen to hers for a while. She asked me nicely so I obliged, but I found out I didn't really like any of her music. I had to run out shortly after, it looked as though someone had committed suicide.
Wednesday Morning, 4.5.06: Without even planning it, my tiny conjugado apartment went up the bonde to Sugarloaf. I could see Rio at night from above, it was breathtaking. It turns out I was on some sort of reality tv show, and I had won a prize. The blonde female host greeted me as I reached the top.
Monday Morning, 4.3.06: Stephen was talking to me in Portuguese again.
Apparently I had misunderstood that he wanted to meet me at the
airport, but it was a good thing I didn't take the bus there, I told him. He
and Marcelo were sharing the apartment I would be living in for the next
month. We all had bunkbeds, I think it was Mikey's apartment. I
mentioned how nice it was of him to let us live there. Stephen grabbed his
longboard and walked out onto the nicely paved parking lot. I told him I
left mine at home, that I didn't think I would be using it for the next
month, but then I said I would probably have more of an opportunity to
use it that month than ever. I wished I had brought it along with me, I
had a lot of freetime on my hands now. I felt lonely, but at the same
time somewhat jubilant; I felt like things were looking up. The sun was
shining brightly on the white pavement outside. Music: Kylie Minogue - Slow
Sunday Morning, 4.2.06: I walked into the dingy diner and took a look
at the menus above the booths before I sat down in one of them. Everyone
was eating with friends or family, except for me. A black drag queen
told me to get the fries, they were the specialty on Fridays and they
went great with the apple pie. I looked through the menu and found the
fries, $3.10. It seemed kind of expensive for fries, but I thought I would
take her word for it. "Ok.. I guess I'll have that then" I said, with a
positive ring to my voice.
- I stopped by the same kiosk and without saying anything the man
working there knew that I wanted to exchange my blue pen for a black one. He
had told me the day before that they only had black pens, yet then he
had given me a blue one. I looked at the pen top, it was identical to
the one I had earlier.
- I turned on my laptop, hoping that the neighbor who had wireless had
taken the password off. He didn't, but I picked up another "default"
signal, this one only at 1%. Another neighbor had wireless? Maybe I could
move my computer around to get a better signal.
- Jos� Kelly (from Vila do Para�so in Brazil) had her own cell phone. I
knew how expensive those things were, they charged about a buck a
minute. She called someone and just talked for a short while, but Titito
told her to give the phone to Jessica and let her talk to her Uncle
Nelson. She did this and Jessica talked until the money ran out on the phone.
Kelly mentioned this to me, and something along the lines of she
couldn't have nice things without people taking advantage of it. I felt for
her. We were all suddenly in a small apartment kitchen (instead of
outside sitting on benches at lunch tables), Mila's husband (or some man in
her life) had taken her cellphone from her in a jealous rage and threw
it against the wall. After screaming at her he left. I helped her piece
her phone back together, the little gadget was a trooper; although its
screen was scratched up it still worked perfectly. We had to reset
everything on it, though. I noticed she had some new messages on her phone,
4/8 or 4/something, but I didn't bother looking at them (although
tempted) or mentioning them to her. I wanted to tell her not to let Alfredo
ever treat her like this. I wanted to, but something stopped me from
interfering.
/ We were all afraid of the boss. But I saw what looked like Mila's
yellow and red sweater on the office chair at the seat overlooking the
factory. She was down below, trying to get an ink ribbon in a machine. She
asked the boss for help, going on about how she doesn't understand
these complicated things. The man explained to her that it was actually
quite simple; I sensed a chemistry between them. Music: Green Day - Boulevard of Broken Dreams [Dream Chillout
remix]
Saturday Morning, 4.1.06: We had come all the way to Berlin, and I
figured we wouldn't be back for a while, so I wanted to see the gothic
castle before we left. I didn't even know it existed until earlier that
day, when, putting the CD booklet back in the jewel case, I saw it on the
back of the insert. It was beautiful and solemn; Magestic. I had always
seen the CD cover and never bothered looking at the backside of the
insert before. I mapped out Berlin in my head (zooming in on it through
Europe). It was quite a distance from where we lived, and although (as
they argued) it was just another road trip away, there was no sense in
putting this visit off. It was snowy outside, the birch trees in the
courtyard were bare.
/ He was Jewish, and my parents disapproved, but I knew that with time
they would grow to like him. We ran through the airport, Milosovic had
escaped and was somewhere in the premises. There was a general chaos in
the atmosphere. My fiance barely made it into the train wagon from
above, my [dream] mother helped him get in before the doors closed.
- Jay Z and I sat on the edge of the block, looking at some pictures he
had taken back in his ghetto neighborhood in New York. In the
background of one of the photos I saw a restaurant sunshade (with the restaurant
name on it) that was identical to the streetsign style here in Rio. I
pointed it out to him, I guess he figured it was just a coincidence. An
elderly man passed by and muttered something to himself, hinting that
we were in a relationship. We laughed at it, we were just
friends.
Friday Morning, 3.31.06: It was snowy on the mountain, I trotted up it
and jumped onto the wagon led by 8 other (adult) horses. I thought I
would go unnoticed, but they soon failed to support my weight, and the
oxen and wagon broke. The human cursed at me, I tried to hide away in
shame. It was at that moment when the black birds flew and cawed in large
numbers. They were coming from the castle at the top of the mountain.
The evil spirit had taken over.
/ The world was going to end soon, and I had a number of my stuffed
animals in the back seat of the tiny car [they were coming with me,
wherever we were going]. Maybe Adam Bergen was driving, he teased me about
the number of toys I bought along. I saw Coco through the backseat window
as we got out of the car and walked into the gas station. Everything
was pretty deserted, but in the backroom of the gas station Adam met up
with one of his friends. The friend was going to stick it through and
stay in that room through it all. He had a plastic playground slide,
water guns, other things to keep him busy. They were having a good time
while I stood by the door and watched. I was in no mood to enjoy
myself.
/ The popular kids in the high school were having a meeting for all
school clubs in the basement library. Considering zombies were approaching
the campus, they seemed rather calm (naive). A few of the kids said
they would leave to try to conquer the zombies. No one really cared, but
then I bought up the question: what if they come back and contaminate
us? Still, no one paid much attention.
/ The three little girls I had met earlier had now become zombies. I
was especially sad about one of them, since I had become attached to her
earlier. But she took me aside. She showed me that she wasn't really a
zombie, she had painted her face green and gone along with the act. I
saw it in her eyes, she was still human. I was relieved. Just then her
head expanded and her eyes bugged out; her face was exaggerated like the
rest of them. She asked me if she had turned into one of them, and I
begrudgingly agreed. Then I ran from her, but it was too late, I had
become a zombie, too. But this had happened before... how had I escaped it
previously? As if by reflex, I took a knife and stabbed myself in the
cheek (where my transformation had begun). It didn't hurt me in the
least, rather, it saved me. I hid under the bed, still frightened by it
all.
/ A scientist entered the laboratory with his two teenage children. He
boasted of their academic achievements before getting down to business.
They had all feared the situation hopeless, but the teenage girl asked
to see the DNA data on the computer. After a while she came up with an
ammonia-based anecdote. This was tested on two babies by being injected
into their anuses. It worked, and they all cheered and felt their lives
were out of danger. One of the scientists was about to transform, so
they injected him with the anecdote, but it proved futile. It seemed to
be useless on adults. He was transforming in proximity to them all, and
they felt endangered once more. But he demanded that the (father)
scientist take a scalpel and stab him in the anus repeatedly. Out of
desperation, he did just that, and the man was saved. Everyone was in
shock
/ Everything was back to normal, so it seemed. My mom was still living
in the townhouse, and she looked out the living room window onto the
magnolia tree in the front yard. She called my aunt to see if she was
doing fine. Something was still off, though
Tuesday Morning, 3.28.06: I had gone back to Barcelona to take my China final again. I don't know why I had even bothered, it's not like I had studied this time, either. I thought I could just BS my way through it with information that I sort of knew, but then I remembered the class wasn't over the Middle East, it was over China. I had a small gold colored key that Prof. Beltran had given all of us (or so I thought). He mentioned what room the final would be in but I wasn't paying attention. When I got to the subway station I saw a few other people from my class. None of them knew where the final was either, and I was the only one with a key. I dropped it before getting off the subway, and the door nearly closed on me after I picked up the key and ran out. I lost the other people in the class, now I just wandered aimlessly though the hallway with my rolling backpack and my umbrella. I went to the room I thought the test would be held in, on the second floor, and no one was in there. I wandered around, remembered (or imagined) professor Beltran being surprised to see me take this test, and searching the turquoise lettersized envelopes for last year's paperwork so he could add my information. But in vain, because I wouldn't even show up for the final this time. Dalia spotted me in the hall. She was studying abroad in Barcelona, and she was with an Asian friend of hers who was doing the same. They started talking about all of the BHS people they knew who were studying abroad that semester, one was in Thailand, they carried on with their list as I tuned out. Most of the people they were talking about were Asian girls I didn't know. Dalia asked why I had an umbrella, and I told her that it had been raining in Portugal. I had just come from a daytrip with Claudio. I saw someone from my China class, they said the final was over and that about 100 people had shown up to take it. "What? But all the people that were in the subway with me didn't know where the classroom was, either". I had just failed that class, again. I felt pretty shitty.
Saturday Morning, 3.25.06: My cousin Edwin and I escaped and he raced us off in his red sports car. It was something I had always wanted to do with him, even though I'm not too fond of cars. It was exhilerating, until the cops were on to us. Claudio and I ran into the motel. It was my idea to split up, he went into one room and I went into the one across from it. There were hookers in both rooms, but the room that I went into was a trap. The hooker had been tipped off, and the authorities were trying to open the door. I pushed against it, but I gave up after a while, I knew it would be hopeless. So much trouble had come out of so little, it wasn't fair. That's all I could think of as they whisked me away in handcuffs. I passed by the room where Claudio was hiding, I would never see him again. [He wouldn't visit me in jail because they would arrest him if they found him]. At least I hadn't sacrificed his freedom; That was all that kept me from bursting into tears.
Sunday Morning, 3.12.06: I met up with the girl who we were supposed to be meeting at the Galleria by chance in the elevator. I didn't know who she was, but she seemed to recognize me. She was Indian. She seemed nice, but she told me she was in a rush and that we were still on for later that day. She told me the exact place to meet up with her but I wasn't paying much attention.
/ I sensed something wasn't right when we walked into the office area. A gay interior decorator was explaining how the zebra striped table could be opened up and seperated, but I thought everything he had designed was tacky and unpractical. I stopped by the small bathroom area to take a shower, I didn't like how the curtain was clear and there was no door separating the area. There wasn't any soap, I told the person working for me to get me some so I could shower. He just stood there looking at me. I stepped out; the people at this office were strange. Claudio showed up later with a little blueman toy that would jump into people's mouths and pull out whatever it was that was possessing them. They became less zombie-like. But there was only one toy for the large number of zombies in the area, so we had to flee. It was good to know that the two of us were in this together, and I felt that soon we would be out of danger's way. We ran to a sailboat with a few tourists. In the mad rush I failed to see that these people were all zombies, too. I motioned to Claudio and we both jumped off back to the shakey dock under the ladder. But the ladder wasn't there before... more zombies were coming down it. I just wanted to be back in my room, looking outside of my window at the cats on the carport. I would be back soon. Music: Bill Medley & Jennifer Warnes - (I've Had) the Time of My Life
Saturday Morning, 3.11.06: I had been sent with the others on a scanvenger hunt, the first item on the list was scuba diving equipment. I raced down the fire exit stairs, someone had already found the scuba equipment and was on to the second item on the list. How fortunate... I had no idea where to look, I did an FIU websearch in one of the computer labs, there was only one other person in the lab. The first search didn't work, I just got results back about the scuba diving class off campus, so I was going to do a new search for scuba equipment. Just then a grumpy old lady came in and sat at her desk, griping at me for not asking her permission to use the computers. "Well, when I came in there wasn't anyone to ask..." She told me to leave and go across the building. I walked out of there, I had no idea where I was going to find the equipment, and realized there was probably only one set that the other kid had already nabbed.
/ Since I had good tickets I was one of the first to ask Ronaldinho for his autograph after the game. He signed my paper, and he just motioned as if he were signing for all the other people who asked him for an autograph. I had been so lucky! After getting through the masses I saw that Kaka was also there. I imagined Sandra asking for his autograph, with a glossy printout of one of his underwear ads. I kept walking, it was nice to get an early start to the day, and it was going to be a busy one. Music: When In Rome - The Promise
Friday Morning, 3.10.06: I walked through Savers with my mom and Michael, picking out cute little things that I knew I wouldn't buy because I already had too much junk in my room. In my basket I had two 1970s glasses and a glass plate with Chinese drawings on it. They weren't part of a set but when I saw them together in the basket they looked as though they belonged together. I placed the basket aside as Michael showed me something. A few days later I would ask my mom about the plate, hoping she had bought it.
/ I might have been with Sharmila at the time. Whoever it was I was grateful for her company, because without her I probably would have never left my dorm room. We went bike riding along the bay, looking at the colorful tropical birds we passed. we were able to get an even better look when the wind came through and lifted us up to their level. I was so amazed about everything, life was fun again. The wind slowed down a bit so we landed and snuck into a restaurant through one of the windows. We met up with Adrienne there, so I had Kristan and Adrienne sitting opposite of me at the table. They were ready to order, one had french fries (the waiter reminded her that the dish only included french fries) the other had some weird hummus plate with green olives in it. I asked for a menu and initially wasn't given one when the orders were taken, which ticked me off a little. But then I got one and I still couldn't decide what to get, everything looked pretty gross. Adrienne's dad was sitting at a table on the other side of the restaurant, it was good seeing her again.
- Melinda and I raced to the best (parallel) parking spot in the garage, but I beat her to it. We went down the stairs and I commented on how the parking situation wasn't really that bad, but then I remembered that school hadn't really started yet. "They shouldn't let freshmen or sophomores drive to school", but that would never happen. Something had changed in me, I had realized. I wasn't sure when it had happened, but suddenly I felt richer and I felt as if I belonged. We passed by where they were shooting a movie, a group of JAPs were with some Pakistani girls, some of them even looked related oddly enough. I thought about how that could have happened, in ancestoral terms. The Pakistanis walked through magnificent terraced gardens until they got to the temple where a procession was taking place. I followed them in. There was a small audience and a group of about 25 small Pakistani children singing and holding candles. A few of them were in trance, two in particular caught my eye. I hoped that the chosen one would be one of these two, and eventually that happened. A good looking man in his late 20s came out and choose a fair skinned girl in trance, everyone celebrated afterwards. I spoke to Nadia and Giovanna as they were leaving, and I opened one of the drawers in my mom's stero to find a few of my pairs of pants. I wasn't paying much attention to Giovanna as she spoke to me. The third person I spoke to was much more important, and a Melanie C song played on the stereo as everything came to a close. Music: [Dream Melanie C song]
Wednesday Morning, 3.8.06: I was talking to Professor Vono about the mosque I had seen in the mountains of Braga, in northern Portugal. We got to the subject by talking about the history of the Iberian peninsula, how the Romans had invaded, and later the Moors. It had been a while since I had even spoken in Portuguese, and surprisingly I handled myself pretty well. I said "cerrado" and corrected it soon after to "fechado".
- I sat down with a few friends, all that was on my plate was french fries as the restuarant had nothing else without meat in it. "Fuck it, I'm getting a hamburger... and it better be good, I don't make exceptions for nothing". I imagined getting an overly rare burger and it made me queezy for a moment. My uncle Grish was the owner, and I told him I wanted a burger. It was 4:30 in the morning though, he was about to close. What were we even doing there that late? But for me he would make an exception. He told everyone the small bags of potato chips were free, I assumed he meant with a hamburger, but everyone came up to grab a bag or two, there were a lot of Jewish BHS boys especially. My uncle charged me over $9 for the burger, which was absurd. Maybe I had just forgotten how expensive hamburgers were.
/ My mom still had her Saab, and she was about to drop me off at McKenna's house. We passed through the same streets in the West University area plenty of times, the guy on the bike must have recognized me. I tried to get a good look at him but I didn't have my glasses on. He seemed cute, though. McKenna wasn't home yet, and there was a different SUV parked where my mom usually parked. So she kept driving, and turned around to go back towards the house. She parked in someone else's driveway, it would only be for a few minutes anyway. Their garden was well kept and pretty, whoever it belonged to. I started petting a cockatiel in her cage. She was shy at first but quickly got used to me. Her feathers were so soft, they made me miss having a pet. She was mostly light brown, with an orange spot on her face and a little bit of yellow dashed throughout her body; by her dull coloring I could tell she was a female. My mom had mentioned taking her home and keeping her as a pet, but I was worried about what the cats might do to her. Music: Melendi - Te quiero como el mar
Tuesday Morning, 3.7.06: Ms. Price was our science teacher, and it was the last day of class. The last test was really easy, she gave us a list of questions and we had to choose one to answer. Some of the questions were about experiments we had conducted that semester, others were merely about the teaching methods and offering feedback about the class. I choose one of those, but I was having a hard time finishing it. Just about everyone else had left, and I was still trying to figure out what to say. I proofread what I already had, half of it didn't even make sense. I had written a sentence about a Palestinian man. It wasn't even a whole sentance, rather a fragment. I scratched that one out along with the sentence before and after it. I decided to just turn in what I had, I didn't want to stay there any longer looking like a loser. Ms. Price told us that the next day we would have a real final at 2:30pm. She said it would be open book, but that it would be a contest to see who could write the most about any given subject in 30 seconds. Then she left. We didn't know if we should be happy or what, we were mainly confused. "I thought what we were taking today was the final..." Before leaving Anabell asked me if I had any meatloaf I could give her. "Does it have to be meatloaf?" I thought I could prepare her my lentil shepard's pie, but she insisted that it had to be meatloaf, in her Anabell way of insisting. I told her I could give her a few dollars so she could buy something to eat, but that I didn't have any meatloaf. She thanked me anyway. Music: No Doubt - Spiderwebs
Friday Morning, 3.3.06: It was summer in a lazy town outside of Madrid. I went to ask for the keys, something was off.. All the colors were dull and there was a slight shadow over most everything. I went inside with German and we went up the the loft area, but the whole place looked more like a barn than an apartment. Everything was dusty. There were huge posters on the wall of presidential candidates, they were all cheaters as far as I was concerned. We had to leave soon, a family of four came in. I had a constant urge to spray people with a water gun and get sprayed back, or at least run through sprinklers.
/Perhaps my sprinkler wish would come true. I found myself following German through the lawns of an American suburb. He had a baseball in his hand, he was on his way to some extracurricular class. I was tempted by the sprinklers that I saw, but unfortunately, we were in a rush.
Wednesday Morning, 3.1.06: I walked by the armchair in Claudio's living room. There lay some of the food I had brought from the US and my stuffed animals Yoyo and Plampy, like always. But I took a closer look this time, Mutley sat in between Yoyo and Plampy. I hugged him right away, happier than I had been in a long time. It was a miracle, I thought. Soon after I realized this could not be true, Mutley was in the bag that had gotten stolen in Madrid. I took a better look at him, his eyes were the same, scratched from nearly 20 years of inanimate love, but his "fur" was not. It was a slightly darker shade of brown, and much softer than Mutley's. My face fell, this was an imposter. What was he doing here?
Tuesday Morning, 2.28.06: I had passed by Alex's (Kristan's friend's) mom humble home a few times. I talked to her once or twice through the dirty window.
/ It was my first day in military training, but it would be a while before I would do anything exciting. I was glad to see that a few of my friends from elementary school had signed up as well. I would talk to them after getting food. There wasn't much selection, and just about everything had meat in it. There was a
Mexican theme to the food, so I figured I would be able to get beans at least. The cashier laughed at me when I asked her if I could get beans without meat. She told me in a heavy accent that she would ask in the back. I waited a while and decided it didn't matter, I could fill myself up with the other stuff on my tray. I wandered around the back area to see if I could find the cashier and I saw the River Oaks people seated at a large round table. I asked them why they didn't wait for me, and I didn't get a clear answer. I asked Elisabeth how she had been, it had been so long since I had talked to her. Strangely enough, I had talked to her mom (through the dirty window) more than I had talked to her. She was surprised to hear that. - Claudio said he didn't see anyone in front of us. But how was that possible? The two Chinese girls were just a few yards away from us. Aside from them, we were the only people in the basement floor of an office building in Madrid. They started running towards the exit. I asked Claudio again if he saw them, he started talking to me like I was crazy. I would catch one and then he would see what I was talking about. I ran after the smaller one, she stoped by a metal door, opened it, and ran inside. It was an industrial bathroom, the lights weren't on. I ran in to grab her and Claudio opened the door wider to see what I was doing. By doing so he let in the light, and I found myself alone in the bathroom.
/ We got out of there soon afterwards, I was still creeped out by what had happened. It was nighttime in the Lavapi�s barrio of Madrid, I said goodbye to the Chinese woman who owned the store. Claudio and I walked hand in hand down the street, there was a declination as we passed by the mechanic's. Everything was closed. I turned around and saw a young pale girl dressed in rags, unkept hair, holes for eyes. I screamed, and this time Claudio saw her, too. She was slowly following us, I asked her nicely to leave us alone, told her that we didn't want to do anything to her. She started going back to the repair shop when Claudio screamed at her to come and get us if she wanted. He was sure she just wanted to scare us, that she didn't have the guts to really do anything. Just then she started running towards us and disappeared. I got mad at Claudio for saying that to her, "Que m�s da?" he asked. We got to the end of the street and went up another one parallel to the one we were just on. There were a group of teenagers blasting weird music and burying themselves in sand, they must have been zombies. I started making fun of them to Claudio, but he couldn't hear me. He went into the sand to bury himself.
Monday Morning, 2.27.06: My dad had called me to tell me he was moving and he wanted to pack up the things in my room. I told him to wait until I got to Houston so I could pack everything, but he said he couldn't wait that long, and he would be "losing money" by doing that. I asked him how much the rent was at the apartment he was staying in. It was old and had ugly wallpaper from the 70s, and he was paying over $600 a month, which I felt was too much. I didn't want to move, and I certainly didn't want him going through the things in my room. I immediately thought about my copy of "Scarlet Diva" and the lunchbox of love letters from Claudio. I'm sure there were things I was forgetting, too. But I didn't have a choice- he was moving and he wouldn't wait for me to get there to pack my things up.
/ I hadn't slept in about a day, and it was taking a toll on my face. But I kept high spirits. It was the day of Claudio's dad's wedding, Jakeline and the female members of Claudio's family were with me in the cafeteria. I started dancing when the music came on, ridiculous dances. Everybody loved me
Sunday Afternoon, 2.26.06: Mike Bajsel was in the airport with me, by coincidence. We were going to get something to eat when I saw my dad. I felt embarassed just then, and I went to talk to him and abandoned Mike. It was raining hard outside, my dad suggested I take the bus to where I needed to go, and he got a bus map from the airport information counter. I told him I already knew how the busses worked, but he opened the map anyway. All of the routes had changed, or at least the ones I was used to. Now there was only one bus that stopped at the airport, the "J", but it wasn't the same J I was used to, this one circled the airport and went to one outside stop, which I assumed was the rail station, but it didn't look that way on the map. A man came over to us to explain how things worked, but it just annoyed me that he was there. He asked where I needed to go and I told him Kendall... but I didn't even see Kendall on the map.
/ I sat at a small round kitchen table with Mike Bajsel and Stephanie Louie. Mike took out a cigarette and asked me if I smoked, saying I probably didn't. I said I did every once in a while, and took a puff of his cigarette. It felt good, it had been a while. It wasn't peer presure, I just felt like smoking then. Stephanie did the same, but she didn't even know how to put the cigarette in her mouth... I tried guiding her but she winding up putting the other end in her mouth and burned her tongue. Later, I sat on the sofa with some of my friends from high school and started telling them. "You know Stephanie Louie? Well, no offense but.." then my mom walked in. Or some other older authoritative woman. I lowered my voice and told them she didn't know how to put a cigarette in her mouth and explained what had happened. They all started laughing, and Stephanie did, too. She had been sitting there in the middle of them that whole time, how had I not noticed?
- There were three of us in the bedroom, it had two small beds. The house was dusty and it was high noon outside, light came in through the open door. Claudio asked his friend how the sleeping situation was going to be, since there was another bedroom with one bed in it. His friend told him that a couple was going to be sleeping there... I got the impression that Claudio would rather sleep with his friend than with me.
Saturday Morning, 2.25.06: I sensed Lesbia had come into the computer lab just then, but I didn't say hi because she was with Jen, and I wasn't really sure it was her anyway. I was too fixated in my Star Wars Mario Bros. game to even look up. But sure enough it was her. Mikey came in and sat next to me, we said hi and then he proceeded to talk to Lesbia. She noticed I was there and got kind of mad that I hadn't said hi, but in the joking Lesbia way of getting mad. She said I was too busy looking at porn to say hi. I snapped back, in my joking way of snapping back. I had found a trick in the level, before entering the cave I realized I could jump really high (as toadstool) and get a lot of 1-Ups and other things, and then walk along the brick bridge in the air to warp to the last level.
/ But Mikey and I had other matters to attend. We walked together through the dark, trashy alleyway, guns in hand. My black one was was slightly bigger than his silver one, but he was a better shot and he knew what he was doing, so he led us to where we needed to go. He killed a man in the process, someone in the kitchen who had opened fire on us. Eventually, we needed to get back, but he told me to go first. So I walked back the way we can come in, holding my breath the entire time. The alleyway was particularly scary for me, but I peered into the kitchen and saw that it had been cleared. No one was in there and there was no trace of what had happened earlier. Mikey met up with me along the iron fence. The area had a feel of a cemetary to it. Just then a man met up with Mikey to show him where the treasure was buried. I had been somewhat hidden in the dark, so maybe that's why I wasn't called over with him. But I felt slightly jealous, I tried to follow them without their knowing, but Mila (Claudio's mom) came to pick me up in her black Suburban [a true government official's mode of transportation]. We went down the main street in Copacabana, it was night and it was my first time in the area. We passed by a store "Ain't Buying A Shirt Here" or something like that... The joke was that t-shirts there were so expensive that no one would buy them from there. I saw two American girl come out of there saying the exact name of the store. But it was also a bookstore, a two-story one with a coffee shop.. basically, a Barnes and Noble. Thiago had told me he liked shopping there.
Monday Morning, 2.13.06: We went from the wooded area outside of River Oaks elementary to my back closet area that badly needed cleaning. Michael and I had partially organized things, starting with some books, and then took a break to go online. I printed out a picture of the evil headmistress, revealing her secret identity on the picture. Her name was written in Hebrew and then in English, which was a different name than the one everyone knew her as. I guess I had accidentally printed out two copies, because some old people had gotten their hands on the same picture and were starting to speculate. They also had a copy of the fact sheet about her. We were screwed, it would only be a matter of time before we would be caught. We were the only people using the computer with a printer so they would figure out we had printed it, Kristan was with us, too. The lady came up to the closet and started throwing things around in an angry fit. What would happen to the five cats that she was catsitting? They belonged to Drew Barrymore, or someone who looked a lot like her
- I had barely even gotten to UT and was offered a joint. It was some keg sort of thing, which actually had nothing to do with kegs. So I smoked some of my friend's, and then snorted air through the tiny plastic tube; it was all part of the process. It was my first time smoking a joint, and it felt pretty good. I could trust these people I didn't know. It didn't take a huge effect on me, but it made me feel slightly less aware of things and a little happier. We wandered into a music store, I could tell my breath smelled like shit, even though I couldn't really smell anything. My friend wanted to make out with a girl in the back room, so I left them alone, after insisting that he take a piece of gum for his breath. There were other people making out in another back room, and since I hated the girl I let the guy's girlfriend know about what was going on. She stormed in there, but I left before everything went down.
- I was chatting on AIM when Wylie came in through the back door which was left open because my mom was doing laundry. He told me he was bored and in the neighborhood so he decided to stop by. I was worried because my dad was home and would flip out, but Wylie could help me clean the closet that I had started cleaning with Michael. I gave him some clear latex gloves like the ones I had on, we had the sofa bed opened with the white sheets and comforter on it. That's when my dad came in. But we weren't doing anything besides putting gloves on, he didn't really react in any particular way. Then it was Claudio, and we had sex for a few seconds until he heard something and we stopped. We both put back on our identical plain white shirts in a rush. Music: Alicia Keys - Fallin'
Sunday Morning, 2.12.06: The weekend had come and I snuck over to Claudio's. I had barely done any of my homework, but I had a great time. I started getting anxious as I rode down Fondren on the way home, it was now the second time I had spent the weekend at Claudio's without telling my dad, and he would likely get just as mad as the first time, if not worse. I thought I would be able to sneak in, as it was early Sunday morning, but my dad was waiting for me downstairs. He asked where I had been and I told him at a friend's house, doing homework, and that I had gotten just about everything done. He said he had called the police to look for me, so I felt guilty. But that was it, I went to my room and looked at my desk-- I had a lot of work to get done.
/ My dad dropped me off at school (River Oaks, it seemed). I walked up the stairs into GC with some friends, and over on the corner stairs (that didn't lead to anywhere) there was someone I knew, racing up the stairs, trying to raise money for a good cause. By the entrance there was a homeless man, with a sign asking if we could 'spare a dime'. We ignored them both and sat down in a nook in GC. There was someone else raising money for a different charity at the end of the hallway, but my attention was now on Eddie Vedder, who stood holding a green and purple sign that didn't say anything. "Betterman" played in the background. I gave him $4, because afterall, that song was amazing. Not the chorus, not the bit about a "better man", but the other lyrics and the way they flowed together. I told him I loved that song, he thanked me and took the money. My friend asked him about making a CD, and Eddie told him about putting all the tracks (as in guitar, bass, etc) together and putting it on a CD. I told my friend there must have been freeware that did that, and I got in front of a computer (it must have been mine because it had my bookmarks). I went to one site that I had bookmarked but the only results were for expensive software, so I went to download.com and no results came up in my search. I was probably being too specific. I wasted a lot of time in these searches between the two websites and for nothing Music: Pearl Jam - Betterman
- The dolphins were my friends. But we had to leave our home and search for a new one; it was that season again. We were to follow the black whale Balula who would lead us to our new home. I put my tiny black frog (coqui) on Balula's back and held on to his big body while he swam quickly. He had a deep voice, after a few minutes he told me he was going to swim deep in the water, so I should hold on tight. I was mainly worried about my coqui, who I lost soon after. I went back to look for him, the water wasn't too deep so I was hoping I would see him. I was angry with the whale, I felt like he went deep just to be mean and lose my coqui. The dolpins helped me look for him, but it was useless. And the end of the dolphin chain there was barely any water, we were standing under a pier. Some of the dolphins were girls from Vila do Paraiso in Brazil. I saw parts of a dead earthworm that I thought were coqui, I guess I was relieved when I saw that they weren't. I was sad the rest of the way, convinced that my coqui had drowned. When we got to our new home, everyone there somehow knew about coqui. Mary gave me two yellow gummy worms and told me she was sorry about coqui. I appreciated it, and it helped me somewhat. She told me they might be kind of spicy; they did taste pretty weird. Fauzeya (a dolphin) told me that she didn't trust Balula, and no one really did. He was fast, but she always swam with other dolphins, 4 by 4, because that's always what all the other dolphins told her she should do. I felt like crying over my lost coqui Music: Gus Gus - Polydistortion
Saturday Morning, 2.11.06: I got on a bike and surprisingly rode it pretty well. It made me very pleased with myself, I rode around the apartment while Claudio watched over me.
- I called my mom to find out what was new with her. She told me she had moved out of her apartment and bought a small studio in the outskirts of town. But since they were so cheap she winded up buying too. They didn't have bathrooms, she had to go to the forest to do that. Aside from that, and the fact that she now lived far away from work, I was happy for her.
- An Egyptian teenager or girl in her early twenties went up to the two Pakistanis who were about her age. They were standing outside of an 18-wheeler truck, and she asked them if they spoke Urdu, to which they replied yes. She asked them about rice, in very broken Urdu, but as it turns out they spoke Arabic, and the communication gap was broken.
/ I went into the 18-wheeler with other volunteers, with whom I didn't get along very well. It was our last day though, I wouldn't have to see them again. I had emptied out everything that I was required to, and I was going to stick around to help take out the oil-based paintings, but the supervisors told me I could leave if I wanted to and when I realized I was finally free I jumped out of there ecstatically. The only volunteer I had gotten along with was waiting for me outside of the truck, which surprised me and made me happier. We walked down to the beach together, and I took off my flat sandals when we got to the sand. I noticed someone had dropped a casta�ela and a piece of paper that looked important, so I picked it up to look at it. It was Tim's. I saw him a few seconds later and gave it to him, he responded silently by giving me my other sandal. I remained clueless as to how he had it, and I hadn't even realized it had gone missing
Friday Morning, 2.10.06: The world was ending in a few weeks, but we still carried on our day to day tasks as if it wasn't- things like arguing about grades. I went to my professor's office. He wasn't there, but I ran into Stephen who wanted to complain about a movie we had to watch for class. I didn't like it much, and it portrayed Black people in a negative light, so he hated it. He wanted to ask the professor what the point of the movie was. I thought about it and couldn't think of a point to the movie, but after some more thought I told him "It was to show how Black people lived in the 50s". He told me they were called "colored" people, not Black. Someone put on a professor robe and pretended to be the one we were looking for, which worked on a few other people who wanted to talk to him. Stephen and I left, but not together. I was feeling depressed, maybe because the world was ending; I went to the deaf people's office to make a phone call. There was a group of teenagers signing to one another. I went in the back room that had the phone, and saw a sign with something spelled out in sign language on it. I saw the sign for "m" and made a "A.M." or "J.M" or similar, which was a word. I asked the nurse if I could use the phone, she told me to press "911" first. She did it for me. It didn't actually dial 911 but let me dial an outside line. I got my mom's voicemail. Dejected, I left her a voicemail message saying I would be home earlier than I expected, and that I would tell her why when I got home. I was hoping she would be able to give me a ride. It was 2:10, the nurse could tell there was something wrong but didn't ask questions.
/ We got off the bus and walked up the parking garage, I wasn't with Robine, it was a dream friend. Tenielle was there for a while. We got off the elevator and it was raining hard. My camera got wet. It still worked ok, but the pictures were coming out grainy for a while. I didn't care, I was kind of looking for an excuse to buy a cute new camera, anyway. I left the area to go back to DM where I had waited to talk to my professor, because I had left my camera case there. On the way back I saw Stephen again, he was with a friend of his, but he didn't see me so I didn't say hi. I also saw a bizarro version of him, a black wannabe Brazilian who spoke Portuguese pretty well and always spoke in Portuguese. But he didn't speak as well as I had originally thought, he had a Cuban singsong way of speaking. I got lost along the way, I found DM but went around in a lot of circles on the first floor around the President's office. I passed by the library, a lot of people were reading the same book with a green cover. What tools. There was a cute dinosaur exhibit up, but I didn't have time to get a good look at it. I got out of DM to get to the 2nd floor of the school and see if I could find the office from there. I went up the escalator, I saw that the elevator was open but decided that was a waste of energy. But the escalator winded up taking forever. I walked to get to the top quicker but people were going down and getting in my way. I went on the terrace and saw the dorms from atop, meaning that DM was actually way over there. Then I ran into Mike Bajsel, who said he would walk me over. He was being unusually friendly, I winded up ditching whatever I was doing to go riding around with him in his SUV. We picked up Natalie and she got off at the gas station to pump and pay. Mike was talking about how his car ran, and I asked him if he was getting the Opium put into it, since his car was parked at that pump. Precisely. Natalie was taking a long time, we drove off to mess with her and she came running at us after having paid. Then we slowed down and she was just about to get in when we drove a little more. We were jerks, but it was good times.
Wednesday Afternoon, 2.8.06: We got off the train together and saw Tenielle from the window. We all sat down in a fastfood booth, I wasn't hungry and I knew there would be birthday food later. My friend asked what we were going to be doing and I said the party was just a bunch of us going to see whatever movies we wanted to see in the theatre. Then I remembered that I had a list of movies that I wanted to know what the showtimes were, or if they were going to be playing at that theatre at all. I asked Tenielle, and of course she didn't know it off hand. We were close to the entrance anyway, I would find out soon enough.
/ I stood by the waterfountain in GC and laid my stuff on the ground by me, then walked around the area. Two different girls came and tried to take my things, but luckily my 6th grade violin playing friend (the one I gave my Coca Cola Chupa Chups to) from TH Rogers was drinking water and unknowingly guarding my stuff. I came over and thanked her, saying if it hadn't been for her all my things would have been gone. The 2nd girl came back to try to steal my cellphone and mp3 player again, this time she got away with my stuff, but I ran after her and got it back. She kept claiming it was hers, but with my friend on my side and the fact that the stuff was actually mine, no one would believe her. I couldn't wait to get out of Miami
Tuesday Morning, 2.7.06: We were glad to finally get out of there, but we would have to fight traffic before really leaving the premises. I had a car and could drive it, but I didn't feel like it, so I gave Michael the keys and let him drive. We nearly got into an accident while making a turn, but it wasn't his fault. I felt uneasy about my decision to let him drive, but then figured that we would have probably gotten into an accident had I been driving, not just a close call. I would never learn how to drive well if I just kept letting people drive me around in my own car. School had a warehouse look to it, but the rotunda was still there. We were on our way to the mall, it was a pleasant day Music: Fiona Apple - Sleep to Dream
Sunday Morning, 2.5.06: What did a Candy Striper do anyway? I asked this very question to the group of popular kids from Bellaire, specifically Jana Thompson. They explained it to me, it was pretty much what I thought. She gave things like candy to the elderly and kept the people at the hospital company. I don't know why I even signed up to do it, maybe because McKenna had and I had to sign up for something before graduation. I was probably leaving town in two days, I still hadn't decided for sure. But I had already made plans with my roommates to leave, and in my head I was going to leave, so it was pretty much set. I blew off my candy striping to return two movies to blockbuster and run other errands. I had a car and could drive. I felt guilty for a moment, thinking of the old people who might have possibly looked forward to my candy. But they wouldn't really miss me since they hadn't even met me before.
- Se�or Juan de la Cuesta from Aqui no hay quien viva was being told why he wouldn't be able to become president (of the world, perhaps). She told him in riddle, and it was all a repeat of something familiar to us all. Music: The Police - Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic
Saturday Morning, 2.4.06: I saw a 60s style dress that I liked but I didn't even look at the price tag because I figured it would be too expensive. We were in a hipster thrift store, I decided to look around anyway. Outside one of the first floor dressing rooms, on top of a clothes rack, I saw an MP3 player exactly like mine, but purple. I wished for a second that I had waited until the colored ones came out, and later realized that my silver color was best. And then it was the beginning of a horror movie.
/ I ran at night all the way to the townhouse, where I entered through the back door. I arrived early for my Japanese class, taught by my Catalan teacher, or someone who looked a lot like her. I helped her organize things on her computer; but she wasn't telling me everything, I thought to myself. I spent the rest of the time playing Pinball Music: System of a Down - Thetawaves
Friday Afternoon/Night, 2.3.06: I walked through the aisles of Walgreens, and I already found the package of brownies that I wanted. I passed by an aisle with Nerds, I wanted the rainbow ones but they cost more than the strawberry/grape ones. But I took a closer look, it was just 77 cents, 1 cent more than the other ones. I took a box of rainbow nerds, and then met up with my mom. She offered to pay and put it on the tab for a party at her job that she was in charge of. I asked her what she was going to do for the party, she said she was planning on using paper plates and small clear boots filled with water. They sounded like good ideas to me, and they wouldn't cost very much, either.
- Super Walmart (or similar), later with Mary and Adrienne, Irish and English roots make her a certain way. Adrienne argues that shes American, I try to find middle ground
- Mockingbird, grackle and bluejays come, Danish girl keeps calling "WJ" (or similar) to it, I assume shes praising her god, later tells me its a bad spirit; complicated. She asks for my mockingbird key, I tell her I'll make her a copy
- I ask a Spanish guy in english about dream and he says its significant only if the mockingbird was very small. Later I explain how it looked and he misunderstood mockingbird to be a different bird
- Whitney and I were on the 2nd floor of some apartments, it was getting dark, there was a ferris wheel in the background. I took pictures, it was New Years Eve. McKenna started chasing after me, she didn't want me to load the pictures on the computer from my mp3 player. I managed to lose her and loaded a few anyway. I have dreamt these apts before
- TJ and I get on the 71, he said he had a lot of stuff to take care of. I clean off a seat and sit, he stays on foot. Police were going to give him $800 by accident and he wanted to find out what he would have to do. Turns into my dad. I told him that was dumb because they're just going to realize they made a mistake. Plus it was midnight, the police station wasn't going to be open. The driver stopped to see if a girl was going to get on, she was fat and black and had an attitude, listening to a discman with Farida's track jacket on. It was nice of the driver even though the girl's back was facing the road and clearly wasnt going to get on the bus.
Monday Morning, 1.30.05: That stupid Yogi called me. He had left a message a few days or weeks ago, I checked it in the campus bookstore. He sounded cocky, and in it he mentioned some frat party that apparently I had asked about (although I didn't remember doing so). I just ignored him. Music: Shakira - Ready For the Goodtimes
Sunday Morning, 1.29.06: All of us from Tennielle's bday party (except maybe Lesbia) were hanging out in the parking garage of a large mall. We had a box of liquor, I took a swig from one of the bottles. Then the cops were on the way. Those idiots from Tampa started making it really obvious, "oh no the cops!" and made themselves look really conspicuous. I walked away from the scene, I wasn't about to get dragged down because of their stupidity.
Thursday Morning, 1.26.06: Mikey told me he had been looking for this xbox game since he had moved, and he had just found it in his sofa. "How long ago did you move?" He didn't answer me but I remembered it had been about eight months ago.
- The monster was upstairs, and I had
run out of bullets. But I had another gun, what had happened to
it? I looked in the dining room cabinet drawer where I had last
put it... Had Farida gotten rid of it? I was getting anxious,
and who was this new character standing in the stairway? He had
come in through the back door while I was getting the sword
that was stuck in the sofa. It wasn't as sharp or as big as I
had wanted, but it would have to do the trick. The new guy
offered me his sword, the blade was thicker and the shape was
unusual. He said mine was better, and I agreed, because it
wasn't as heavy and it was easier to grip. But I tried his out
anyway, to see which was sharper. His was, by far, so I took
them both. Then he showed me a trick- he stood in the stairway
and I tried to slice him, but instead I sliced my own linen
pants. It was a great trick... but now my favorite lounging
pants were ruined. I made my way up the stairs to get at the
monster, my left pant flapped as I walked.
- We were standing in the field, which doubled as a parking
lot. It was night time, and my friend realized that her cell
phone was missing. She had left her purse with her new
roommates, and now obviously there were trust issues. I
thought, maybe we all did, that it must have been the Cuban (Lucia's boyfriend in Aqui no hay quien viva) because he
was poor. She took the rest of her stuff and put it in the SUV.
I did the same, actually we all did, none of us wanted to risk
losing our belongings. But other things had already gone
missing. We got out of there and we went to a bookstore to
clear our minds and get some tea. An employee called them the
Brady kids, haha. Susan Olsen (for a while I had forgotten her
real name and called her Cindy [not to her face]. And I kept
getting Peter and Bobby mixed up) looked as though she were 12,
"she was 12 in the series, like 30 years ago". Marcia's
friend called. But he wasn't really a friend, he was a creepy
classmate who was into her. He wanted to make sure everything was ok
and wanted to stop by her place. She told him she was staying
with her friend Dalia (bad move) and that she was unsure about
her new roommates. This guy might have been the killer Music: Tori Amos - Pancake
Wednesday Morning, 1.25.05: A rich white brother and sister got off the schoolbus and started to walk to their house. They must have been about 15. I liked their uniforms, they called out to their friends who were a few blocks away, also in uniform. Uniforms, I thought, were good because they brought the attention more to the face of the individual rather than to the clothing. I imagined myself in the clothes that the girl was wearing. I would probably let the top button loose, then I envisioned a nun getting after me because of it and getting a ruler to the palm. What a different life they must have led
- I hadn't epilated. Mikey's friend came over and brought him a chocolate heart, and then she gave one to me. "How nice of her", I thought, two lay on my bed and I chose the one with I Love Lucy characters on it. I saved the wrapper for Tia Blanca but I decided instead I would find a bag of those chocolates and buy them for her.
- I stood in the sporting goods section, and I tried out one of the skateboards. A longboard, actually, and it went very fast down the aisle, I nearly fell off trying to stop myself. An Arab family was close by. I came back to the section and looked at the other skateboads, I saw a really cute small one and two pairs of "skate" shoes that had weird fat wheels at the bottom. The shoes were connected and you had to unfold them to seperate them. "What a dumb idea". McKenna seemed to like them, maybe she already owned a pair. Music: Blur - There's No Other Way
Monday Morning, 1.16.06: An obnoxious little boy threw a marble at a girl in class, so I told her to throw a marble back at him. When she did it hit the boy to the side of him, and a big fight errupted. For some reason the teacher decided that I would watch after the bratty boy in the library, and when she left he threw a temper tantrum (stomach down on the floor). I tried to talk some sense into him but he got worse, so I finally just let him have it, I was sick of dealing with him. He was so cute, but such a brat. When the teacher came to take us to the cafeteria I asked her why she had put me with him and that he was "just about the worst kid ever". The words sounded harsh coming out of my mouth, but I felt no remorse. Adrienne and Kristan were with me. I sat next to Adrienne at the lunch table but it looked as though she were avoiding me. She just had no idea how terrible that boy was, so of course I looked like a monster when I went off on him. I got up to get some curly fries
Tuesday Morning, 1.10.06: Earlier I had been walking on a trail with a few friends of mine. But now I was in my first floor apartment. I couldn't decide if I wanted to take the stereo back with me or not; It would take up a whole check-in. Originally I thought yes, and I packed it away, but I started having second thoughts, and when I put it back on the shelf I decided maybe I should take it with me afterall. My indecision was bothering me. My friends tried to convince me to get rid of the purple shelf I had. Sure it was bulky, but Kristan's dad had made it, and I liked the design of it, with cubic shapes that created an interesting layout. It was already turned over onto its side. Then I was in the dressing room Music: Kabah - May May
Monday Morning, 1.9.06: I witnessed the Israelis throw body parts of Palestinian children during their protests. I didn't even read what was on the sign the woman was holding. I guess I blended in, no one took much notice of me standing there in disgust. I walked over to where some children were playing. Two boys were playing with red dodgeballs, they were Jewish. Everyone there was Jewish, it occurred to me. A cute little boy who looked like Ben Savage asked me to play with him and his friend, and so I put my foot over the ball like he asked me to, but apparently I winded up doing something wrong and he just got mad at me. Then I walked over with a light brown branch and he said I was doing everything wrong. Stupid kid, I left him there, no wonder no one else wanted to play with him.
/ I walked into the apartment, and I could tell it had been a while since anyone had been in there. It was musty, I had to turn the air conditioning on, and I did so by flipping a small part of the wall open
- He told me about his childhood, in Italian; I was picking up most of what he was saying. He lived with his parents and his brothers and sisters in a storage shed. I saw the youngest children on a sled or raft bouncing from roof to roof, until they fell through one. But they were ok. Then his grandfather told them to desert all their junk in the shed and that he would buy them an apartment. The next scene was of the children all squished into the backseat of an old off-white VW bug, while the narrator talked about the "posto" that his grandfather had that he would never forget. I took it to mean "box". Later he said a word that I didn't understand and Claudio looked it up in his glossary. But before he found it I told him it meant "water serpent", which it did. Then he wanted to look up the word for "worm" Music: Nada Surf - Where Is My Mind? (Pixies cover)
Sunday Morning, 1.8.06: Fritz was over at my house, and he and Yoon had just broken up so he decided he would sleep on my floor. I was trying to play a videogame and there was his big head by my console. He still managed to piss me off after all these months
- I had arranged plans with one of my professors that I might miss a day of class, or show up late, so my group presentation would be postponed. The final in my Korea class was pretty rough, and it took a lot longer than I thought it would. I talked to the professor on the way out and she seemed like she would help me out. I thanked her and showed up to my other class late, but I couldn't find the other two members of my group. A presentation was wrapping up and I had no idea what was going on. Later on, when I was with Kristan at her father's apartment, I saw a poster that dealt with the same topic. I tried getting a good look at it but we had to go downstairs to the pool. Kristan's dad was a friendly blonde middle aged man. We got there just in time for the show. A water acrobat did her act in sync with a killer whale; it was an amazing one. I didn't even really watch the woman, my eyes were fixated on the whale doing flips through the air. But the act was more or less the same thing, I asked Kristan when we would be able to go swimming. She commented on how great the show was. I agreed and I said I wasn't bothered by it but I did want to go swimming. Just then the whale landed on the cement, bounced a few times. All of us were worried about him, but surprisingly he seemed fine. Kristan told me to hurry up so we could leave. While on the stairs she asked why I told her I only wanted to stay five minutes. It was, afterall, just an approximation, I definitely wanted to stay longer. We made our way back to the pool area, the other things we had to do could wait. Music: Julieta Venegas - Amores perros
Saturday Morning, 1.7.06: These teenage girl magazines sure have changed since my day... It was chock full of heavy metal girl rockers, smoking cigarrettes and being dirty.
- My cats were running around downstairs, Nico was chasing a small beige worm while the other two cats (Mimi and an unknown) tried to have a chance at it. It slipped from Nico's paw so they finally did have an opportunity to catch it, although neither did.
/ I caught the bus, whose layout was more like the ones in Vigo. I was sitting alone until I saw Adrienne seated a few seats in front of me. I left all my papers and magazines on my seat and went to talk to her. She seemed overall uninterested in talking to me, but happy to see me and know that I was doing fine. I was going to try to find us a seat together but I just sat down in my same seat. A little black boy looked like he wanted my seat, so I took it before he got to it. I felt lonely
- Claudio told me there was one thing that still bothered him about German - how he hadn't yet come out of the closet. I laughed, and later I was talking to German about his upcoming semester. He wasn't sure if he was going to take Italian again, but he had signed up for "Ba�arse y como desaparecer bajo el agua". He mentioned how cool it was, but how women had the disadvantage of their longer hair. (I took some dream Spanish word that I didn't recognize to mean "mane", or longer hair) Music: La Quinta Estacion - Daria
Friday Morning, 1.6.06: Getting there was weird, there was one hidden entrance and another that looped that seemed like it could be either an entrance or an exit, or both. I got to the top of the hill, which was rocky and had bathrooms and other rooms built into it, with patio seating around. I was about to leave but came back to use the bathroom, only to find all the doors locked.
/ We were a Lavern and Shirley of sorts, middleaged single white women, and whenever our "friend" came into town it was always a treat. I was particularly close to him, he was gorgeous and fun. "He could be a Ralph Lauren model" (-Star Jones?). I was excited to see him, and when I ran to hug him he told me- he had gotten married. My face must have dropped. And there she was, beautiful I'm sure, I didn't get a good look at her because I was still in shock. Why had he come, then? Why was he doing this to me?
/ I woke up and found that my laptop hadn't shut off afterall. It was on the shelf by my bed, tilted at a strange angle. I was still on MSN, only Abby was online, and Jennelle had sent me a lot of IMs about my "friend", scattered with those ugly Trillian smilies. I wanted to talk to her, or somebody, but it was early morning and no one was online anymore. Music: Sophie B. Hawkins - As I Lay Me Down
Thursday Morning, 1.5.06: I walked over to the train station to get some reading done since I couldn't concentrate very well at home. I lived in a boring town in Spain, but the days were pleasant and I generally enjoyed the feeling I got by being there. As I glanced at the young man sitting a few feet away from me the train started to leave. I hadn't purchased a ticket.. because I didn't know that the entire station would leave. I was afraid they would stop to check tickets and realize I hadn't paid, so I needed to get off as soon as possible. I saw a few people jump off the train as it was slowing down, on some red dirt roads in the outskirts of Madrid (I could also get to major city subway stops from this train line? I had no idea). They knew what they were doing, and probably lived nearby. I was going to follow suit but decided to wait until we reached a real stop, so as not to be stuck in the middle of nowhere. At the stop where I got off I found there was a mansion (or castle) where German royalty lived. I can't recall the house, but there was an empty gray stone courtyard that overlooked the expanse of mountains and greenery. A beautiful place to call home. I became friends with the six children, approximately aged 8 to 23, all with some shade of blonde hair. The second oldest son was particularly nice, and cute. I talked to him the most, as he was closest to my age and his English was the best. They all spoke German, English, Spanish, and Catalan. I asked why they moved there, though the answer seemed obvious. But also because they wanted to get away from Germany and the paparazzi. When I got home I stood in my bathroom and looked at a picture of the six children. I wondered if I would ever see them again.
Thursday Morning, 1.4.06: The Miami I came home to after winter break was a changed one. Across from my apartment complex was a Corte Ingles, which I was pretty happy about because now I wouldn't have to go very far to buy groceries. I had gone to Foleys a lot in the past few days, and it was becoming apparent that the Scientologists were taking over (the country). They were all over Foleys. I came in that day looking for the sales sheet and it had been replaced with some Christian Science propaganda. When I went in to ask for the flyer I was greeted by more of them. Fabrela Raviola (dream person from my Portuguese translation class) had a booth set up in the middle of the store, with her name on a banner, so I went to ask her what was going on. But she was one, too. We spoke for a while in Portuguese and she gave me a small cupcake with green frosting. I was very tempted to eat it but I knew it would brainwash me. Then I thought about the other free food I had eaten since I had gotten into town, especially the cute small bottle of water I had downed. Would it only be a matter of time before I became one of them? I walked back to the apartment; along the parking lot of Foleys it looked more like an airport pickup zone, and I saw Oscar and warned him about the Scientologists. But he knew, perhaps he was the one who brought the free food to my attention. I got in the apartment and saw a girl from Harry Potter opening and pushing a small horizontal window door, which swayed the whole apartment accordingly. I felt sick and I told her to stop using her evil magic.
/ The four of us walked under the power lines and waited for the train to come. There were a lot of people waiting for it, and we thought maybe a bus would be a better idea. But by the time we walked over there we saw it leave. Not to mention that we didn't even have money for tickets for all of us, regardless of which form of transportation we were to choose. I had to bring that fact to their attention. But at least we were together, that truly was all that mattered at the moment. Music: Madonna - Let It Will Be
Monday Morning, 1.2.06: It was lunchtime but it was hard finding something to eat that didn't have meat in it. Kristan suggested I get a sandwich, but they didn't offer peanut butter and jelly; "How can they not have peanut butter and jelly??". I was fine eating my bag of Sun Chips, but Kristan was convinced it wasn't enough and that I would have to get something else. I settled for a Blueberry Nutrigrain bar that I had seen in the snack machine, and I asked her to watch my stuff (including Pinguino) while I went to go buy it. There weren't any at the first snack machine, and I went back to the second one which also didn't carry Nutrigrain. Had I imagined it all up? I went back to the first one, then I decided I might get an ice cream bar instead -- what I had thought was a Nutrigrain bar was really something else in a similar package. I left the area and walked to the reception area, then I left the building and made a quick run around the block to try to find a place that sold snack foods. There was a Target close by, so I ran over to it. It was nice being in New York City, it was dark outside but there were so many lights, so many people walking around. Cars were coming but I crossed the street in time.. for a while I thought I was lost but then I saw the Target. I started to run out of breath. I crossed one more street, thinking I had dodged the cars, only to see that they were heading right for me (they weren't driving on the road?) and quickly ran into the store. That's when Kristan called to tell me that class had started. I asked her to just keep my stuff and I would meet up with her later on to pick it up. I said I was in Target, and then I realized that since it was such a small store (New York style), it didn't carry a lot of things, including snack foods. It was already late, so I headed back without any snack foods. I took a quick look at the stores on the way back to make sure I was going the right way, even though I still had the same feeling of being lost in an unfamiliar city. It was fun to run, especially through the pretty office building. Number 42, more or less, I came in through where I had left but this time the receptionist kept me there (security was high, it surprised me when I was able to leave without having to ask permission). I figured I was in trouble, so I kept to myself at the round table. I could tell them that I didn't have my cell phone on me, which was true (but then how did I answer Kristan's phone call?) Ms. Nelson walked in and sat at the round table, without realizing I was there or who I was, and then walked by the filing cabinet. It was then when I introduced myself. I had my army plane shirt on, and she thought I was a boy. A blow to my ego- I messed with my hair until she figured it out. Did I really look like a boy?
Sunday Morning, 1.1.06: I came back to the apartment in Miami, which was bigger and more open, with a totally different layout. An infant, some relative of Oscar, started talking to me and asking me a lot of questions. I decided to be vague since I figured he would just tell Oscar everything. Music: Rage Against the Machine - Bulls on Parade
