When your dreaming brain needs someone to run about a field with a zither or sitar or other non-Western musical instrument and to act in sort of Bugs Bunny-like ways, Alan Alda really does present the perfect casting option.

How tired do I have to be for my dreams to feature, twice in less than a week, me slowly succumbing to the early stages of some indeterminate, degenerative and ultimately fatal illness that has extreme fatigue as a symptom? Seriously, I didn't think I was so exhausted that I would dream about sleeping more.

And my god is the date changing fast these days. I can't believe we're halfway through December and rolling up on Christmas. It's almost enough to induce a mild bit of panic.
( Two weeks worth of posting crammed into one life update )

I failed to mention last week that lairian followed up on his plans to get a Playstation 3 and a copy of RockBand 2. We grabbed lunch and ran over to BestBuy (it's kind of fun to watch someone else spend that much money. ;P) and then brought the whole thing back to my place to get set up. Leiland joined us after she got off work, we got everyone set up with avatars and I proceeded to spend most of my Halloween happily trying to figure out vocals for a whole new list of songs. (Duran Duran's "Hungry Like the Wolf" - 100% on expert on my first try! Haven't managed to repeat that, but I will...oh yes, I will...)

As I have mentioned to both Lairian and Adnate, I think it's REALLY awesome that between me, Shar, Lairian and Leiland we have a complete band without any arguments about who's on what instrument. I loved that about getting my RB1 set up and it's just as awesome with RB2.

Even better, we're getting the rest of the group into it. Lairian brought the set to Poe's last night. He spent last week unlocking everything (homework sucks - play RockBand!) so there's a TON of new things that I'm dying to try, and I'm pretty sure that we're going to get both Poe and RoseRed up to at least "hard" on vocals before long as well. MishFish, Keshian and The Man With No Screen-name all have a gift for drums and Adnate is getting good at guitar.

Favorite bits of last night:

- "assistance" on vocals (and the backup singers were cool too)
- figuring out "Carry On My Wayward Son"
- watching Lairian positively SHRED on guitar on "expert" in AC/DC's "Let There Be Rock"
- Keshian and MishFish "double teaming" the drums (he dealt with sticks and she worked the foot pedal)
- AdmiralOrko's avatar creation

And I predict that we're going to be utterly sick to death of "Still Alive" by the end of the next group play session.

After all that, you'd think I'd be dreaming about RockBand - but no, instead I have dreams about working a Republican political campaign in the middle of a sci-fi/fantasy convention where my friends are working with David Tennant, and doing it all while wearing my climbing harness. Seriously, I have some concerns about my subconscious mind. There were a few bits that made perfect sense (mmmm...*grin*) but a lot of it was just baffling.

My sleep patterns have been a bit wacky lately - waking up a lot during the night mostly - and as a result I'm getting to remember more of my dreams, since my brain is kicking me straight from REM to conscious, instead of my usual ability to sleep through the apocalypse.

Last night easily gets the award for weirdest dream I've had in the last month or so. I haven't even figured out what prompted most of it...

The basics were that I had relocated to Brazil for work; Sao Paulo I believe. I wasn't particularly happy with the move, but at least the locals spoke a good bit of English and I had a handful of people who were there with me. I woke up trying to remember the name of the Brazilian version of a mojito - which is just like a mojito except that the rum is replaced with paint thinner and they garnish it with a stick of sugar cane - and a desire to visit Portugal.

At the end of January 2009 the two year lease that I was so happy to sign in 2007 will expire, and after two years the honeymoon is most definitely over.
( LONG Ramble About Housing )

I've had this dream before. I think it was a few months ago, but I'm not certain, all I knew when I woke up is that I've had this dream before. In this dream, I attended a Ren Faire - my brain tells me that this was Folsom, but that's relatively inconsequential since it looks nothing like any faire I've ever seen.
( details if you really want them )
That's about all I remember...and I know I've had this dream, with variations, before...which sort of weirds me out.

I've had recurring dreams - or at least recurring topics to my dreams. There's been a lot of being chased, hunted or trapped over the past 6 months, with different settings and different people (like the dream within dream of this one), but the same basic actions. This is the first recurring setting I've had in a while, and the content doesn't really scream something at me about what might have prompted a recurrence. I wish I could remember when I'd first had the dream to begin with.

So this is a new theme for me for dreams -- a confliction between two lovers where, for very comprehensible reasons, I couldn't have them both. (In this case, a brother and sister, and there was some other issue regarding a pregnancy - not sure if it was mine or hers - and paternity that also made it "impossible" for me to be with her.)

I've gotten pretty accustomed over the last few months to dreams of being chased, or being hunted, or being trapped, and I suppose this is a new twist on an old theme in some ways, but usually where my dreams involve romance and intimacy, they're more...upbeat if you will.

This is also the second dream in as many weeks to involve some aspect of pregnancy in relation to me, which should give a couple of my f-listers a good laugh. (No, I really don't think this is my biological clock...I think this is my subconscious providing plausible context for other dream content.)

I've been remembering my dreams lately, which is fairly unusual for me. It also means I've not been sleeping soundly through the night, since they've been (emotionally) violent enough to wake me up. I'm learning a few things about my subconscious though...

Apparently Stargate:SG-1 and Stargate: Atlantis have characters that are easily incorporated into certain dreams. Dr. Who has equally transportable characters. Torchwood, much as I might wish it was the characters crossing over, is just succeeding in supplying monsters. And reading Dresden Files books just before bed? Bad idea on the monster front too.

Three specific people have shown up consistently in just about every dream I've had for the last week. Sometimes together, sometimes alone, but always there. I would wonder why, but my subconscious hasn't been particularly subtle about that either...and hasn't been nice enough to be unsubtle in a fun and interesting way, unfortunately.

Lots of dreams about being trapped or chased or hunted as well - and one where my friends, as a group, accidentally left me behind when we were all out together on a social event, and then I wind up trapped and hunted. I have a pretty good guess where that one came from, assuming dreams about being hunted really do indicate anxiety about something. Unfortunately, if I'm right, it's not something I can fix right now, so I'll have to learn to reduce the anxiety about it. (Don't worry...it's nothing anyone outside me is involved in or responsible for in this case.)

Maybe I'll watch Disney movies right before bed this week and see what happens, since my brain apparently wants to carry things over and warp them. I'd go for straight-up porn and see what results, but with the way my subconscious has been twisting things, I'd probably wind up the screaming center of a tentacle-filled hentai dream or something. Besides, if Captain Jack isn't positively affecting my dream content...

Why is it always the worst parts of dreams that happen in that point just before waking where they become painfully believable and stay with you after sleep has gone?

Why can't the part of the dream where I'm at a party be what I think of right as I wake up? Or that pretty topless girl? Or meeting a new friend?

Oh no...it has to be the part where I'm getting dumped or a friend is walking away or the cat got run over...THAT'S what I wake up to... =/

I'm succumbing to the trend of "year in review" posts partially because I'm a sheep, but mostly because I suspect it would be worth it on a personal level to determine that some good things did come of this crazy year.

( Topsy turvey 2006 )
And now it's over and 2007 will see me moving to a new home, with more space and a pool. I will try to get back in shape, and to hell with the risk of narcissism...I have friends who will deflate my ego when it needs it and who love me for who I am, not how I look. I will see B. and the family in March and get to Seattle at least once. I will try to not let work get to me as much as it did in 2006 - because looking at my posts, I was one STRESSED OUT woman. I will save money towards a house and hopefully be able to buy something in 2008 or early 2009.

I will do my best to not sweat the small things, to enjoy what I have and to trust that my friends will not let me kill myself.

Now back to cleaning my house and packing my belongings.

Uh..ah..whoa...um...*dazed expression*
( I so don't have an appropriate icon for this kind of post )

So California is now one step closer to legal same-sex marriages - and without court action so far. (Yes, that's a dig at my Massachusetts cousins since I'm still a bit jealous that their state took the plunge first, even if under judicial duress. ;-P )

The State Senate passed legislation last week that would make same-sex marriage legal. The State Assembly has now also approved the bill, and it's on to the Governator.

I suspect that it will be vetoed and then the State Supreme Court will go the same way as Massachusetts when it finally gets the cases stemming from Mayor Newsom's marriage spree in S.F. last spring, but we'll see -- it's possible Cali will make that step on its own.

Of course then there'll be litigation related to whether the State Legislature can take such action without violating Prop. 22...but in the meantime, I'm fairly proud of our state politicians for once.

I've been reading a great deal lately -- more regularly than I have in sometime as I got utterly sucked into spending hours in front of the television for a long while there. In particular, I've been on a kick of re-reading my collection of re-imagined fairy tales. Orson Scott Card's elegant Russian sleeping beauty, "Enchantment", Jane Yolen's exquisite "Briar Rose"...and most recently, Robin McKinley's second take on Beauty and the Beast titled "Rose Daughter".
( The list goes on... )

Someday I suppose I will stop picking up a book, curling up on the couch and several hours later coming out of the reading hypnosis as I finish the last page, blinking with mild surprise that I read the whole thing in a few hours.

I will probably be blind when that happens...and very unhappy.

*contented stretch* And now to drag myself and my bookworm nature off to bed.

(At least I had the wisdom to put on my reading glasses this time.)

when I got home from work today. It was about 12:45 by the time I actually got in the door (half-days on Fridays - so that still counts as me working late..._again_). Went upstairs to check on my sleeping beauty. Curled up next to him and was unconscious for 2 hours...

( Read more... )

Wanted: Cinderella's slippers, 1-2" heel, size 7-7 1/2, preferably in obsidian to match dress

( Going to the ball... )

Watch for falling rocks. You're an all around
good person and a great listener. People enjoy
your friendship, but goodness, your moodiness
is so hard to predict. PMS isn't a good excuse
for you and you know it. Learn to relax and
not take everything so personally. Your
emotional outbursts will scare people off, so
Calm Down!


What's Your Sign?
brought to you by Quizilla
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
( Officer Sun, we salute you )
( Chicks and technology don't always mix )
( Need more weekend )
( faster pussycat, kill kill )
( Smarty pants )
( blood and water )

Things I should really get around to:

tax filings

call Amanda's chiropractor

submit a vacation request for my cousin's wedding in April

find a dentist

call my eye doctor

sleep ^{Permanent Item}

Learn more about securities law

read through the non-profit corporate law statutes for California

finish the novel I'm reading

make the necklace design I've had in my head for a month

finish repairing Scott's necklace

say "I love you" to the people that need to hear it ^{Permanent Item}

figure out why I've been having insecurity attacks the last few weeks

not actually be catching a cold

learn to stop worrying

visit my parents

groceries

laundry

Hear 'I love you' from close ones ^{Permanent Item}

ponder the meaning of life (or possibly just solve the world's problems)

give some serious consideration to making inroads on my CLE requirements

pay the bills & James' guild fees

pay Amanda back for James' faire costume

email Betsy

finish this list later and get back to work