On Grandmas and Girl Assassins

I have 3 hours left until my 2nd (out of 4) midterms.

And as we all know, Finals= Crazy Dreams.

Two nights ago, I dreamed of an epic battle/war that could've come straight out of TRTP. That, of course, was in the background. I stood at the front of the dark field, eating a french fry. I know, right? Hello, self, there are people being gutted behind you and you're nibbling a french fry??? (Note: I have finally conquered my fear of french fries being unhealthy and had a few on Saturday.)

The dream dictionary says:

"To see or eat French Fries in your dream, suggests that you should not overlook the frivolous and seemingly minute things in life."

Frivolus or seemingly minute things aka the battle going on in the background? :P

BUT in a reality sense, I think I know exactly what this dream is trying to tell me... ;)

Yesterday night, I fell asleep at 9:13 while studying Chapter 3.4: Trigonometric Derivatives and slept all the way to 7:57 this morning. I'm not sure how that happened.

I had a really intense dream though. My grandma, who's a brain cancer survivor, was being paraded through Westfield Valley Fair Mall in a grand prossession. Meanwhile, a group of assassins were plotting to take her down somewhere around Arden B (which in my dream was upstairs although in reality it's downstairs) ala JFK.

And then there's this super girl assassin who owns Arden B who also happens to be a god-daughter of my grandma. And she hates me. Her boyfriend as well as many of her friends are in the assassination plot, although she's unaware of it. Her boyfriend finds out I know his secret and banishes me from Valley Fair. If he or the assassins (or the girl assassin from Arden B--of course, she doesn' t know why I'm being banished. She just wants a reason to get rid of me) sees me, they're allowed to kill me.

BUT I've already seen how their plot works. They intend to push my Grandma (in her wheelchair) in front of Arden B, where they'll shoot her through the open doors with AK-47s. So I, in my love for Grandma, decide to stop them. Unfortunately, that entails hiding out until the procession begins.

So I'm sitting at a bench by the foodcourt by the Jamba Juice dressed in some ugly black dress that's totally not my style (in disguise) when the girl from Arden B walks by. I bend down like I'm tying my shoelaces to hide my face. She stops behind the bench and peers under it where she can see my face.

I freak out and sit straight, but she's already seen me. She keeps making subtle moves to see my face, and I can't stand it anymore because my heart's beating so hard I feel like it's going to explode.

So I whip around and admit, "Okay, it's me."

She pulls an AK-47 from behind her back, but I beg her to let me explain. So she sits down next to me on the bench and I tell her about how her boyfriend and his friends are going to assassinate my grandmother/her godmother.

What does she do? She pulls two pairs of pumps from behind her back--one sequined red and one sequined black. Now, these shoes had four in heels. (Note: probably because yesterday in dance class, I was practicing my strut, which I think I've gotten down pretty well)

She tells me to put them on because they'll be a better disguise if I dress exactly like her. And we go into Arden B and she gives me the black sequined spaghetti strap dress that in real life, I happened to have bought from Arden B during their Black Friday "Buy One Get One Free" sale. So I go into the backroom and put it on.

And I look hot.

And now she wants me to go through the foodcourt to wash my hands in the bathroom. And I say "Are you crazy? If your boyfriend sees me, I'm dead." And she says I won't have to worry because there are so many people in the foodcourt her boyfriend won't see me.

She's right. Instead of assassins waiting to take me out, I see a lot of my classmates (which I do on all mall trips). And they wave at me and ask me what's up, COMPLETELY oblivious to the murder plot about to happen in two hours.

So, okay, great.

I go back to Arden B and the girl assassin gives me an AK-47 and tells me that we need to take down her boyfriend/whoever tries to kill my Grandma before they can get to their posts inside Arden B. So we have our rifles ready and we're sitting in the display window waiting for the assassin boyfriend and his friends to walk in--

--and I woke up.

I know, right? LAME. I was dying to know what happened, but it was alrady 7:57 which meant I had 3 hours to study 11 more sections of math. In fact, I'm going to go and do that now.

First of all, dream interpretation:

"To dream that you are a witness to an assassin, indicates that you need to pay more attention to some small detail. Do not overlook the seemingly insignificant things in life."

Wow, ties right in to the french fry business, huh?

"To dream that you are a hero, signifies your inner strength and weaknesses. The dream refers to your ability, determination and level of confidence. You have the power to bravely face the secrets of your unconscious and confront life's challenges."

"To dream that you are a spy, indicates your mistrust of others and your tendency to be in everyone's business and affairs. Perhaps you have recently stumbled upon some information that was not meant for your eyes."

"To see or wear a dress in your dream, represents a feminine outlook or feminine perspective on a situation. You are freely expressing your femininity. If you are a man and dream that you are wearing a dress, suggests that others are questioning your sexuality. Or that you are feeling sexually insecure."

"To see or wear stilettos in your dream, signify female sexuality and domination."

"To see a gun in your dream, symbolizes aggression, anger, and potential danger. You may be dealing with issues of passiveness/aggressiveness and authority/dependence."

I have one hour left to finish studying for this freaking Calculus final. Wish me luck!

Best Detentions Ever

Location: Desk (That's in the Awesome Possum Bedroom)
Music: "Only Girl in the World" by Rihanna
Mood: Bouncy *smiley fox*

I thought I'd share this website. Best (or worst, arguably) detentions ever. This actually came up because of a paragraph in TRTP where I was describing a ridiculous detention. I ended up settling for wearing a t-shirt that said "Leave me alone."

:)

Which of course, made me think of MY best detention. I think it was one day when I was late for school because it was raining outside, and I walked to school without an umbrella. Not even nearly as epic as the ones on the Huffington Post.

So... dreams for yesterday night. I dreamed of rocky road ice cream. And then buying strawberry mochi because the ice cream container didn't contain enough for the party I was throwing for JCL.

Again, this is stress related. Originally, the other JCL officers and I divided the food up into two categories: ice cream and stuff you pile ice cream on (e.g. brownies, pizookies, you get the point). I was busy with work, so I asked my grandma (who was visiting) to buy some ice cream for me. She said okay.

She ended up buying cinnamon rolls.

Thus in my nightmare, only one other officer showed up with a tiny carton of ice cream. I went "ACH. How are 20 people gonna eat that???" So, in the nightmare I went to Ranch 99 and bought strawberry mochi.

The dream dictionary says:

"To see or eat ice cream in your dream, denotes good luck, pleasure, success in love and satisfaction with your life. You need to savor the moment and enjoy it. Alternatively, the dream may suggest that you need to cool off and not let your temper get out of hand. On the other hand, the ice cream may be a pun on "I scream". Perhaps there is something that you need to let out."

Cool. Supposing the first part holds true, I'm waiting for this "success in love" and "satisfaction with your life" to show up. :P I guess it did, because I got to work on TRTP today while blasting music on a YIM window with Mich and discussing the meaning of life. Best way to spend my night.

As for the "I scream" interpretation, there are many things I want to scream about. For example, "EVERYONE IS MORE THAN A NUMBER"--on a test, on a scale, whatever. Worth is not determined by numbers.

My new favorite song is "Papa Can You Hear Me?" by N-Dubz. It's my sound track whenever I'm having a bad day, which I did today. And that's totally wierd, because we screamed and played freeze tag and acted like kindergarteners in Biology today. And that's awesome.

^ Isn't that the most AWESOME building ever? It actually exists. In New Orleans off the Mississippi River. Urban decay for the win. This photo was taken by Briantmurphy.

Btw, did I mention that once, I accidentally said the Mississippi River was in New York (and meant it on accident)? TO a history teacher? In front of 32 people? And not my history teacher--he was subbing. Very embarassing.

One more funny moment--a few weeks back at the mall, I was eating in the food court. This little kid was sitting next to me with his parents. Every time his parents weren't looking, he would reach over with his fork and steal my food. Like, he would just poke his fork into my southwest chicken pasta salad and eat it. And it happened like 10 times. I had no idea what to do, so I just sat there. Very awkward.

Okay, it's 3:45 a.m. and I need to be at the gym by 7:50 tomorrow morning. Good night!

P.S. I considered making a label called "funny," but I think all my posts contain something funny. (I try, anyways). Just in case you care about the deep thought process behind my labels.

Urban Decay

Location: Desk (That's in the Awesome Possum Bedroom)
Music: "Don't Cry for me Argentina" by Glee Cast
Mood: Chipper *grinning fox*

All right. Ten minute post because it's almost 1 a.m. and I have to get up at 6 a.m. tomorrow morning to study.

I checked out Catching Fire and Mockingjay by Susanne Collins in one shot today. From the library, thus saving $33.98 that I can otherwise spend on even more books! I also happened to shoot a plastic discus halfway across the library and succeed in getting it stuck behind a bookshelf. (Oops) I didn't know it'd fly so far! And so fast! I'll ask the librarian to help me get it out tomorrow when she comes back. (In case you are wondering what I was doing with a plastic discus, it was a Christmas gift from someone.)

The night before yesterday night I had a REALLY NERDY dream involving calculus and biology, so I ignored it and pretended it never happened. My dream mind keeps screaming Finals! Finals! Finals! at me, so today I dreamed of...

An iguana.

And some other stuff, that I saved in a OneNote doc on my new Windows 7 phone. And they are...eyes. And a shirt (rather, taking off a shirt. NOT INAPPROPRIATELY. I was in the locker room at my gym before showering.) I guess I'll censor this post anyways. Moving on--

The dream dictionary has to say:

"To see an iguana in your dream, represents harshness, cold-heartedness or fierceness. You approach situations or problems with both hostility and unstoppable determination. The iguana may also remind you of someone or some situation in your waking life that you find frightening yet awe inspiring."

"To see your own eyes in your dream, represent enlightenment, knowledge, comprehension, understanding, and intellectual awareness. Unconscious thoughts may be coming onto the surface. The left eye is symbolic of the moon, while the right eye represents the sun. It may also be a pun on "I" or the self."

(Too bad I don't remember the context of the eye dream...my note simply said "eye")

"To dream that you are stripping, indicates repression of your personal and physical desires. You are yearning for greater self-expression [...] Alternatively, the dream may be a pun on being "stripped" of something that you valued or cherished."

So, iguana= unstoppable determination/fierceness/coldness. Finals maybe? Or my determination to finish TRTP. Or the fact that I'm trying too hard in my English class.

Eyes= enlightement/knowledge. I really wish I remember the context of that part of the dream... Finals again?

And finally, changing at the gym= yearning for greater self expression. Maybe related to everything that gets in the way of me working on TRTP. Or trying too hard in English class.

Recurring themes: Finals. TRTP. Trying too hard in English class.

What do these stressors have to do with urban decay as the title of this post indicates?

Well, I have this huge thing for urban decay (as in dead cities, not the makeup brand, although I am also a HUGE fan of Urban Decay makeup). Destroyed cities and abandoned places are a pretty obvious theme in TRTP, what with all the alleys and abandoned subway stations and the burning gangfights in the Downside. I was stuck on a scene today--I'd begun to run out of things you'd find in dead cities. I'd used overturned cars, mangled bicycles, burning stuff, etc. Usually when I'm stuck, I google terms or look them up on DeviantArt to get my brain rolling--so, that's what I did.

I found these two AWESOME collections of images. The first is 100 Captivating Examples of Urban Decay Photography. There's also The Beauty of Urban Decay.

Aren't they so pretty? A picture can't take my breath away. But the ruins of a once-beautiful city can. And that's what all these pictures are. If you've read Ch24 of TRTP, you'll find a lot of these images familiar--that is, if I've managed to capture their essence in written language. But, I'm serious. I had chills looking at some of those photographs. They were so pretty!

I also realize that I work really well when I'm listening to ballads (usually sung by the Glee cast). Tomorrow I need to share my playlist for TRTP.

Btw, sometimes it's good to just take it easy.

I'm really. Really. Really. Really burned out. I can't work anymore. Life tends to get this way towards the end of the semester. I keep finding myself sitting around just staring at the same line over and over on a textbook and absorbing nothing. It sucks, and it's also the source of many panic attacks and freaking out. I'm getting better at dealing with it though. I had a Biology exam today and couldn't get any studying in last night.

I didn't let myself freak out.

I went to sleep instead and set my alarm to 6:23 and 6:39 as always. And as of every day every week since after Thanksgiving break, I missed both alarms--something else that tends to happen towards the end of semester. No human can survive on 4 hours of sleep for that long...

Instead, I got up at 7:08. I took out my contacts, made a mozarella+spinach+bacon sandwich with my favorite 12 grain bread, and sat down at my laptop. I studied from 7:08 to 7:40 when I had to leave for my first class (I wasn't late today for the first time since after Thanksgiving when I started oversleeping!)

And then I studied discreetly during my first class when nobody was looking.

And then I studied at lunch for 20 minutes.

I walked into my exam without very high expectations.

I scored a 100%.

:)

Sometimes, you just need to relax. I mean, I've been paying attention in class, doing all the assignments... "Striving for excellence is great! Striving for perfection will only make your life miserable." My history teacher told me that sophomore year.

I'll top it off with a Christmas LOLcat.

:). TGIF.

...P.S. My ten minute post turned into a 40 minute post. How did that even HAPPEN???

Manifestation of Stress

Music: (I've Had) The Time of My Life by Glee Cast/Dirty Dancing
Mood: Elated *Insert smiling fox*
Location: Desk (That's in the Awesome Possum Bedroom)

I have successfully imported all my posts from LJ to Blogger. I didn't think it was possible. A big thank you to Livejournal2Blogger. They really rock. I'm not really new to Blogger because I used to have a blog here. I kind of miss the icon-driven-ness of LJ, but then again, I missed my widgets and my custom templates and my followers box more ;).

On to my day...

I never knew you were supposed to tip the newspaper boy. He's been leaving cards on my doorstep. I think he's left 3 by now... I didn't get it until today (I'm relatively new to this newspaper delivery business). I had to google "newspaper carrier christmas card" to figure all this out. Well, I stuffed $15 in the envelope he left, added a pretty thank you card, and drew a huge smiley face on the front of the envelope. Hope that makes up for it... I'm so ignorant ;).

As for that Scarlet Letter essay, I FINALLY finished it. I sacrificed lunch for my violin audition. And then I had an hour and 15 until my next class, during which I frantically wrote. Towards the end, it's REALLY CRAPPY quality and I totally screwed up my MLA citations. But at that point, I was so tired, I really didn't care.

I'm sad. :( I had an A+ in English. We'll see how all this goes...

On the bright side, I finally got my Borders gift card!!! I already know what I'm spending it on. Last Sacrifice by Richelle Mead. That series is amazing. So sad that it's coming to an end.

P.S. Don't you think the slide show at the top of this blog is so pretty? :)

Crazy Dreams

So I learn from the ad at the top of my LJ that the University of Farmers is releasing a series of what looks like...HORROR films? Wow. No comments there.

On the other hand, today, my friend and I were having a discussion about dreams (I was telling her about my dream dictionary fiasco Sunday night. See previous post). And crazy dreams. The other day (Thanksgiving Day to be precise), I was sitting outside Starbucks when I overheard this guy talking to his girlfriend. He was a pressure point specialist or something, because he was telling her that if you put a patch or acupuncture needle in the middle of your forehead where your third eye is, you'll have crazy dreams every night. Apparently, some people in Europe wear a patch there every night just to have crazy dreams. It's crazy, right?

My friend and I deduced one thing: we don't need patches to have crazy dreams. Stress and not enough sleep give you that. I'm not sure if it's just us, but I--for one--ENJOY having crazy dreams. I've been having a lot lately considering how finals are next week and we're getting to the end of semester. I have issues remembering some of them, especially since half the time I wake up, the same thing happens. This happens:

1. What happened to the hot assassin stalking me?
2. Why am I in a room with open binders all over the floor?
3. I glance at alarm clock.
4. It's ringing, and I've missed both alarms, the first one at 6:23 and the second one at 6:39.
5. In fact, it's 7:49 and I have 11 minutes to get to class.
6. Oh shit.

Yeah. That happened to me today. Remember that Scarlet Letter (not Scarlett) essay I was telling you about? I still haven't finished it.

I'm just so burned out. Yesterday I was just standing outside the bathroom staring at the wall when my friend tapped me on the shoulder and was like "Uh...you've been standing here staring at that wall for like...10 minutes."

I didn't even notice.

That's how tired I am. I haven't even started studying for finals yet. (Nobody has. We're all so dead.)

On the other hand, I just got 2 detentions for being late to my 1st class 4 times in a row. (You get 1 detention for the 1st three and then 1 attention for every late after that) I'm doing mine today and Friday.)

But you know what? Rather than stress out about it, I checked out The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff from the library and I'm gonna see how far I can plow through it in 45 minutes. (Btw concerning the word "plow," British people spell it "plough" while Americans use "plow." I use both interchangeably. Juts an interesting piece of info) Yeah, I've been dying to read The Replacement. The librarian told me how ecstatic she was about it when I checked it out, although she didn't have time to read it yet.

When I discovered they had this at school last night (and to think I used to call school library catalogs stupid), I did a little happy dance. I mean, that's $16.99 I just saved from buying from Borders, man!!! Every Borders Gift Card is sacred. I also see that whoever borrowed Suzanne Collins' Catching Fire has FINALLY RETURNED IT. Now I just have to find it in the library. It's not next to The Hunger Games in the "C" shelf. I'll need the librarian's help on this one... If I can find it, and if someone returns one of the 2 Mockingjay's, then that'll be about $34 more saved.

And did I mention that yesterday morning, someone kicked over the starbucks delivered by my cheer team? They put it on my chair, and a guy (on accident and I 100% forgive him) knocked it over. It was a green tea latte. Quite interesting to see such a puddle of opaque lime green on the floor. Took the efforts of 5 people to clean up. Don't think I'll be ordering that flavor anytime soon.

Now, don't you wish that:



Maybe I'll try this job out in detention if I get tired.

Either way, I need a break from staying up till 2 a.m. studying.

And now, time to cross 2 streets to detention in Room 6. And I have no idea where it is. Or whose room it is.

BUT...I get to read The Replacement!!! :) See? Everything can be positive if you make it that way. I'm proud I didn't let myself get let down this time ;). I'm getting there.