I had a dream last night/this morning. I tried narrating it to a text to speech thing on my hone but all I got out of that was a Mess, so I'll try it here again. For context, I used to play percussion in a concert band and marching bands for yeaaaaaars, basically all the way up until I left Fredericton for good.

In my dream I was in a marching band with a bunch of people that I knew. Somehow it came out that they were also in a concert band as well, and invited me to play even though I hadn't done anything like that in a while. There were a bunch of people I actually knew in my dream bu the only ones I can remember are my friend Gale and Kennesaw, ho both played percussion with me. Also there was at least one Matt, who was a tall skinny guy with curly brown hair down to his shoulders who might have been compiled from a few different people I actually know, or just a random dream figment. I knew him in my dream, though.

ANYWAY, as with most of these things, I remember a lot of little details that I don't really know how to fit into a narrative, like how at first I thought they didn't have a base drum but then I saw it just wasn't set up, and stuff like that. We were supposed to be playing this piece and I said I could do the tympani. Only I'd gotten these bi-pride covers for them that were like flags that were supposed to go over the heads, as a surprise for Kennesaw, and I wanted to install it. It shouldn't have been difficult, but as is the way of dreams there were a bunch of stupid obstacles. At first no one could find the key, but it turned out these ones just had a slot in the top of the rod and could basic ally be turned with anything. They were like real tympani, in that the rods were weird - more like just regular bolts in some ways, and despite seeming to be in tune before I started, it turned out one of them was missing. I was messing around with all this stuff and not actually playing in the song and people who didn't know me thought I was just fucking around and didn't know what I was doing, including the conductor. At the end of the run through it turned out that there was someone outside the room (Matt! or *a* Matt anyway - it might have been a different Matt, possibly Kennesaw's brother) who was playing the part on the other set of tympani no one had told me about. So I wasn't contributing anyway and my efforts to put together the surprise were also thwarted and had to be abandoned. Also, my hands were hurting from playing the marching stuff we'd 'done earlier' (part of the dream backstory).

Someone, maybe Gale, suggested we move on to a different piece so I could try something else. But they were playing base and Tall Matt was on snare and Kennesaw was doing something else? So all that was left was cymbals, which was a part they hadn't bothered with before. I was keen to do because I think there is a lot of cool nuance to playing the cymbals well that's not just loud clashing (although there is that when appropriate), but my hands were so sore I wasn't sure how long I could hold them effectively. I woke up before I got to pay anything though, because my hand was actually *really* sore from yard work yesterday and then I was sleeping on it badly.

So I know where some of this comes from - I'd been talking to another friend online about my percussion background not too long ago and that's clearly still in my mind. Another friend was showing off a bi-pride horse blanket she got for riding and I'm assuming that's where that came from. The rest is more speculative, but maybe just a general sense of being underestimated and a general sense of frustration with circumstances that I think probably everyone is feeling at not being able to accomplish what we want.

In other news.... yesterday was a really beautiful day and I spent a lot of it outside trying to work more on the yard. I picked up more trash out of the "compost pile". Which is the trash heap that the previous house owners weaseled out of having to clean up by bald face lying about what it was. Hot tip: neither plastic, glass, nor electronics are compostable. I also worked on cutting down scrub trees along the fence line - mostly hackberries. Some are growing into the freaking fence. Some could be just cut with pruning shears, but some need more serious treatment and I sawed off - thus my sore hands. If I'm being generous I got about a third of them done. The trees still need further thinning but if we do that it would need professionals again. We cut down all the manitoba maples last year and it made a big difference, but I'm realizing how much more work still needs to be done. Of course the same is true of the house itself.... we've done almost none of the stuff we talked about, lol. Which is exactly why I insisted on doing my room *before* I moved in... Anyway, other than yard work, I spent a lot of time playing with the new puppy, which he deeply appreciated :) He's 7 months old today!

It is ridiculously nice out today, plus it is a long weekend, so apparently this gives me incentive to do some cleaning, wooh! Plus also my allergies have been going bananas cray and that is always an incentive to try and reduce indoor allergens. The latter combination is a poor one though because it means that I vacuum for 5-10 min, then sit for thirty because my lungs are going "whyyyyyyyyyy ;_;" at me. Or my upper respiratory area, anyway. I really ought to go and have a chat with my doctor about my acid reflux because I suspect it is also contributing more than it should.

Anyway! I got the downstairs and the stairs done, and I had started cleaning the bathroom (I had sprayed down the tub anyway, and was letting the cleaner do its thing) when my roommate came home, and offered to finish the job. I sometimes feel like I am the only person who will clean things without prompting in the entire world. Well other than the kitchen. Current roomie is better than me about that. And tbh he has cleaned the sink a few times and I think he is better about his room, but even so. I don't have super high standards but come on people! Anyway - speaking of my terrible standards and no one else ever cleaning, I dusted the living room for the first time in like.... a very long time. Not completely - I should break out my microfiber thingummy and to the blinds and the fan, but I got the shelves and such! Huzzah! I think it is telling how poor my cleaning standards are because I'm pretty sure I make a self-congratulatory post every time I do it :p

I also cleaned out my wrangling bins this morning, and they were the nicest they had been since before Yuletide. I know naryrising has been doing a good job at not letting it go too ridiculous, but there are always odd crossover things in Night Vale, or equally confusing tumblr OCs, and today I got them all sorted out \o/

I *also* got to work some on my story today, so extra yay! It is abou 6k words now abot will probably wind up in the 8-10 range? Well, naryrising is saying she might give me art for it now, of boys smoking (it's a theme?), so that's all worthwhile even if only 4 people rad it ^-^

Tonight (in like 5 min) I have game and because tomorrow is a holiday I miiiiight even get to go hang out with folks afterward. People have been going out for food after, but I always have work and can't. So we'll see what my luck is like - maybe this will be the one week they don't.

Regardless, tomorrow is Martin Luther King day, and I don't work! I think that makes it easier for me to make myself do chores, knowing I can have a break day, then a work day, an then another break before actually going back to work. I am looking forward to it in general, and also because I am going over to tethys123's with some people tomorrow to work on crafting stuff :) Maybe tonight I can get my Yshbel sorted out tonight during game and make more progress on it tomorrow!

Yesterday I was a mopey unproductive lump. I did do a bit of work on my LARP - I have a much better idea of what's going on with plot and characters now.

Today I got up, got breafast (mmm, breakfast tacos), made tea, started laundry, made cookies, did some Tag Staff stuff, did more laundry 9including a hand-wash, lay-flat-to-dry sweater) and put a bunch of stuff away in my room. Roomie called the handyman who is coming over tomorrow after 5 to look at the tub and figure out how extensive the repairs will be and if it is something he thinks he can do. in theory he can at least look into the pipes through the little crawlspace door in roomie's room. But we might have to open up the ceiling in the kitchen /o\

Now I have three hours until game.. I'll need to walk the dog, of course, and eat, but that's still about two hours to do something else. I think I'm gonna poke more at the LARP stuff - strike while the iron is hot, so to speak!

So, since my last post, Dissertation panic has abated *somewhat*. I have things more or less sorted out - people were wrangled to sign everything that needed signing at that point (which involved some mailing of things to be sure about timing). Now I am only waiting on one form from my chair that I only found out about yesterday, and doesn't need to be in until July 31. I'm not too worried about it, as I can even get someone else to sign it if necessary.

I still have stress, though. My house (well... okay... a it isn't a house, it is a condo, and B I'm renting >.>) seems to be conspiring against me.

Things I'm dealing with there include:
Fleas (ARGH FLEAS)
Borked AC
Borked Internet.

Fortunately, I'm not actually staying there this summer - I'm house/pet sitting (erm, for my Chair... but really that is because our dogs are doggie-bffs. They pet sit for me all the time, too). But since I have no license (ironically I do have access to a car I could use if I did, *sigh*), it is a lot of going back and forth to check in on things and make appointments and etc. And it is Texas summer, which means it is ass-tastically hot. So, that's a thing.

( Fleas, ugh )

( AC, ugh )


( Internets come baaack ;_; )

( Oh and also money /o\ ) So anyway.. Stress.

I promise that next time I update it will only be good things. Possibly cookies :) Right now I'm off to pick up some dog food so I can feed the fuzzy ones and prevent a revolt!

I have today off! My whole work schedule is completely messed up because of Christmas (making up a 40-hour over 2 week pay period that started on the 27th when we only started back on ther 2nd), work training (I have 2 8-hour museums database training days next week), MLK day (I get paid hourly, so stat holidays just mean re-organizing my hours), and some other work-related irregularities (I have to help move some giant paintings tomorrow, but don't usually work Fridays *or afternoons, plus we have installations to get ready for opening on the 17th..). Anyway. I don't work today and not until 1 tomorrow.

This irregular schedule makes it hard fore me to get other things done, like dissertation work (though I have been plugging away at things) or house cleaning. My house is a tip and I haven't vaccuumed since before Christmas, and it is driving me (and my allergies!) nuts!. So I am hoping to get a lot of that stuff straightened out today. I've already run the dishwasher, so that's so hope for the kitche, but honestly that is the least scary room. My bedroom is particularly distressing, and I have a lot of picking up to do in the living room as well. It coudl eb a lot worse, but still - it needs doing. I also have a knitting project i really want to finish today. I can hopefully use that as a cleaning break :)

Once my room is more together, I can put away the pile of clean laundry that has accumulated in the reading room...

Better get on all this, I guess! I also need to thaw some meat for dinner... meant to do that yesterday :/

Off I go :)

It’s been a long night. I slept, ish, for about two hours. It’s 4;20 local tme, and the security gates open at five. I did some reading (finished reading ghost unit, meallanmouse, I like it so far, and demand more! Makes me want to write more stuff for Dart. Or harass my theoretical GM to run his theoretical campaign -_-). I thought about ding some writing but I don’t think my concentration is quite up to snuff… we’ll see. I’m kid of gong free form at the moment. I could do some copying of story – I have a big chunk of my BW era Dart story in a notebook that I cold probably type up and call a chapter. Oh if only I hadn’t written myself into a bit of a corner there, I might be able to get something new for it. But it requires more thinking. This is what happens when I try to write something coherent in only 5-10 minute bursts once or twice a week. It’s rather pathetic how little writing I’ve been doing for, say, the past year (Geeksmut not withstanding). Ahh well. I don’t know if I mentioned it in here but I got a rejection from Weird Tales for Soul proprietor. I need to do better market research, I think, but I really don’t have enough time! curtana referred me to a new Lovecraftian mag that might take Cursed Wreck, but I haven’t done anything with it yet either. I should at least check their length limits :p I’ve still yet to submit Shadow of a Place anywhere. Lame!

Ahh well. That was my mini rant about not writing. I really don’t know if I am awake enough to talk about anything in depth. I’m just sort of…. Letting the brain flow. It doesn’t feel like I have a whole lot to say at the moment though, at least not that I feel like just spilling out to the internets at large. Not clever enough to talk about the thesis, not doing enough non, ahem, specialist writing to wanna chat about that anymore.

I did a little bit of Christmas decorating before I left the house today, I vacuumed the crap out of my living room – moved furniture and everything! And then I re-arranged the little table/chest thing that lives between the futon and the couch, in the corner by the lamp, to hold the presents I have, and my teeny little tree, which I decorated. I hung an angel in my window, and set up some cloth Christmas ornaments that came from my mom (two cats and a goose!). I got a bunch of tiny little wooden ornaments last year, so it works out. I considered getting a real tree, but since I was away all this week, decided against it. I have a bunch of bells and other ornaments that I set up around the presents and tree, and I think it’s pretty. Now if only I’d had a chance to clean up the rest of my house hmm? Well I vacuumed the hall at least, and tidied in my room and put a ton of crap away in the study, so it is really not so bad. Save the bathroom, where there is still an undissolved bath bead in the tub and the sink is looking kind of gross again. Stupid sink, it gets gross so fast ;_; It’s because I comb my hair there, and all the little bits of hair dust get in and around the sink. Bleh.

Oooh, security gate is open, I believe! I’m going to cross over. Mourn not for me, I shall see you o the Other Side!

I dunno if Megan will be around to see this, but regadless... I'll call her for advice tomorrow.

Samson is being an utter little shit and refusing to come out from under my couch when it is time to go to his kennel at night (or rather out to pee before going to his kennel at night).

To get him out I have to litterally lift the couch *and* chase him out from underneath it.

This is a pain in the ass not only because it means dog scolding and furniture rearranging late at night, but because only two of three couch legs are actually firmly attached. The fourth leg is in a drawer somewhere since the screw to attach it is missing (possibly lost insode the couch), and that side is propped up by books. The unstable leg supports weight okay when set up properly but will fall off if, say, I have to move the couch EVERY GODDAMNED NIGHT to acces a pissy little puffball with delusions of importance >:| Of course this is the leg in the back corner right against the book case, so that getting to it requires me moving the papasan as well and is still hard to get at >:|

My plan was to just take the other couch legs off and leave it flat on the floor, but this apparently won't work because the screws are more firmly attached to the wood than the feet. Oh also this will leave the couch ridiculously low and my tv tray for my laptop will become unusably high.

So, I'm in a cranky cranky mood, and Samson is, so to speak, in the dog house. Grrr >:| Every other time I've dog sat him he's been an angel, even with Jola here.

Long term solution is tto work on re-training him to come. Apparently he decided not so long ago to stop coming when called. How lovely. I love going to bed pissy! And waking up to a broken couch! Hooray!

Expect rationality in the morning :p