All the way home
September 25th, 2006 by Ariana Rose Taylor-Stanley; 2 comments
Joel and I waltzed. It worked fine when we were moving to the right, but when we turned towards the left it was a huge mess. We decided to waltz more later.
Actually, Claire is probably the nicest person I know
September 23rd, 2006 by Ariana Rose Taylor-Stanley; no comments
Claire Hosterman began to kill a girl using her teeth and fingernails. Somehow the roles reversed and the victim was the murderer, and very sad. She had made a very hip pin out of blue yarn tied in the shape of an octopus, and offered it to me, but then changed her mind and gave me a color photocopy of the craft. I imagined I would wear it on the back of my black sweatshirt.
Surprise
September 19th, 2006 by Ariana Rose Taylor-Stanley; no comments
Adrian’s ear must have been in my mouth, because when my tooth clinked against something, I backed up and saw that he had gotten five or more ear piercings. They were pretty hardcore, despite the earrings being middle school girly. I pointed to a particular one (which may have actually been a nose or eyebrow stud) and told him I liked it. He commented in metaphor about how much they had hurt.
The Lizzies needed to stop by their storage space, which was underground. We were almost done when a children’s paperback book fell a little further down than where most of the stuff was, so I crawled out onto a rickety metal ladder to retrieve it, knocking down a book or two that must have fallen before. I noticed that underneath me was a huge, empty, grey-brick-lined open space. I asked the Lizzies, “Did you know there is a cave down here?”
When I got the book and started to come back up, it was too late. A giant, anthropomorphic, stuffed representation of an evergreen tree had already descended the stairs into the storage area and we would have to fight it to get out. I raced out first, and it lifted its trunk (which felt like a giant human leg covered in plush) to trip me, but I got over it and got out. Immediately after, it popped upright and its well-known game-show personas popped up in front of it. I knew the Lizzies knew these characters from their childhood so I went on break.
On my way back, I saw my father on his bicycle coming from the scene of the battle. We had a short conversation. When I arrived, the Lizzies had defeated the tree and they and others were lining up for their medals. I was asked if I had done my Food Diary.
When I emerged, I was walking up the hill beside Commodore with Sean McCotter, in the dark. I realized that he was sort of dancing, so I turned around and started dancing as well. This didn’t last long, though, because we came upon a woman dressed up as a hatching dinosaur egg (wearing all yellow except a cracked shell which looked like a white turtle shell). Amber O’Quinn, who was also wearing yellow, and standing next to the nest of the hatching woman, asked to take a picture of me in my yellow costume. This made me realize that I should photograph the dinosaur woman, so I reached for my camera, but got distracted when my phone started ringing. I didn’t catch it in time so I made a mental note to check who had called later (when I woke up I checked my phone and it had been Cynthia, actually calling!).
I had the sense of trying to tie up loose ends as I slipped into consciousness.
Gelatin
September 14th, 2006 by Ariana Rose Taylor-Stanley; no comments
I was at the Bainbridge ferry terminal, which was in LA, one year in the future, greeting the incoming class of Scripsies, who were coming from where the ferry was. There were a couple of girls I recognized from Bainbridge and a short girl who was half of a poor attempt at a Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy duo from another school who I started talking to about debate. I asked which of my duos she had seen, and she said Dr. Fritz.
This was serendipitous because Adrian was about to come up the platform. I asked him if he recognized the girl, and he affirmed. Then we walked out to where the water should have been, to Sean Fraga’s house (not his actual house, but a house I knew belonged to him). A party was going on. There was much food to eat, but none of it was vegan. In desperation, I started to consume a cylinder of delicious, flavored gelatin. I soon realized how disgusting it was, and threw the cylinder across the floor. It was pretty embarrassing because there were other, non-gelatin-eating vegetarians there.
I interacted lovingly with Katie Allen and her father.
Panic and emptiness
September 14th, 2006 by Adrian Sampson; one comment
My telephone’s screen is quickly filled with millions of tiny, colorful blocks. I press the power button and a message asks, “WANT TURN OFF? Y/N”. I turn the phone off and restart it. The phone software has vanished, however, to be replaced by a bizarre, poorly translated Japanese video game. I can’t seem to grasp the rules. Eventually, I discover that this is a problem afflicting many insufficiently protected telephones; if played long enough, the game will take over the mind of the phone’s owner. I need to entirely reset my telephone, which will be a pain.
Walking downstairs in backhall at West, I see Serena, Yael, and Kayla walking clumsily toward the lounge. They have clearly been drinking but this is okay because I also have. Yael and Kayla leave; Serena and I have a silly conversation.
I am at a school in Mexico. Today is the first day of classes, so none of them are very serious. Computer Science 135 consists of painting designs on plastic cups. The second class I go to is just a party; I am not too embarrassed that a heavyset woman of Indian descent kisses me three times.
Be Careful What You Wish For
September 11th, 2006 by Kris Skotheim; no comments
I’m enrolled in a magic school. My friend and I are walking down a hallway that circles the main auditorium of this school. There is a large iron doorway at the end of the hall with two candles next to it. As I walk by, I practice my spellcasting by putting out and relighting the candles with my wand. My friend says something along the lines of, “I wish there were two little stinging moths with paralyzing poison flying around right about now.” As soon as the words left his tongue, the doorway opened up and two little stinging moths with paralyzing poison flew out fo the door.
“Ah!” I cried as I lept into the air on my flying broom and chased the moths into the auditorium. I finally managed to make a cage with my fingers and catch one moth in each hand, careful not to hurt them. Too late, I realized they could still sting me just as I was falling paralyzed from midair. Other students rushed to get their brooms and eventually caught them and healed my broken back and paralysis with a spell.
Later, all of the students and teachers were in the auditorium for a lecture. Somebody’s robes made a breeze and blew out one candle as they were passing the iron doorway outside. I thought that it would be a shame for one to burn lower than the other, so I blew the other out with my mind. A teacher noticed that the candles were blown out and relit them with a spell just as a student in the auditorium was saying, “Man, I really Baron von Such-and-Such’s ghost was here right now so we could get out of class.” Sure enough, the door opened and Baron von Such-and-Such’s ghost, a really fat blue thing, came out of the door and passed through the wall into the auditorium.
“Ah!” I cried as I shot two fireballs and a shockwave of air at the apparition. My professor didn’t bother doing anything of the sort because he knew it was useless. One fireball hit him in the left knee and the other went over his shoulder, but he didn’t slow. He procured a sack and stuffed in the kid who wished for him. Second, he grabbed the professor and stuffed him in too. Finally, he came for me and into the sack I went.
(I’m not sure if this is a continuation of the same dream, I can’t remember doing any magic)
I am alone in a small, brightly lit cave with no entrance and two torches on the wall.
Octopus
September 11th, 2006 by Kris Skotheim; no comments
My sister and I are swimming on Lipari. A jellyfish floats by and stings me. After a while, a shark swims by and bites me. Soon after, a crab scuffles by and pinches my toe. I am getting sick of this.
I see an octopus and think, “Oh, good, something that isn’t going to try and hurt me.” It latches its tentacles onto Mali and pokes her with its beak.
Dreams are for
September 10th, 2006 by Adrian Sampson; no comments
I am at a pretty rad party on the bottom deck of a run-down yacht. Many people I know are there (though I don’t know who); the music is good; the dancing is nonstop. I dance with someone female that I know vaguely. Although it worries me that this is not Serena, we are dancing very well together and it seems only natural that we should kiss. My initial reaction is one of awkwardness and discomfort but my conscious mind tames this impulse.
Later, I’m dancing with him and the same process occurs, again ending in a kiss. A layer of discomfort is added that I have never before kissed a boy but, again, my lack of rational objection dispels the awkwardness.
Walking arm-in-arm with the (unidentified) female person, I am slightly comforted and slightly disturbed that I am not doing so with him instead.
(just in case)
September 1st, 2006 by Elizabeth Dameron; no comments
the world was ending. everyone i’ve ever known was around, just waiting. it looked like a party, balloons and all, but it felt really tense. we all knew it was about to happen but we didn’t know exactly when or how. nobody knew what to expect and that was scary.
adrian held my hand.