It feels so strange

...to only have eleven classes over the course of the week. Sure, they're longer and more preparation-intensive than high school, but it still feels like I'm missing something when I look at my schedule.

Newspaper excerpt

Italicized editorials mine.

• A 44-year-old woman accidentally shot herself in the knee while pursuing a mouse inside her travel trailer (Potter Valley, Calif., July). Remember, people, guns are not toys.
• A 27-year-old man accidentally shot himself in the head while chasing a skunk (Elwood, Utah, May). In the head? Are you sure he wasn't checking the barrel Looney Tunes-style?
• A 45-year-old woman accidentally shot herself in the foot while stalking a woodchuck in her garden (Ferryville, Wis., June). Okay, this one's not too bad. I mean, she's still shooting herself...
• A 57-year-old man accidentally shot himself in the hand while aiming at bees (Williamsburg, Pa., April). Wait, how do you shoot yourself in the HAND? And while aiming at bees? That just adds another layer of absurdity.
• A retired police officer accidentally shot himself in the chest while aiming at a snapping turtle behind his house (Bensalem, Pa., August). Police...chest...how does...make no sense...WHAT?

I will not complain about "critical failures" on attack rolls ever again.

Coincidences

Wanting to listen to some music, I put my iPod on shuffle. The first song to play? "All I Ask of You." All right. Second song to play? My other version of "All I Ask of You."

Oh, and not only do I have Lantern's room, I have her seminar tutor.

EDIT: Went out to a restaurant for dinner, and I ran into one of my old classmates. *looks around for Rod Serling*

Convocation complete.

Okay. I am now fully set up in my room and officially a Johnny. Better brush up on the first few books of The Iliad before seminar tonight.

Last night was a welcoming waltz-no-actually-swing-dance party. Why, no I haven't danced since Merchant. How could you tell?

The food here is tasty and variable in selection.

It is confirmed!

1. I have Lantern's old room! Madness!

2. Said room is is more spacious than what I had at home!

Between the second point, my dorm, and my roommate...

3. I SCORED!

Almost there...

Okay, now I'm in Santa Fe. Right now I'm in a hotel room, blogging while I decide what else to do with my evening. Could put together some Mutants & Masterminds stat blocks, but I've already worked that psychic plenty. My non-RPG reading material is still in boxes waiting to be picked up. At least I have my music. I didn't know Hans Zimmer worked on The Lion King.

Signing off until something interesting actually happens.

WTF?

Okay, so I'm still in California. But I just wanted to say that it's just a little weird to see a bus you haven't seen before stopped in front of your house the day you leave for college.

Adios, Bay Area

Well, this is it: my last day living on Californian soil for a good long while. The next time I post I'll be in college. Still enough time to greet the High Sierras folk at run-in, schmooze for a while at an alumni barbecue, and maybe see a few Dreamers one last time in Berkeley.

Time for some more brain vomit

Preface: It took me three tries just now to correctly spell "barin." *facepalm* I mean, "brain." Intelligence 3, indeed.

Right now I'm feeling...I'm not sure, Restless, for lack of a better word, but it's more emotional than physical. It like I'm almost feeling something, or trying to feel something, and I have no idea what or why. I tried pacing and talking to see if that helped, and I quickly got locked into my stress grin. Again, don't know why. Mouth doesn't want to talk. Don't know why. Maybe this restlessness is anticipation for tonight. It'll be the last time I see the Dreamers for who-knows-how-long.

Thus conscience doth make cowards of us all

And thus the native hue of resolution

Is sicklied o'er with th' pale cast of thought

And enterprises of great pitch and moment

With this regard their currents turn awry

And lose the name of action.

Ooookay. I rattled off "To be or not to be" just now to get my mouth back in a talking state. First half was reluctant to come (not in terms of memorization, but that it was so easy just to trail off), and then the above lines really stood out for whatever reason.

Tick tock. Birds chirp. Someone a few houses away is using a power tool. The house feels small.

Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow

Creeps in this petty pace from day to day

To the last syllable of recorded time

And all our yesterdays have lighted fools

The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!

Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player

That struts and frets his hour upon the stage

And then is heard no more. It is a tale

Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury

Signifying nothing.

Easier to write right now than to talk. A car flits through my peripheral vision. First seen and not heard, then heard and not seen. Restless. Dog barks. Someone claps. Wind rustles leaves. Rustling. Memories of America Abridged bubble up.

Past the point of no return

No backward glances

Our games of make-believe are at an end

Past all though of if or when

No use resisting

Abandon thought and let the dream descend

What raging fire shall flood the soul

What rich desire unlocks this door

What sweet seduction lies before us

Past the point of no return

The final threshold

What warm unspoken secrets will we learn

Beyond the point of no return

What will my brain spit up next? Casablanca?

Be on the way to Berkeley in an hour. This time I know where I'm actually going.

Bill Nighy the Squidface Gighy

Bill Nighy the Squidface Gighy

Bill! Bill! Bill! Bill! Bill! Bill! Bill! Bill!

Bill Nighy the Squidface Gighy

*guitar* Calypso... *more guitar*

Bill Nighy the Squidface Gighy

One soul is not equal to another!

Bill Bill Bill Bill Nighy the Squidface Gighy

Bill! Bill! Bill! Bill! (T-minus seven seconds)

Bill! Bill! Bill! Bill! Bill! Bill! Bill! Bill!

Bill Nighy the Squidface Gighy!

Brought to you by...Krakens!

They'll suction your face clean off!

...And that is what my brain did this morning. If you need to ask why, you don't know me vewwy well, do you?

And now for something completely different. *publishes post and leaves*

Thought for the day

You know you're up in your head when you lose track of whether your eyes are open.

Thinking is Serious Business

I went for a walk just now. Needed to get out of the house, but it also gave me some time alone with my thoughts. Just walking. Thinking. Coming to realizations. You gotta move on. And by you I mean me. It's the nonspecific "you," savvy. Talked to friends. Talked to parents. Asking for advice, getting it, accepting it, but just now did I fully come to the conclusion that you gotta move on. I keep worrying about "regression." Regression? Bullshit. I've just been holding myself back, and it's doing more harm than good. Gotta move on. How? Of course, the "how" is the trick. Accept, but don't embrace. Allow, but don't push. Strike the balance. Where's the balance point? Why can't everything be a science? The cry of a left-brained person in a right-brained world. I'm sick of this. I've been sick of it for a long time, but I've been holding on way too long and I need to let go. Need to move on. Somehow.

And did I mention it's boiling outside?

Started watching Firefly

And I must admit it's growing on me. After watching "Bushwhacked," though, I do have to wonder why the crew ever took the "survivor" aboard. Reaver attack + live guy found on board + Reavers not known to leave survivors = ??? Really.

EDIT: Coincidence of the week! http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/4dnd/20080401a

Look about halfway down the page.

Dream journal again

A typical actor's nightmare: I was playing several minor roles in a Cal Shakes hodgepodge of The Comedy of Errors, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and King Lear, but I couldn't remember ever attending a rehearsal or even auditioning. It then turned into a dance routine featuring Natural. At least that made sense, for then the dream started featuring animated Transformers. I never even watched that show!

Odd dream last night.

I dreamed the Mrs. Warren's Profession cast gave a repeat performance for the Dreamers in the Orinda public center, only Praed was missing. Then the SPAC turned into a very deep swimming pool where there was a war going on with catfolk over various magic items. Make of it all what you will.

College looms

Got housing info, etcetera today. I got a divided double, quiet, substance-free. Excellent.

Oh, and I have returned from Ashland. Saw The Further Adventures of Hedda Gabler, Our Town, Coriolanus, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Othello.