Friday

I woke up early (for me) after a late night full of caffine-induced insomnia. I can pull off getting by on four hours a sleep only on occasion, and today was not one of them.

I had lunch with Dad at our favorite eating spot, talking about good books we've read or want to read. Electric Kool Aid Acid Test, Odd Thomas, works by Philip K Dick, Chuck Palahniuk, everything else.

Afterwards I visted my Shawn, the husband of my old room mate, to give my car its desperately needed oil change. He pulled the dipstick out twice, looking confused and even amused. "There's no oil on the stick." He pointed out.
Loooooong overdue.

I picked Z up during his split shift break. We crashed at Darlene's for pizza and conversation, and after he got off shift, we went back to hang out Darlene, Daniel, and Lena. It was grand fun, I love it when I have a chance to spend time with my friends. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time.

Now I am finally home, and the responsibilities of reality calls. Laundry to do, sleep to be had, work to go to.

Fortunately, I got the day off of work the day of the bellydance performance.
Unfortunately, now this means I actually have to practice. Oh well, I work better under stress. I'll try to make sure pictures will be posted.

Wednesday

Sony stopped by last night after her tribal class to work on our bellydance choreography. We had a decent start, but gave up after an hour or so. Chereography is a weakpoint for both of us, thats when we usually rely on Ree. It didnt help that I was sick. Sony and I are doing a duet to a song by Ajaja, a kind of mid-eastern pop style, and I'm doing a solo to Minor Swing. I still need to get my costume completely together. While working on my solo, my stomach cramped up. I am sooo out practice. As soon as the tribal workshop is over with at the yoga place, I'm going to take bellydance classes there.

After we gave up, we crashed on the couch with pizza and watched Supernatural. I love that show. We went through 2 whole disks of season two. Just three more episodes to go, and then we'll have to wait until September 4th for season three to come out. It's funny, I haven't watched actual television, with commercials and everything, in over a year. I hate a lot of the trash they put on tv now, as well as the media perceptions of what a woman should look like. But every once and a while, I'll find a show I love: Supernatural, Nip/Tuck, Dexter for good plot, and Family guy, South park, and Futurama for comedic relief.

It was good to have the four of us - Sony, Darren, Z, and myself - get together and hang out. I've realized lately I'm losing friends, not so much that we're drifting apart, but my some friends are at points of their lives where they need to follow their own paths, paths I can't follow. Patty, one of my dearest friends, is leaving as soon as this this Saturday to go to grad school in Oregon. Sony is going to leaving in September to spend 9 months or so in France, Darren is going to be moving away in about a year, and Z probably won't be far behind him. I try not to think about it, but still, it's hard, knowing that in a year, most of your closest friends won't be around.

I would love to travel or study abroad, but can't at this point in my life, I have to get through more of my education first. While I wouldn't mind taking a semester or so off to study abroad, I can't until at least 2010. I want to wrap up my pre-req classes and have a good portion of my degree-related classes finished before I think about taking time off for travel. I would love to go back to France, or volunteer in India or Nepal.

My dad is pulling an all-nighter at his office to catch up on the work he left behind on vacation. I think I'll go visit him.

sick

I'm getting sick, stuffy nose and slight chills and sweats mostly. Chicken noodle soup, tea, and oatmeal are my friends whenever I get sick, as my throat always suffers the worse. I really need to get my tonsiles removed, they're constantly enlarged anyways, and I think I am at a point in my life where they are doing more harm than good.

Sony couldn't make it tonight for bellydance, so tomorrow we shall dance! I can't wait.

I bought a book today. I found my missing $20, and it went towards oatmeal, yogurt, and a book, The Heart of Buddha's Teachings by Thich Nhat Hanh. I probably should have putit towards gas, but as soon as I opened it up, I couldn't resist. So far, it is a beautiful and straight forward intro to the Buddha's teachings.

I was beginning to get slightly worried because Iwas unable to reach my dad today. I hadn't heard from him in quite some time because he was away on a trip, but he had returned last thursday, and I hadn't heard from him. Serveral attempts to call him, even at his office, proved useless. Finally I got a hold of him this evening. It was good to hear his voice, I really missed him.

3am catfood run

Turn your mind away from things which are not permanent. - Buddha

(in other words: don't get attached to things in hopes of their permanence. Instead, enjoy them while they last)

Anyways, today was a pretty good one, an enjoyable one at least. Work went by quietly, and I didn't get anywhere near becoming anxious, exasperated, or frustraited. Its amazing what drugs and a new perspective will do for you. A low dose of the anxiety meds gets me in the right mindset, and the perspective keeps me in that mindset.

I didn't go to game, and I don't think I will until my schedule changes so I can have the day off to go play. Otherwise I just end up sitting and watching the scenes unfold. Actually, it was rather fortunate that I skipped out on game. I got home and chilled for a while, and about an hour later Lena showed up to visit. She is so funny, a fucking riot. It wasn't too long before we retreated to Z's room and good old fashioned fun ensued. (And damn, did we all need it.)
Our room mate Darren is pissed as all hell afterwards, as he always is. His problem, not ours, but it does suck trying to tiptoe around him out of consideration for his feelings. Still, other then that, he is a pretty awesome room mate, definately one of the best I've had. He'll blow over in a few days.

And then Z and I went on a 3 AM catfood run.

Though I haven't seen her in a while, I did manage to have a good online chat with Sony, my bestest of friends. There's a bellydance thing at the market this weekend, and she wants me to join. I think I'm going to be doing a solo to Minor Swing, as well as a duet with Sony to some song I've never heard of. We also talked about getting spider tattoos together, because spiders rock, and because they are a symbol of free will, choice, and the responsibility of our choices (in other words, we all weave our own web through the choices we make). I am going to miss her insanely when she leaves.

I have most of the week off, and intend on spending it sleeping, reading, and dancing for the market performance. It will be grand ^_^

It's past four am and my brain is too tired to write anything else. I'm going to go pop a migraine pill and have some dinner, and curl up with my Lilith Saintcrow novel. It's getting reallly good.

A few of my favorite things.

Things that make my life happy.



Khaliyah, my baby snake. I love snakes, and have always wanted one, so when I moved out, I saved my money and bought her. She is the best pet ever. I hope to get another one soon, but it will be quite a while until I can afford a companion for her.



Johnny the Homicidal Maniac. I love Jhonen Vasquez's artwork, as well as the black humor and delightful randomness in the comics. I know he probably won't create more, but I wish he would, I thoroughly enjoyed Johnny.



Raves. I haven't been to one in soooo long. But I love them, I find a spot on the floor, snap my glowsticks, and get lost in the music, dancing all night long. Its also a good chance for me to see friends I haven't seen in forever.




Travel. I love to travel. Fortunately my parents shared my obsession and dragged me along. I've been to about a dozen countries, including France, Germany, Sweden, Russia, and Estonia. I took this of the Effel Tour in Paris.



Bellydancing. I freaking love bellydancing. I'm not as obsessed as Sony is, but I love it just the same. I'm going to restart my classes soon to improve my technique in tribal. Dancing is a form of spiritual worship for me, the use of te body to give thanks and express myself. Plus it is a total blast.



Body Modification. I am obsessed. It is very addicting, rather expensisve, yet so beautiful. Right now I have 10 piercings, and am planning on an additional two napes, a pair of transdermals and a few more holes in the ear. Alas, I have no tattos yet (yay virgin skin), but I am planning on some. It will be a couple of years though. My goal is to one day be brave enough to do a suspension.