Watching animals fall asleep Monday, December 31, 2007
A dream Monday, December 31, 2007
We’re watching / filming just describing to me this movie. It’s actually a series of short movies with different endings, like Run Lola Run but with more epic. It’s about… Id on’t know a black religiou zealot played by Pete Postelwaite’s black version mixed with … someone and a warrior renegade person played by someone else. The renegade warrior girl pretty much kills the zealot every time. There is not much gore in the movie. It’s GORgeous.
Now we’re watching the second to last scene. It’s in a swamp. According to our sheet, either Brent (the zealot) or A (the warrior girl) will win this round. We’ve just seen A kick Brent’s ass several times and its seriously fantastic. So when Brent is wading in water neck-deep and hears A coming and his solution is to duck under a hanging curtain of weeds at the side of the bank, we are pretty sure he’s going to die. He looks down and starts to pray. I’m sort f experiencing it from Brent’s eyes / right next to his head, so the perspective matches his almost exactly. There is a two-inch gap between the water and the base of the weed curtain, so two inches of his neck shows.
Suddenly a shadow on the weed curtain broadcasts the presence of A. She is about one inch away from Brent, on the other side of the weed curtain. Brent actually makes a noise in his throat a loud scoffing “huhhh!” because his death is seemingly inevitable. But A doesn’t seem to see him. At least - we assume this since Brent is still alive, and her water-logged thrashing steps soon take her away from this site. Later she comes back, and has a fight with some swamp creature. She wins, of course, but still misses Brent. Now she’s doing a handstand in the water right next to Brent (again, mere inches from him). Were she to look forward in the handstand, she’d see him , but she keeps her head straight. I keep trying to look down to see either her feet or any part of her person under the weed curtain, but Brent won’t do it.
Now Brent lifts the weed curtain and A realizes she has lost and is dead. Brent’s expression is ugly as he wins.
I’m now discussing with the actors. I”m asking A about the hand-stand scene. She is weirdly defensive of how her character wouldn’t have been able to see Brent in any possible scenario. But actually I’m just wondering how she did a handstand underwater and I really want to see it.
Earlier we had been driving around when we stumbled across the wind tunnel, called Into the Wind. We drive past a door, where you can see hundreds of scraps of paper being blown down a long tunnel / hallway. The changing dynamic of speed and direction the wind is directed results in unbelievably complex patterns, and you can see these patterns in the paper scraps. We get ot the end of the tunnel, which opens up to where we are, and we stupidly drive into the force of the wind. It’s dusty and gross and I decide not to breath here and I blink a lot. The dust is being slammed into us and the whole place is like an old warehouse that stilll has over 60 years of dust accumulation in it.
They see us and turn off the wind, so we’re walking ot the check-out counter so we can pay. There are all kinds of things, like leather whips and other movie set props. I am wishing I had worn a much bigger larger dress that would swirl around me in the wing. My skirt is tied up and I release it, so it’s at least down to my ankles.
Earlier I had been in Costco, shopping. For some reason they hadn’t bothered to take my ID at the door, so had let me in with no ID. I realized that might not happen again, so I was trying to stock up on blueberries. They had wussy bags of blueberies - like the tiny ones at Safeway, and then some blueberries already mixed into pancake batter that seemed disgusting. I couldn’t find any blueberries! It was terrible.
I think the piont of this dream is that i really want some good blueberries.
Home remedies Saturday, December 29, 2007
Less-than-white teeth
Combine 1/2 teaspoon baking soda with 1 or 2 drops of peroxide. Brush on, let sit for a few minutes, then rinse (don’t swallow) and ta-da! — enjoy your once-again pearly whites.
Baking soda serves as a safe, light bleach. A baking soda-and-salt mixture can also restore the shine of dingy teeth (dip a wet toothbrush into 1/4 teaspoon soda and sprinkle with up to 1/8 teaspoon salt) as effectively as it polishes your pots and pans. However, the peroxide recipe is safer for people on no-salt diets.
Mosquito bites
Rub liquid laundry detergent on the spot and let dry.
The liquid soothes the skin, dries the bite to reduce irritation, and seals the area from outside irritants.
Flatulence
Sip 1 cup hot water steeped with 1 teaspoon caraway seeds, which stifle the enzymatic action that causes gas.
Get energized
Ginseng: Whether American, Siberian, or Asian, all varieties of ginseng are thought to stimulate the release of an adrenal hormone called ACTH that increases alertness and physical performance. Look for products that contain 4 to 5% ginsenosides, the root’s active ingredient.
Caveat: Do not use ginseng if you’re taking antibiotics or the blood thinner warfarin. Because guarana contains caffeine, do not use if you have high blood pressure or a heart condition.
Guarana: The seeds from this Brazilian shrub boost memory, mood, and alertness.
NOW YOU KNOW WHAT REMEDIES I NEED IN MY LIFE
Resolutions Saturday, December 29, 2007
I resolve not to pause dramatically after every time I say something I think is funny, waiting for uproarious laughter.
I resolve not to let my impressions of other people’s impressions of me limit me from becoming what I know other people think I am not. (thanks, ze)
I resolve to create some kind of online webcomic.
I resolve not to “get married” to every idea that I think might be kind of funny, and to not weep over its death when it becomes clear that it is not, in fact, funny at all.
I resolve to stop believing that my hands magically become sterilized after I wipe them on my pants.
I resolve to say yes more.
I resolve to come up with a better response to “sorry” than “you should be.”
I resolve to stop imagining the relationship, marriage, and 65th wedding anniversary trip of myself with every person who flirts with me on public transportation.
I resolve to allow every date I go on to blossom into whatever grotesque version of a flower it can.
I resolve to not respond to something if I can’t think of a response to it.
I resolve to stop congratulating myself for every choice, or berating myself either. (Our choices are half chance, anyway)
I resolve to do everything I can to destroy brain crack.
I resolve to leave the room when any discussion of a “neti pot” comes up.
I resolve to smile if I can, giggle if possible, and laugh with all my might whenever there is a chance.
How We Are Hungry Saturday, December 29, 2007
How many times in life can we make decisions that are important but will not hurt anyone? Are we obligated - maybe we are - to say yes to any choice when no one will be hurt? We use the word hurt when talking about things like this because when these things go wrong it can feel as if you were hit in the sternum by a huge animal that’s run for miles just to strike you.
- Dave Eggers
Protected: Things I am supposed to do and things I am not supposed to do Saturday, December 29, 2007
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Protected: Talking casually about things that aren’t casual at all Saturday, December 29, 2007
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A dream Saturday, December 29, 2007
I’m getting on the bus behind Mahsa and Rachel S. P. I’m waaay behind them in line - for some reason they both got to go to the front of the line since they were carrying things (Mahsa a unicycle and RSP ?). They’re boarding the middle of the bus! I don’t see how Rachel can - she doesn’t have a bus pass (Mahsa can, because she does have a bus pass). I’m nearly at the end of the line, but even so I have about five people behind me. It’s taking a really long time to pay and get everyone on the bus. We’re in line on the bus, now, riding as we wait to pay. I’m distracted by people singing “Silent Night” around me, and I try to join in with high harmony but oh dear I suck!
Now I’m the one holding up the paying line, and I walk up to the front to pay. I have my little slip of .50 money and I can’t figure out where to slip it. They give me a crumpled up transfer in return. I walk unsteadily to the end of the bus, looking for my friends. I don’t see them… I don’t see them… I don’t see them! There’s an empty spot between a red-headed guy and a child safety seat (for some reason strapped into the bus). I’m getting worried that my friends got off while I was waiting to pay. Then I see a back section of the bus, sort of raised up and behind some silver poles.
It’s like the cafe section, with picnic cafe-like tables next to the plastic molded bus seats. Rachel is there with the glamorous looking Sam P. Mahsa and I climb through the bars to join them.
We’ve been traveling to Kansas City for Christmas dinner, and are discussing when to drive back to get my stuff so I can fly home. I don’t want to leave - I can’t believe it’s passed by so quickly!
We’ve been alternately in Egypt and driving to Kansas City. We were discussing why Egyptians are held back. It seems to be a government thing.
Juno Friday, December 28, 2007
The music is good, the acting is good, the writing is good, the jokes are good, the message is good, the ending is good, the direction is clearly good, the filming is good.
I love this movie.
