I Never Noticed

It's funny how we can see the same things everyday and never come to appreciate them until someone, an outsider points out the beauty in those things.

Several years ago, I attended an Angels game with a co-worker. We had nosebleed seats. To the left of the stadium, off in the horizon were clouded, purple mountains.

"Wow. Those mountains are beautiful." He repeated himself several times, taking in deep breaths between his words.

I must have driven past those mountains thousands of times, but never cared to notice them. They were a part of my everyday scenery.

....

Driving on the freeway to the Hoover Dam, my friends pointed out the (black) mountains. They were our scenery all the way there. I told them I've seen these types of mountains my whole life, but I never realized how amazing they were.

....

It was on a Sunday morning, day two of our first yard sale attempt. A couple walks into our driveway and the woman says, "Wow. That's a beautiful tree."

I looked up at it, and thought, I never noticed that. It is beautiful.

Since then the tree's leaves have turned to a light green-yellow. It's still beautiful.

When Did "Doug" Become So Scary?

Last night I was in live action cartoon that was something like this:

Except that it was a horror, suspense live action cartoon. My dream involved everything that the typical horror, suspense genre includes which was killing people, deceit, and lust.

The characters in my dream were a live multi-color skinned version of the characters from "Doug" which included Skeeter and Mrs. Wingo in the form of one of my coworkers. There was also other random people (an ex-roommate, peers from high school) from my past as characters too.

I can't remember too much details except people were plotting against me and a friend, a lot of whispering and lies. The dream ended with a weird Torah reading. Everyone each grabbed a card from the deck and my friend received the last card that read, "Curse!"

This Looks Too Good to be True

The early part of 2008 was the opposite of what I had dreamed it up to be. I had moved to a new college town. The night I moved into my shady studio apartment, my mom called crying, "I miss you so much!" It wasn't even twenty four hours yet.

Those early months I kept wondering if I had made a mistake. I take pride on being independent; love making my own money and paying my own bills -on time, but I underestimated what it really meant to live on my own. Nearly four months after the move, I had planned to move somewhere else, closer to home and comfort.

I saw an ad in the college newspaper about an internship. Although it was in black and white, there was a weird attractive colorfulness to it. I told my brother about it and he urged me to apply for it. I missed the presentation that week on campus.

I applied online, days later I got the interview, and a few short weeks later I was moving again. This time to the "Happiest Place on Earth." Dare I say it was some of the best eight months of my life.

I stuck around for another year and half after the internship. Not the best time of my life, unfortunately. After I let, I was bitter and unhappy.

Photo courtesy of my old camera phone.

I was "playing in the park" on my day off.


"Don't you have work today?"


"No, I don't think so." I don't want to risk losing a job over stupid points. "I'll check my schedule."


Of course. I do work tonight!


I grabbed my costume out of my closet and set it on my bed. (I wasn't in the same department anymore.) I got ready for work, went back to the park, and said bye to my man friend.


I stood under a tree and I looked up through the green leaves and branches as the fireworks shot across the sky above Sleeping Beauty's Castle.


My favorite part of the shift.

• I need a second part-time job. I've been diligently looking for one, but I won't lie I've been picky and choosey. I'm doing my best to put my pride aside and tell myself this is only temporary.
• About a week ago, a friend told me I should come back to the "Happiest Place on Earth."
• I miss it sometimes. Not the job particularly (well not the department), but the people I've met through that experience. I miss them all the time.

from The Battle for Everything

That Recurring Person in my Dream

I never had a recurring dream, but I've had a recurring person appear in my dreams for several years. This person was one of the reasons I started a dream journal. It's my best friend from first grade, "Lily." We were best friends throughout elementary school, then middle school separated us. However, we spoke on the phone regularly (then later through email) and visited each other every chance we could. It wasn't until high school, sophomore year was when we had stopped regular contact.

It was after high school when Lily started appearing in my dreams. Randomly. We would later reconnect through MySpace in 2007.

"Lets get together sometime!" That's what we'd always say. It never happened. Then I moved away for school. She deleted her MySpace (or she removed me.)

We're now "friends" on Facebook (oh, Facebook) and I'm back in my hometown, but neither one of us have made any effort to reach out, just the typical "Happy Birthday!" wall post and the liking of each other's statuses.

I had a dream about her last night.

It was a scavenger hunt in an abandoned high school parking lot. Cars drove in and out. Teams sat on the black asphalt assembling their puzzles. Scattered letters covered the ground. Art crafts too. Lily, a nameless girl and I were on a team. I saw familiar faces from my past.

• There's plenty of people I should reconnect with. (Face to face reconnection.) Especially "Lily."

from Brandy