Gurglesputter.

I slept solidly but not well, you know? I had these weird dreams of being at my elementary school which was my high school, going on a bus, and being hijacked on said bus. I was trying to text my mom telling her to call 911 and describe where we were going but the letters weren't right.

And of course, I wake up with a sore throat and more phlegm than one's cranium should be able to hold. I'm willing to try some desperate acupuncture with a drill bit to release the pressure.

So since I'm not going to church today, I must keep myself occupied without undue strain on my sick body, meaning the internet.

1-​Where​ did you begin​ 2008?​​ My house partying with the Bergmans.
2-​What was your statu​s by Valen​tine'​​s Day? Single, eating candy, and watching Willard.
3-​Were you in schoo​l anyti​me this year?​​ Unfortunently.
4-​Did you have to go to the hospi​tal?​ Yes.
5-​Did you have any encou​nters​ with the polic​e?​ I was riding shotgun when my dad got pulled over, ha. And I saw Kyle get accosted. But not me.
6-​Where​ did you go on vacat​ion?​ Camping. That's the way to do it.
7-​What did you purch​ase that was over $​​100?​​ College books.
8-​Did you know anybo​dy who got marri​ed?​​ Yes. It's strange. We just got out of high school and people are getting married.
9-​Did you know anybo​dy who passe​d away?​​ Young Alfred, my baby bird. Coco the rat and Nibbles the rat. May they be happier in death than they were here.
10-​Did you move anywh​ere? To the dorms. Don't do it!
11-​What sport​ing event​s did you atten​d?​​ School football game.
12-​What conce​rts/​shows​ did you go to? Apocalyptica TWICE, Who Killed Amanda Palmer with The Danger Ensemble, Zoe Keating, and The Builders and The Butchers, American Idol Tour.
13-​Descr​ibe your birth​day:​​ My brother frelled it up.
14-​What is the one thing​ you thoug​ht you would​ not do, but did, in 2008?​ Graduate. Live.
15-​What has been your favor​ite momen​ts?​ When the zombie movie actually went right, drama class, concerts, hanging out with my friends.
16-​Any new addit​ions to your famil​y:​ Two cats, a rat.
17-​What was your best month​?​​ It would have been during the high school months. College sucked. Summer sucked for the most part.
18-​Who has been your best drink​ing buddy​? I don't drink and most of the people I know don't and wouldn't around me, but Bryan and I went to Starbucks.
20-​Favor​ite Night​s out? Hanging out with friends. That's all I need.
21-​Other​ than home,​​where​ ​did you spend​ most of your time?​​ College. Work. Confined to a dormitory ill and alone.
22-​Have you lost any frien​ds this year?​​ Grown distant from, but not lost.
23-​Chang​ed your hairs​tyle?​​ It stayed long, though it's been trimmed a bit. It was green at one point, orange at another, "Poison Ivy" red, and natural red for most of it.
24-​Have any car accid​ents?​​ Ruben almost slid into the rear end of a car stuck in snow, but it would have been minimal if any damage because we were going .5 mph.
25-​How old did you turn this year?​​ Eighteen.
26-​Do you have a New Years​ resol​ution​? Learn the cello.
27-​Do anyth​ing embar​rassi​ng?​​ Not mortifying, but probably. My memory's bad.
28-​Buy anyth​ing new from eBay?​​ Nothing from eBay...where's No. 29?
30-​Get arres​ted?​​ Haven't been caught...
31-​Go snowb​oardi​ng?​ I can't even walk on the sidewalk, let alone snowboard.
32-​Did you get sick this year?​​ The question is: Did you get better this year?
33-​Are you happy​ ​to see 2008 go? I don't really care.
34-​Been naugh​ty or nice?​​ Neutral.
35-​What kind of phone​ did you have?​ Samsung Upstage.
36-​Did you date anybo​dy?​ No time to lose, sillies!

Lacrimosa, Lacritosa?

I don't think I should have had that glass of milk. Sometimes, but only sometimes, I feel sick an hour or so after drinking milk. After all the gluten allergy-lactose-intolerant stuff my grandmother was telling me, it concerns me. Gluten allergies run through the family and are often tied to lactose-intolerance and while the one test I had for a gluten allergy was negative [although it can take a few tests to get the right diagnosis], there's always a chance. If I can develop allergies to the cats I've lived with all my life, why not? Or it could be a number of other things-the mystery stomach illness in fourth/fifth grade assumed to be an ulcer? I have no immune system and haven't for the past almost four years-I've picked a few things up from all the doctor jargon and sometimes I wish I were stupid so I wouldn't understand it.

Imagine a weary sigh.

-K.

Welcome to the Creepshow!

Barnes & Noble; I love that place. The smell alone should be concentrated and bottled-the smell of books and coffee-instant sophistication and intellligence. I used my two gift cards today and after much searching and assistance, found the Kerli album I really wanted:

She's from a land called secret Estonia-nobody knows where it's at, no....

I also found the ONLY copy of a very small book by Edward Gorey in that store, hidden under much more large and intimidating books; The Gashlycrumb Tinies. It's a rhyming alphabet book about children meeting morbid fates. Therefore I adore it. You might recognize Edward Gorey from the theme animation for PBS's Mystery! Here's what the book looks like:



My dad wants me to make a Mormon version-I think that'd be awesome. I think I'll localize it to my stake or ward. For some reason this line I just thought up must be incorporated somehow: P is for Paul Isaac who lost all his hair...followed by something rhyming with "hair" in the next line. I know I'll be sent to outer darkness for that, haha...

And then I bought a raspberry green tea. Delicious.

In other news, I have just received my library card! I've been down here for a couple of weeks but with the illness and hubbub of the holidays and bad weather I simply haven't been able to get one...until today! First thing I saw was Rammstein's Volkerball-destiny, I ask? Didn't really find anything else interesting until my dad found a Gothic Lolita bible for me complete with a pattern to make knickerbockers-how cool is that?!

And appropriately enough, Kerli's Creepshow begins to play as I think about Gothic Lolita. "Cinnamon houses and chocolate skies..." I'll have to find out what the little spoken Estonian part translates to.

Also, I learned I don't like cherry hot chocolate because it tastes like bubblegum. Although I do like cherries with chocolate in all other situations. I figured that was somewhat interesting and should be documented for personal anthropological reasons or something.

All for now.
-K.

A Rare Moment in the World of Felines.

Tigger is the black cat and Gracie is the tabby. This angle makes Tigg seem smaller, but he's actually bigger...Gracie's just a chubby puffball. And while they have been known to share opposing ends of a queen-sized mattress, I have never seen them sleep together; naturally, I had to take a picture so everyone can dote on how cute they are.

X-Mas X-Plained.

Had a good haul of gifts, considering we're a middle-class family under the strain everyone else is. Lots of strip'd and black things to deck myself in, chocolates, books.

Under the guise of some massive toy for the family pets [I had assumed it was some sort of cat-house-gym-contraption], my Uncle was kind enough to bestow upon us a new, much needed as far as electronics go, 32" flat-screen television. I watched The Dark Knight in such high-definition that you could see every pore on Heath Ledger's grease-painted face. Today I plan on watching the movie I received, Hellboy II: The Golden Army. I adore that show! Guillermo del Toro is a god.

So I spent the day watching the new telly and generally being a lazy bum followed by engorging myself on a vegetarian Christmas feast.

Afterwards, I was invited by a friend to see the new Adam Sandler movie, Bedtime Stories, which I actually enjoyed. There was Ruben and Scott and a much-missed face, Cass, who has been in South Carolina for basic training in the U.S. Army. He was bald [much to my amusement] and had to wear two hats; he also was getting over pneumonia and had the gunky cough to accompany it. Welcome to Utah, Private! We drove there in a blizzard with a disfunctional car that had to warm up for a while before putt-putting off. We barely made it in time for the movie and the snow had become six inches deep as we trudged through the parking lot. After the movie, with my umbrella providing no defense against the torrents of snow, we got in the car and tried not to succumb to frostbite as it warmed up.

We made a long, slow, and slippery journey to State Street to drop off Scott and almost rear-ended someone. More like sliding at one mph into a car stuck in a snowbank, but rear-ending nonetheless.

And then we chatted with Cass about army life, which seems to be working well for him, even if the gas chambers did singe off his leg and arm hair. I have no idea why they put people in gas chambers, but okay...anyhoo, the gas mask had saved his eyebrows and I thought it could have been fun not to have eyebrows so you could pretend to be Voldemort or doodle some Amanda Palmer ones on. Or Charlie Brown. He was in town "recruiting" and needed two names to get the paycheck or whatever and it only meant that the army would send you brochures and phone calls and stuff. So I obliged, but I couldn't join the army even if I wanted to, so ha! For once, being mentally and physically "damaged" has been in my favor.

I was then instructed to find attractive women for him since he'd been stuck on a floor with sixty other men. Ha. I thought it was bad living with twenty girls on a dorm floor [you would have imagined they'd be cleaner...]. He'll be leaving in a few days to go back to base, finish BT, and then get the specialized training for his field of work or whatever. I couldn't join the army. I'd be too bent on sticking it to the man, whoever "the man" may be, ha. So I'm glad he's enjoying himself and the weather, which he pointed out on several occasions.

And then I was dropped home, stepping into a foot of snow as I got out of the van and doing some sort of bizarre prancing through the snow-like a cat in an inch of water-avoiding it as much as I could.

A handful of pills later and I was off to bed. It was a good Christmas, which is saying something because I don't like Christmas very much.

Off to go find something to do!

-K.