Dark Dreams again

Had another totally bizarre dream last night, that persisted even after waking up twice.

I am starting back at my last job, but the boss keeps moving the furniture around in the offices, so no one can get anything done.

The next day I am stressing out, trying to get to work (with my sister!), running late, leaving home in Bethel Park and suddenly in downtown DC, trying to catch the Red Line Metro, but stuck on an elevator with Japanese tourists, one of whom wants to watch 'Frozen' on a screen in the elevator...

Finally in the platform. The trains are like ancient locomotives, and our red car does not come while blue and orange ones do, on the same track (Metro does not actually work like that).

And it goes downhill from there...

High School

I'm having flashbacks to High School. Oddly enough, I was in so many activities that there were sometimes conflicts, and sometimes they got ugly. One time there were two concerts scheduled for the same night, and I had to choose. I had a bell choir concert (I loved bell choir) and also some symphonic band concert, where we were supposed to perform 'Procession of the Sardar' which involved a bassoon solo. I knew we were only doing it because my mother requested it. She was one of those psycho band boosters, made jackets for the directors and was basically stalking the head director, even though he was married. First of all, I had no desire to do a solo or be put on the spot that way, and certainly I hated being manipulated. The bell director said she could fill in, but it would not be the same, while in band there was another capable bassoonist. So, guess what I chose? Bell choir. My mother and the director were furious. Well, screw them both.

From the past...

There's a guy I used to work with (and drink with) like 10 years ago; we were friends, and I had a little bit of a crush on him. He's half-Japanese (surprise) and had that unusual handsome look that half-asians sometimes have. He also did a hilarious 'Mr Burns' voice from Simpsons. As far as I know he's str8, though I always had my suspicions

Well I'm going to a press check this afternoon where he works now. I haven't seen him in over a decade. I've talked to him on the phone a couple of times, and I'm told by a mutual friend who sees him all the time that he looks just the same. She also says he asks about me. Still, I'm kind of nervous about this.

My new spin class went okay last night; not so many people, but it is just starting up. And whew, I had forgotten how crazy that club is on a weeknight, especially early in the week. There were a ton of cute 20 and 30-something Asian guys, all in nice shape, of just about every variation in appearance. I kept getting distracted because at this club, the back of the spin room is glass, and I can see right through to the free weights area.

I woke up this morning and had a half hour to just lie in bed and dose and enjoy that nice warm feeling...

Dream a little dream...

... or three.

The problem with going to bed early for me (I succumbed at 8:15!?) Is I get in several rounds of dream sleep. Last night I had dreams about San Francisco (I blame Under One Roof), R. (of course) and, of all things, Seung-Hui Cho. Yeah him again.

Only the SF dream was a happy one. The ones with R. (there were several) were uncomfortable, and there was one with Cho involving me confronting him in the hallway of the academic building and trying to get him to put the guns down that replayed itself over and over with different endings like some Star Trek: TNG time-loop episode.

I even woke up at around 2 and watched Colbert Report; it wasn't half bad, though I don't know how long he can sustain the writer's strike jokes a all those clips. It was after that that the Cho dreams started...

I need more coffee.

A little better Tuesday

Anyone else remember the old Boomtown Rats (Bob Geldof before he got all righteous) song called I Don't Like Mondays? A classic.

Anyway, I'm feeling better (or at least resigned); after all this is what I got a home equity line of credit for: big home expenses.

What did I do most of last evening? Watch Enterprise repeats. Why, I do not know. The show was not that great. I think it's mainly just the whole trip/T'Pol thing.

Voyage To The Bottom of the Sea

Who else remembers this series from the 60's? Actually today I wanted to talk about the movie. Starring Walter ("Morbius") Pidgeon as Admiral Nelson, with (of all people) Frankie Avalon and Barbara Eden among others. It was one of the early Irwin Allen sci-fi/disaster epics. The movie opens with the submarine Seaview bursting out of the water at an impossible angle (yes sometimes real subs do surface at an angle, but I assume the crew inside is holding on for dear life).

Anyway, the plot concept is that the Van Allen radiation belts catch on fire, causing the earth's temperature to rise dramatically. The ice on the poles starts to melt... (sound familiar?) The brilliant Admiral Nelson, aided by his sidekick Peter Lorre, devises a plan to blast the Van Allen belt into space using a nuclear missile (nuclear missiles solved everything in the 60's). But everyone else thinks Nelson is crazy, so the Seaview is hunted by the other world powers. Along the way in the now-steamy arctic, they encounter religious fanatic Michael Ansara and his little dog on a melting iceberg...

Anyway, it all ends well of course, and at the end the Seaview is sailing away under a blue sky, and the Earth has magically returned to normal. If only it were that easy.

Looking back, I had a little boy-crush on Kowalski, played by Del Monroe in both the movie and the series.

Major Don West was hotter though.

Stouffer's memories

I blogged about Stouffer's once before, but didn't really say much about it. Now the name is apparently only associated with frozen foods (some of which are, admittedly, pretty tasty), but I will always associate that name with a restaurant at the mall near where I grew up, South Hills Village.

Stouffer's was a pretty nice, sit-down restaurant, taking up a large corner spot near the main entrance. It had this asian motif, with these dark wood walls and folding panel partitions, which they sometimes opened onto the mall. There were scrolls and figures on the walls, and it was all very cool to me. For some reason I remember going there with my mother for weekday lunches, having the steak on toast while some of the more 'high fashion' women's clothing sores in the mall had fashion shows where the models would walk around the restaurant. My mother was interested in this more professionally than as a customer, since she was a seamstress and would sew some custom clothes for her clients. I vaguely remember feeling a little awkward, but I enjoyed my little medium-rare steak and having lunch in a 'nice' restaurant.

Many years later during at least one college summer, I worked at that same Stouffers as a grill cook with a fellow UVa guy (and cutie) Zuard (Zuard, where are you?). One night in the kitchen we had a raw oyster fight, slinging them across the kitchen. Too bad he didn't eat a few.

I guess all those restaurants are all gone though.

I know...

...quoting song lyrics is tired and unimaginitive, but I've been on another Go-Go's kick (had 'You can't walk in your sleep' on my weekend spin mix) and I love the lyrics to this song.

This Town

We all know the chosen toys
Of catty girls and pretty boys
Make up that face
Jump in the race
Life's a kick in this town
Life's a kick in this town

CHORUS
This town is our town
It is so glamorous
Bet you'd live here if you could
And be one of us

Change the lines that were said before
We're all dreamers - we're all whores
Discarded stars
Like worn out cars
Litter the streets of this town
Litter the streets of this town

Random Friday Thoughts

1. Wednesday when I was leaving for work at 11:30am, I smelled what seemed like burning toast in the stairwell. This set me to worrying about a possible fire, and then thoughts about the ramifications of my condo burning to the ground and all I would lose. When I got to work I even called my answering machine to be sure it was still working... such a worry-wart.

2. I am sure glad I have a washer and dryer in my home. Every few months I use the 'common' W/D facilities in the basement of one building to wash a few large things like my comforter (the dry cleaners charge a fortune) and it's so expensive and such a hassle. Reminds me of the old college days in C'ville and hanging out at the laundromat. What was that place next to Anna's Pizza #5, Cho? 'Suds'? ;-)

3. My new sheets came! They are silky smooth. I'm washing the duvet cover right now (see #2).

4. Much to do this weekend (as usual). I need to suck it up and finish the taxes, then wrap up the writing project. And I literally have 7-8 episodes of Farscape on the overloaded TiVo to deal with.

Windy

We've had high winds here since yesterday, and I flashed back to this classic 60's song. Found it on YouTube, and whaddya know, one of the Association is Asian! That must have been pretty much unheard-of back then.

Friday, but I have to work for a few hours tomorrow. Ah, well. I'm kinda looking forward to the walk in to work today in the sun and wind.

Marid Gras 2003

Seems so long ago when Andreas and I were on a cruise and stopped in New Orleans for Fat Tuesday... it was pre-Katrina of course, so kind of a different time.

Yes, I'm a Trekkie

I've been to a couple of Star Trek conventions, at one of which I fawned over a very young and friendly Garrett Wang (Voyager had just started so he was a bit starry-eyed himself; I still have his email address), and many years ago James Doohan came to U.Va. and packed University Hall. I've seen George Takei and Majel Barrett, but that's about it for my nerddom. I would like to go to the Star Trek Experience in Vegas though. Oh, and half the thrill of winning the WETA contest last summer was of course seeing Leonard Nimoy in person and hearing the Star Trek themes. (Yes, even when I hear the Voyager theme sometimes I get a little choked up).

So anyway, last night there was a special on History Channel: Star Trek: Beyond the Final Frontier, hosted by Leonard. He was mainly just reading the prompts, and it was a lot of the old stars saying the same things I'd heard before. It was mostly actually about the big auction that happened last fall. But there were a few glimpses of Garrett (hate the hair), and it was fun to see cute little Denise and Michael Okuda going through the warehouses and uncovering all these old treasures and very carefully cataloging everything. And there was some cute editing back and forth between the stars and fans talking and clips from the series; some of it was pretty funny.

Then there was the auction. Woah, I remember that some of the big items had gone for far more than they expected but... They prepriced the original (they call the biggest model the 'hero' model) Deep Space Nine station model at up to $12,000. It sold for $110,000. And there was a 6' Klingon Bird of prey hero that had been in TNG and the movies, and probably DS9 too, that was prepriced at $12,000, that went for $260,000!! Who has a quarter of a million dollars to spend on an old model? And those Christies Auction people didn't seem to blink an eye, but you could see them grinning from ear to ear, calculating their commission.

Now I want a copy of the Auction Catalogue

Jules Verne

Today in 1828 Jules Verne was born. I remember loving the campy Disney version of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea when I first saw it. And I still think the design of the Nautilus for the movie was gorgeous (and had little to do with the minimal exterior description given by Verne). I have a tiny replica of it on my mantle at home.

*N Sync Kinda day

Mac's comment about the Electric Slide immediately made me think back to the *N Sync tour when they did the cover of Just Got Paid. Justin had that darling huge mane of hair (and he actually shaved every day) and they did what I assume is the Electric Slide (they slid, at least) then they did this butt slap...

An Unremarkable Weekend

Taught both my spin classes (Saturday's was full; I let one of the students use my bike so she wasn't turned away. Several really cute guys in class too) but otherwise basically goofed around. R. called whie I was driving to class Saturday but I didn't pick up (it's illegal in DC). Went for a walk on Saturday afternoon in the warm weather, watched a movie Saturday night. Most of Sunday I just goofed off, did laundry and watched a lot of TiVo'ed TV.

I didn't sleep well last night; no idea why. I had trouble falling asleep, even though I was awake watching TV till 11. So now I'm a little groggy. Hopefully the caffeine will kick in soon. That night manager better be back this week; I don't want another week like the last one.

And since reading Shigeki's mention of Harajuku Girls I have the Pet Shop Boys' West End Girls stuck in my head.

So wrong...

I saw this video at the gym on the video channel yesterday; it's disturbing, yet the dancing is hypnotic... It's like Cirque meets MTV in the 80's or something.

On other fronts... So the night manager at work (who i would swear is gay, but he's divorced with kids... okay he could still be gay) has 'personal issues' so I was told. And I heard some rumors. He definitely seems to have the shakes all the time, and a bit of a temper. Well, he was out the last few days, and yesterday I found out that 'personal issues' yesterday turned out to be 'in jail in North Carolina for non-payment of child support.' Great. More work for me. Don't they normally just garnish your wages or something?