You know what sucks?

David: "It sucks to be cold."
Shannon: "It sucks to be hot too."
David: "You know what doesn't suck? Just right."
Shannon: "Yeah, just right is the best."

Scary Bed - part 3

Recurring nightmares! When I was little I had the same few nightmares over and over. There was one in particular that stuck with me though. It involved a puppet-like character, sort of like the characters on Sesame Street. In my dream, just like on Sesame Street, it was perfectly normal for puppets to talk to people. This puppet was sort of horse-like, with a long face/nose, the way a horse is. In each dream this horse puppet would come over to my house and ask if I could play. I didn't want to, but my mom would always tell me to anyway, to be polite. So I would go, and in each dream we would start to play but then the puppet would eat me. The way he would eat me would be the way Cookie Monster eats a cookie; loudly grunting and pieces flying all over the place. The pieces flying about looked like bits of styrofoam and that's when I would wake up. To this day when I see horses or anything else with a long face like that (some dogs have it, cartoon characters, etc.) it gives me a weird irrational feeling.

Another dream I had frequently had a few variations but it always involved any weird creatures that I had seen that week on Star Trek (the original). One time they were flying pancake-like things; another time large balls of hair. The story was this: I would be at my school in my pajamas and the Star Trek creature would be there attacking me and the other children. Most of the time I would startle awake, but I distinctly remember one time that the paramedics from the TV show Emergency! came and rescued us. So I guess my nightmares were not all bad after all!

Anti-circus, anti-zoo

I didn't used to feel this way. Not so very long ago I used to love both of these places, especially the circus. When I was little we visited the LA Zoo all the time. Sometimes there would be people outside picketing. They would shout, "Boycott the zoo!" over and over as we went past. "What weirdos!" I would think to myself. Now I wish I could join them.

My feelings began after a trip to the Fort Worth Zoo about 2 years ago. It's actually a very nice zoo - one of the better ones I've been to. They have a very large gorilla exhibit. The gorillas have a place where they can play outside or come inside. Zoo guests can see them in both places too. On this visit the gorillas were inside. One of them was sitting right up against the glass. A lot of people were gathered around, all pointing, shouting and knocking on the glass. The gorilla looked sad to me (I know, they always look like that), but I felt so bad for him. The gorillas humanoid features got to me. I started to wonder if he was really happy living at the zoo.

A few weeks later we visited the circus. I have many happy memories of going there as a child and I wanted to share that with my kids. We had already been when Tommy was a baby, and I loved it, but the other kids were too young to remember. I was so excited to take them there. The tickets were about $25 each, and as it turned out they were for balcony seats. I was disappointed we were up so high, but the kids didn't seem to mind. Before the show started, I went to get cotton candy - it was $10! So with $30 worth of cotton candy we started to watch "the greatest show on earth". I started to see the show with different eyes. Did the elephants really want to be here? Did they want to be dressed up and hold each others tails? Many of the acts are animal acts. One of the acts involved horses running in one of the rings. They ran faster and faster and made their circle smaller. Then, one of the horses fell to the ground and we all gasped. The trainer cracked his whip and the horse got up and the act continued. I noticed some of the horses wobbling a bit, as clearly they aren't meant to be running so tightly. I started to feel sad again. I was ashamed that I had spent money to support such a place. As we left David commented that we should wait a few years before going again to which I replied, "I wouldn't be sad if we never went again!"

Tie-dye!

We tie-dyed shirts as a summer project. As I learned, the dying part doesn't take that long. Waiting overnight to see how they would turn out was difficult, but it was worth it!

Disney dilemma

Every once in awhile I get this urge to go to Disneyland. Sometimes the urge is so strong that I feel like if I don't go soon I will die! I am in the middle of one of those times now. I spend some part of each day trying to figure out how I can get there. I fantasize about my ultimate Disney vacation and how great it will be. I discuss plans with David about retiring near Disneyland in the future. Yesterday I did some calculations on how much it would cost to live at one of the Disney hotels and go to the park 365 days a year. I presented the number to David. He told me that going there everyday would get old after awhile and suggested that when we retire we can go once a quarter for a week each time. My first reaction was "Wh-what?? Disneyland... get OLD?? Does not compute!!" But when I pondered it further I suppose he is right. It would be a bit like Christmas everyday, and in all the cartoon shows I've seen on that subject, it never works out.

I see London, I see France...

I am so sick of looking at underpants. This trend of ladies having their underwear sticking out of their pants is driving me crazy. I used to see it all the time last summer, but not so much anymore. I would especially notice it at restaurants or other places where people were sitting. Once Ada and I were walking through the mall and a lady was in a shoe store near the window. As she crouched down to try on some shoes we had full view of her underwear. I was glad that the boys were not with me! What is wrong with these ladies? Can't they feel that their butt is sticking out? I realized I hadn't seen that in awhile but a few nights ago at Wal-Mart there was a lady wearing some sort of wrap around skirt. As she passed me I could see that she had the skirt tied in the back - just below her underpants.