New header picture ... isn't it beautiful? I slept hard last night - given, it took me 3 hours to fall asleep again, but hey! Three hours is better than six, right? Carpenters woke me up again this morning around 8:00 and I couldn't go back to sleep, so I got up, got my shower, and made coffee. David got up around 9:00, walked into the kitchen, saw me, then clutched his chest like he was about to have a heart attack. Then he said something like "Not only is he up before noon, but he's up before NINE!" Then he checked me for a fever and asked me if I felt all right. Jesus, does he HAVE to be so dramatic? So, anyway, since I was up and clean, I decided to go out - this would be my secod appearance in public since the hair (the first was class last night, but I'll get into that later). First place I go is to the Wesleyan bookstore to stop and talk to Emily. I walk in and wave at her and she just ... stares at me for a minute, like she doesn't know who I am - then grins like a madwoman at me and screams like some psycho teeny-bopper girl and runs to me with open arms to hug me and touch my hair, squealing "I love it! It looks so cool!" She's shorter than me, and that really boosts my self-esteem. She then tells me about how the Harry Potter party was moved to Tuesday and that the whole day, from 10 to 3, would be just one long celebration. I said "That's great!" (More Harry Potter!) Apparently, it was announced in this morning's paper. Egads! (Know what else was in the paper this morning? How in London, this truckload of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was stolen! Over 7,000 books were stolen, and cops will prosecute anyone who's seen with it without a legitimate excuse. Dear fucking God, the frenzy is phenomenal! People are STEALING BOOKS! This makes me giddy. I can't remember when the last time was that people created this much of a frenzy over a book! Egads!) Bless you, J.K. Rowling ... bless you. Thank you, for making children want to read again - and people of all ages. Thank you, thank you, thank you for giving people a reason to dream again, to use their imaginations. I love you. Anyway, Emily told me that the president of the college is still going to be Dumbledore (if he can get down here in time to do it), Spiff (that's Melissa) is going to be Hermione Granger (apparently, she'd been there earlier and I'd just missed her), and that Brad MIGHT be Harry. I told her that was wonderful - then she asked me if I wanted to dress up. OF COURSE I want to dress up! I just don't know as what - now, I do, though. I asked her who I could possibly be now that my hair is white. She said, "How about Draco Malfoy?" EGADS! Me? As Malfoy? Me? The "bad guy" ...? Me? As MALFOY?! ... ... WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF THAT BEFORE????? God, I'm so dense. After I agreed to be Malfoy, Emily told me "You do know that you and Spiff have the best British accents in the school, right?" BIG blushing moment. She said, "You guys would be perfect to lead us in the activities! Since Draco and Hermione dispise each other, if you guys could make up some kind of skit or routine before each activity, that would be hilarious!" Bloody hell! Now I've been suckered into helping plan for Potter Day - which is FREE and open to the public ... how about them apples? So my Tuesday is booked with Harry Potter Day and a Developmental Psych test. Fun times. I broke down and used the phone today. Yes, I, Seth Glover, hater of the telephone, actually used Emily's cell phone to call Melissa - since she lives 30 miles away and I didn't know when we'd be able to get together to plan this thing. Luckily, she was still in town, so she was at the bookstore in less than 15 minutes to talk about it. All right, my Saturday Night is now booked. (Holy fucking Hell - I'm getting OUT OF THE APARTMENT! How about that?) First, Emily has planned for all of us (the WHOLE Players posse - people who hang out with/are involved with the Wesleyan Players and also just happen to be AMAZING friends - it's like a support group, only more intimate and friendly) to go see the Hulk at 9:00, thereby meeting at Emily's around 7:00. After the movie, we'll be going back to her house to plan Harry Potter Day. She told me to plan on crashing on the couch so I don't have to be getting back so late. And I was like, "Emily. I live not even a block from you." Psh. Women. She wanted me to stay anyway. Delightful! It'll be me and Brad in a house filled with girls. Think we can make it? (Mental note: Get Ben & Jerry's ... LOTS of Ben & Jerry's.) So, after I was suckered into helping out with Harry Potter Day, dressing up like Malfoy, going to see the Hulk and spending an entire night in a house full of girls (all in the course of less than an hour), Melissa and I went to Books-A-Million to see if we could find some pictures for Harry Potter Bingo, and to get some gourmet coffee. We ... uh ... just got the coffee and hung out there for a while. We didn't accomplish very much. I did, however, suddenly and unexpectedly understand the concept of Butterbeer - butterscotch, butter rum ... ugh, what is WRONG with me? It's like that whole Sunkist thing. Sunkist - sunkissed. God, I'm stupid. How can someone with an IQ of 129 be so fucking oblivious? Anyway, I didn't leave BAM empty-handed, so the trip wasn't a complete waste. I bought myself an amethyst book thong, because I've wanted one for a long time. (For those of you who don't know, a book thong is like a bookmark, only it's just a string with a pendant attached to each end so it fits perectly in the crease to hold your place - they are splendid things. And pretty, too!) And as I was checking out, the cashier girl stared at Melissa and I like she knew us or ... something. It was a little strange. Maybe I look weird with my glasses on? Both of us were wearing glasses today. So, anyway, after that, I came home, chilled in front of the TV for a while and now, here I am, typing this. So I got a lot of looks last night because of my hair ... I guess. One guy in my class asked me if I'd seen a ghost. Oh hahaha ... A girl in the class said that I reminded her of this Crash Test Dummies song called "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" and the verse that went "Once, there was this kid who got into an accident and couldn't come to school, but when he finally came back, his hair had turned from black into bright white." *sings* He said that it was from when the cars had smashed sooooooooooooo haaaaaaaaaaaard. Mmm mmm mmm mmm, mmm mmm mmm mmm ... Man, I haven't heard that song in ages. I think I'll dig out my old CD. Anyway, there was this guy in the videos we watched in class last night who couldn't pronounce the "h" in "human" so it came out as "ewmen." It was quite entertaining - even moreso because the teacher would visibly cringe every time he said ti. Kind of reminded me of that guy on South Park who had the rare disease that kept him from pronouncing the "t" in "planetarium." So ... yeah ... parrently, people seem to not mind my hair too much. And I'm still happy that it's not falling out. Anyway ... Time for dream discussion. I woke up in a good mood, probably because the only dream I can remember was the last one and it was definitely a good dream ... for me anyway. Dream: (The first part of this dream reminded me of a scene I wrote out in my novel between Vincent and Sydney, in which Sydney cuts Vincent's hair because he's just aggitated at it's length ... don't know why I'd dream something like that, though.) I'm sitting on a stool in the middle of this bedroom - a bedroom that I saw much of last night. My feet are bare and curled around the middle rung so my knees are parallel with my waist. I'm wearing black slacks and a white button-up top, with a collar, and these three-quarter sleeves. The cuffs are past my elbows and end about to the middle of my forearms. Why do I feel the need to discuss this? Because it bothers the HELL out of me. The sleeves are too short, in my mind. And, in the dream, I keep wanting to tuck the cuffs down to my wrists - but I can't, because not only are the sleeves too short, but I'm wearing the handcuffs. My hair is wet - I feel like I've just got out of the shower, and there's a towel over my shoulders. And Niveus is cutting my hair. She's cutting my hair, running the comb through it every now and then - cutting my hair to just past my jaw (which is how I like it). I stay still for a while, then I start to fidget, because the sleeves are really irritating me, and trying to fix them with the handcuffs on is really awkward ... I just keep leaning my head forward as I fight a hopeless battle between handcuffs and sleeves - and she keeps touching the top of my head and pushing it back straight so she can keep cutting. The feeling of this dream is a happy one. I'm happy in this dream, despite my dislike of the sleeves. Niveus is talking to me about ... something ... I don't really remember what, but I do remember being hungry, though. You know, I've noticed that when I'm hungry in dreams, I don't really recall what people say very well. She's just trimming my hair now, and she tells me she has something else for me to wear, since the sleeves are bothering me so much. And she stops trimming my hair just long enough to hand me this shiny, gold box. She goes back to trimming loose hairs as I open the box. Of course, I drop the lid because, well, it's hard to open things neatly with handcuffs on. And I fold back the tissue paper ... and it's this really pretty, shimmery, white kimono. I smile, I like it very much - But then it reminds me of the sky blue kimono that the man was wearing wearing several dreams ago ... and his knife, and what he almost did to me but didn't have the heart to ... And I jerk a little at the memory, dropping the box in the process, which causes Niveus to accidentally nick my neck with the scissors. She gasps my name then immediately sets the scissors on the table and presses a washcloth to my cut. I whisper to her that I was sorry and lower my head, but she strokes my hair and tells me that it's okay. She asks me what's wrong, and I lie to her and whisper "nothing" - but she knows I'm lying; however, she doesn't play on it. I just don't want her to worry about it. I want to do so much to please her; I don't want her to worry about me - I feel like I do enough worrying for the both of us. And then she takes the cloth away and instead starts to suck on my cut in a very, very sweet kiss. I feel very warm and happy; and though it's healed fully now, she keeps kissing my neck. I lean my head to hers, and I raise my hands - because I have to raise both of them due to the handcuffs, and stroke her cheek as she kisses my jaw, and for a moment, our lips meet ... But then the door opens, and we pull apart as someone comes in. It's a woman - a servant, I think - and she tells Niveus that it is time for dinner. Niveus nods and tells her to find someone to clean my hair from the floor. The woman leaves and Niveus runs the comb through my hair a few more times which possitively makes me MELT. And then she removes my handcuffs, and says something about me being her body guard so I'll need my hands free. Then she pulls me to my feet and, still holding my hands, kisses me. Ah, happy happy happy happy am I. We go into the hall. And I walk ahead of her. My eyes are closed, which means I'm using my "third eye" not only to watch out for any would-be attackers, but also as a guide. I know that I am very thin and pale, and my head droops a little bit - but I am just oozing with power. It's intoxicating, even to me, I can just FEEL all of this emanating from me - and I don't remember having felt this for a long time. And all the while, I have this placid look on my face - totally peaceful, with a small, warm smile ... I can feel this. I am just bursting with happiness. Maybe my power is just caused by me being so happy. And we're just walking down this long corridor. There are people, servants, guards, whatever, to the sides, but never in front of us - the servant girl from earlier, however, is behind Niveus. I'm being stared at ... by a lot of people. I can hear some stray thoughts. One woman was thinking about how well Niveus had me under control - which meant that we were fooling them well. A man thought that he liked my hair better short like it is now. And then I heard another thought, coming from somewhere, saying something like "if I go now, they'll never suspect a thing. Wait for it ... wait for it." I just keep walking and lightly tilt my head to the right - I stay perfectly calm, though I know someone is about to leap out at my beloved Niveus and attempt to kill her. Then the man's thought came out as "for His Majesty" and suddenly there's this tall man with faded orange hair and dark clothes running toward my left. And I, without even opening my eyes, or my expression changing at all, just lift my hand and backslap him ... ... which sends him flying into the wall ... and knocks him out. And then my arm just lowers to my side again, like it was nothing - just swatting lazily at a fly or ... something. Then I hear a woman's thought, saying "he failed! I knew he would! Time for me to do what he was incapable of." And my third eye watches as the servant behind Niveus pulls out these small, stilletto knives. I sigh, and then I think on crushing her ... and suddenly she freezes behind Niveus, and drops to the floor, her body looks as though she's being crushed - just as I thought - and she drops her knives. Men come to take the two away, and we finally reach the dining hall ... with a very long table, many people are standing at their seats, waiting for Niveus to sit so they can begin. There are two empty seats, one at each end of the table. But she stands next to her chair, then looks at the man standing at the chair to her right. She snaps her fingers and points to the empty seat at the end of the table, and says something - then the man moves to the empty seat and she motions for me to take the one to her right as she sits down. Everyone else sits down. I'm still standing, however. I'm uncomfortable around all of these people - I'm still very happy, but uncomfortable. I open my eyes, she looks into them and just says softly "Sit." And I do. Then I bow my head, fold my hands in my lap, and proceed to stare at the empty plate before me ... just staring, at my reflection in the porcelain, really. I wake up. And ... that's that. Enough has been written! I'm off to eat something, because I'm very hungry and coffee just isn't enough. Yay for Kenshin today! More Soujiro for me! I am a very, very happy Seth. ___________________________________________________________________

[take the test] - [by krystaljungle.com]

((Damn straight!)) ______________________________________________________________ 4 days! Blessed be.