Romantic Interlude, or Something Like It
On Friday, we got back to UMBC at around five and went to play Sid Meier's Civilization, the board game. Or rather, Jeremy played with a bunch of his friends at the Erickson lounge and I gave him back rubs, or as Jose said, "Immoral support." It's a lot like Settlers of Cattan. It was fun for the first four hours or so. We went and got dinner. We came back and played more Civ, and went on until 10 at night, unfortunately, because Civ is the Ring Cycle of board games.
Then we went to Jeremy's suite to play D&D 3rd edition, and it took a while rolling up characters for all the new people. I'm a halfling barbarian, just so you know. Jose and Eric IV (one of our many fencers named Eric) went down to get food, which left me and Jeremy alone in his room. We weren't too loud about it. After about fifteen minutes, Niall, in the other room with Mike, said "Where's Jeremy?" so I closed the door, for a reason. Niall came and opened it. I screamed, Niall yelled, "I'm sorry!", bolted out of the room terrified, and me and Jeremy fell over laughing like crazy. We went into the common room, still laughing like crazy... apparently Niall and Mike had both fled. There was a knock on that door, and Eric IV and Jose returned with their food, and Niall and Mike with them, and when they saw me and Jeremy laughing like crazy they starting laughing like crazy and Eric IV and Jose thought we were insane.
And then we started roleplaying.
This is our campaign story...
My character and Eric IV's character work at this shitty ass bar at a shitty ass fishing town that smells like rotting fish and rotting driftwood all the time, and the people are mean, saying things like "Buy somethin' or giddout!" (all NPC accents hilariously courtesty of our kickass DM, Mike). Anyway, we meet up with the party. They have to travel to this town called Pina (as in, Colada) in the area, and Eric IV's character knows where it is, so we volunteer to take them to it. We cross this plain, and are attacked by a sphinx, and we kill it. We're crossing this desert when we see this turbaned NPC (middle eastern accent: "A thousand gods be thanked!" "No, Mike, that's Indian" "Okay, he's Indian then") half buried in a sand pit and screaming for help. We try to help him, but the sand slides in, and he falls into a hole in the sand, like an hour glass. We follow him, and end up in a cavern. We go to a door, which leads to a ledge supported by pillars over a giant pit, with many Egyptian acolyte types in white robes doing repetitive tasks.
Some people climb or fly or fall into the pit from the ledge. We do our will saves. To those who don't fail it, the acolytes suddenly appear to be undead. Kay ("I cast magic missile... into the darkness"), the other halfling in our party, whose favored enemy is the undead, and has a wisdom of like.. 2... goes berserk and starts attacking them. Jeremy's character, who is a hot semi-evil necromancer chick (cuz it's Jeremy), goes berserk on Kay, yelling, "No!!! My friends!!" or something psycho like that. Jose's character, a cleric, begins turning the undead. Jeremy's character is now raging pissed. Niall's character descends some stairs and leaves the room.
Okay, paraphrasing and artistic liberty to follow but:
Necromancer: You have one warning. Stop your unprovoked attack of innocents or your life is forfeit.
Cleric: Innocents?? They are innocents, who are forced into eternal servitude, and I am sending them back to where they belong as is the way of my god. Turn undead!
Jeremy's char attacks Jose's char, and it seems like the beginning of some party killing. Suddenly, there's a rumbling sound, and a huge current of water sweeps in from an opened flood gate, and begins flushing the necromancer and all the undead ("Jeremy, you are now swimming in zombies!") to the other side. The necromancer manages to cling to the wall as the zombies are washed away around him. Kay, being a loyal friend, and halfling with a wisdom of 2... jumps into the water and tries to save the necromancer, despite her absolute rage at him for killing the undead just a few moments earlier. Kay manages to grab onto the necromancer and keep her from being swept away, and the water recedes. The halfling has just saved the necromancer's life, so she considers the debt even.
In the meantime, Niall's char is in another room, when he hears the rushing sound of water behind him. He flees down the stairwell into another chamber, where there is a mummy on a throne. The mummy demands, in the DM's fantastic dessicated mummy voice, "Where are my servants?!" Right on cue, two undead surf the floodwaters into the room, deposited at Niall's feet. The mummy screams, "What have you done??" as the water engulfs it, and Niall's char is caught up in the water as well. In the 10 foot high room, the water level continues to rise, the mummy and Niall struggle to cling to the wall, the mummy is becoming soggy and unravelled and disintegrating in the water. The mummy grabs a lever by the throne... a hole opens in the ground... the mummy clings onto the lever, but is overcome and is flushed into the hole with Niall. They're in this drain pipe thing, and the mummy manages to grab onto the side, when Niall slams into it, causing the mummy to pinwheel down this tube into oblivion. Fortunately, Niall takes the opportunity to grab the sides of the drain, but he's unable to breathe, and the water gushes around him. He claws his way out of the tube, five feet each round, and is nearly comatose by the time he gets out.
Back in the first room, Jose's cleric and Jeremy's necromancer have a murderous "difference of alignment." Kay makes a bet with Eric IV's character (being the rogues that they are) that the necromancer will win the duel, and then me and Kay and Niall go to the throne room, and climb down the now dry hole in the ground. After all, Niall must find his new friend, the mummy. In the meantime the cleric and the necromancer duel, in a hissy catfight of magic users, in which they mostly miss each other because they're spellcasters standing what, two feet away from each other? Then the cleric casts bind evil. In this time, the DM has determined.. Jeremy's character is no longer neutral chaotic, by her actions. She's just plain sick.
However, bind evil fails, and the characters pull out their melee weapons, and procede to give each other smackdowns. Jeremy is doing badly, because he's getting unusually bad rolls (and he's cursing up a storm: "Jesus fucking shit!") and Jose, who is usually cursed with bad rolls, rolls well. However, Jeremy wins after his bad roll streak ends, because he's just sexy like that (seriously) and goes to finish off the cleric.
Eric IV's character draws his bow, aiming an arrow at the necromancer's head and yells, "Hold!" In the meantime, the cleric heals himself and then slumps down, exhausted. The necromancer pins the cleric to the ground with her staff, and says, quietly, "I will spare your life, but first you must concede that you, as pronounced in the verdict of divine trial by combat, have been shown by your god to have sinned." The cleric refuses to acknowledge that his unprovoked turning of "innocent" undead was morally wrong. Seething, the necromancer lets him up anyway (being that there's kind of an arrow aimed at her head). They are not on speaking terms, getting on like a block of ice, and there is no doubt they will try to kill each other again.
This is where our session ends... and there is this sudden release of tension, and the rest of us who have been watching the duel applaud. Jose and Jeremy, the real people, not the characters, continue yelling at each other, arguing the theology involved in killing undead.
I like watching Jeremy when he's angry/intense. There's nothing sexier than a guy who plays D&D well, especially the roleplaying aspects. The fact that Jeremy can in all seriousness persuasively roleplay as a necromancer chick, speaking her dialogue and everything, and actually hold his ground and have no one laugh at him, attests to his roleplaying abilities. Also, I like watching him kick ass. That's my boy!
Saturday, September 20, 2003
Activity of the Soul
So yesterday, I went with Jeremy for a walk. Around us on campus, streams surged high and clear, and trees had been snapped like toothpicks, sometimes still connected to their stumps by a sliver of wood, and their soft damp heartwood showed bright against the black bark. I was reminded of UMCP around this time of year... two years ago. We walked around the pond that I showed Lori, previously brown and murky and filmy, but this time the water was high, almost overflowing its embankment, and grey and smooth almost like a mirror, casting the distorted reflection of trees on the surface of the water. Small branches and leaves were littered all over the dirt path, drying the mud, and I walked with Jeremy a bit of a ways until we were blocked by a fallen tree that had not been there before. So strangely enough, the pond is more beautiful after it storms.
We walked through the suburbs outside UMBC, and all the way to central Arbutus, MD, a small town with a main street, and stores around it. It felt old fashioned and quiet... not picturesque old fashioned and quiet, but in another way. In the residential areas the houses each look different, all different colors and designs, not like our Rockville Levittstown. The stores had handpainted signs and were small and dark, and there was a store that sold records still, and the comic book store had 50 cent Flash Gordon issues and Star Wars gear from the 70s and nothing wrapped in plastic. The proprietor apologized to us; most of the stores were closed, due to flooding, or power failure, or a combination of both. Jeremy noticed there was a High's, a chain of dairy store that had closed down around his area; we went inside out of curiosity, and it was very much like the camp store at Rocky Gap; a store that wasn't very commercialized, wasn't very hip, but sells what you need. Around somewhere, a firearms store in the basement of a building, the door covered by a rusty grille, was closed. We walked under a vehicular bridge and a railway bridge past the black swastikas and 'KKK' scrawled on the concrete walls and I held hands with an Aryan boy, but we are in the 21st century anyway and everyone has the right to love. I am a little bit paranoid but I can't imagine how people used to live like that all the time. Anyway, I'm just a wee careful who sees me with Jeremy walking down the street, and it is not a big deal, and if Malex can live with it regarding boyfriends, then so can I.
Down by the end of the railway bridge someone else had struck an anti sign across the swastika and scribbled 'sucks' under the 'KKK.'
We talked a lot, mostly about our lives at home, and I was happy when I was with him.
--
I couldn't sleep at night after D&D, so I went on a walk with Jose around the campus since he makes it a point of honor not to let a woman walk in the dark by herself. We went around and around, our campus being enclosed by a giant circle of asphalt, and the power went out briefly at around six in the morning, and the streetlamps blinked out so that we could see the sky grow light in the east. We went around and around and my legs would not rest because my heart would not rest. We talked about Jeremy mostly, with my thoughts buzzing around in my head and bouncing off the inside of my skull, but what's said in the night stays in the night. We watched the sun rise from Sus balcony, and the sky went pink with the coming of the day, and I thought that of all the people in the world and all their little sadnesses, being in love in itself is a minor miracle however long it may last, and all the nighttime thoughts melted under the brightening sky.
So yesterday, I went with Jeremy for a walk. Around us on campus, streams surged high and clear, and trees had been snapped like toothpicks, sometimes still connected to their stumps by a sliver of wood, and their soft damp heartwood showed bright against the black bark. I was reminded of UMCP around this time of year... two years ago. We walked around the pond that I showed Lori, previously brown and murky and filmy, but this time the water was high, almost overflowing its embankment, and grey and smooth almost like a mirror, casting the distorted reflection of trees on the surface of the water. Small branches and leaves were littered all over the dirt path, drying the mud, and I walked with Jeremy a bit of a ways until we were blocked by a fallen tree that had not been there before. So strangely enough, the pond is more beautiful after it storms.
We walked through the suburbs outside UMBC, and all the way to central Arbutus, MD, a small town with a main street, and stores around it. It felt old fashioned and quiet... not picturesque old fashioned and quiet, but in another way. In the residential areas the houses each look different, all different colors and designs, not like our Rockville Levittstown. The stores had handpainted signs and were small and dark, and there was a store that sold records still, and the comic book store had 50 cent Flash Gordon issues and Star Wars gear from the 70s and nothing wrapped in plastic. The proprietor apologized to us; most of the stores were closed, due to flooding, or power failure, or a combination of both. Jeremy noticed there was a High's, a chain of dairy store that had closed down around his area; we went inside out of curiosity, and it was very much like the camp store at Rocky Gap; a store that wasn't very commercialized, wasn't very hip, but sells what you need. Around somewhere, a firearms store in the basement of a building, the door covered by a rusty grille, was closed. We walked under a vehicular bridge and a railway bridge past the black swastikas and 'KKK' scrawled on the concrete walls and I held hands with an Aryan boy, but we are in the 21st century anyway and everyone has the right to love. I am a little bit paranoid but I can't imagine how people used to live like that all the time. Anyway, I'm just a wee careful who sees me with Jeremy walking down the street, and it is not a big deal, and if Malex can live with it regarding boyfriends, then so can I.
Down by the end of the railway bridge someone else had struck an anti sign across the swastika and scribbled 'sucks' under the 'KKK.'
We talked a lot, mostly about our lives at home, and I was happy when I was with him.
--
I couldn't sleep at night after D&D, so I went on a walk with Jose around the campus since he makes it a point of honor not to let a woman walk in the dark by herself. We went around and around, our campus being enclosed by a giant circle of asphalt, and the power went out briefly at around six in the morning, and the streetlamps blinked out so that we could see the sky grow light in the east. We went around and around and my legs would not rest because my heart would not rest. We talked about Jeremy mostly, with my thoughts buzzing around in my head and bouncing off the inside of my skull, but what's said in the night stays in the night. We watched the sun rise from Sus balcony, and the sky went pink with the coming of the day, and I thought that of all the people in the world and all their little sadnesses, being in love in itself is a minor miracle however long it may last, and all the nighttime thoughts melted under the brightening sky.
Friday, September 19, 2003
Wherein Angie Loses Power
At 11:47 PM on Thursday night, Angie was typing her blog. "Oh my God," I heard from down the hall, "Look at the window!" I hit post and publish, got out of my room and went to look at the window at the end of the hall, which was streaked with rain, and whistling, thundering and vibrating. A large puddle seeped through the carpet under it, which of course unwary people exiting from the stairwell stepped obliviously into, a second before people thought to say, "Don't step in the- damn." A few moments later, the lights in the hallway fizzed out, followed of course by girly screams of horror. There was a strong hum, and the lights came back on, and we all sighed either in relief or disappointment, and then we were abruptly plunged into darkness again, followed by more girly screams of horror. For several minutes, we were in a state of blind confusion (which may be worse in a dorm because you're stuck with all these people in the absolute darkness) before people began fumbling for flashlights, which swung their beams around through the cinderblock halls like miners' lamps. My room was lit up by my laptop. I tried to blog again and AIM people, but ResNet (the UMBC network) had crashed of course with the rest of the campus' power, so all I had was one battery powered laptop with no net connection. In retrospect I am glad that someone called out to me about the window; I had published my blog not thirty seconds before the blackout (and the post below would have been a bitch to rewrite).
I turned off my laptop, turned off my power grid, and begged Melissa to borrow her flashlight, which I used to fumble around looking for my cell phone, my wallet, and my roommate's flashlight, the location of which she helpfully did not tell me before leaving for the Eastern Shore. I rummaged through her stuff and found it though. (Moral scruples, boo hiss) In the lounge, people were collecting to play Murder, which I supposed was Mafia/Werewolf with another name. I think it's well established that I hate that game, so I left, called my parents (who were living by candlelight in Rockville) and called Lori, who was quite comfortable playing cards at Erickson second east, and Jeremy at four north. He was going for a walk and said he would meet me outside of Erickson, so I went to look for him.
I went downstairs, where a dozen people with shirts emblazoned with "Baltimore Co. Fire Department" in block letters stood around in a huddle. Outside was lighter than in, the night sky lit bright crimson, and sirens flared and the blue and red lights of a fire truck in front of Erickson circled my head, and in the glare of a dozen headlights I lost my night vision. The rain was gone, but the wind stronger than before. I went around to various exits and whenever I saw human figures I shined the flashlight at their faces, which did not help me recognize them. Over by the Pit a dark mass cheered as they slid around in the mud and more people streamed out of the buildings as those got increasingly more stuffy and cramped. I gave up hope on identifying any one person and people began breaking up the crowd and sending us back to our respective dorms.
I went into Kirsten and Alice's room (girls on my hall)... Andrew (introduced in Wednesday, September 10 blog) and his friend Neil were there also, though they said that IDs were being enforced now more than ever. We raided the warming fridge and had a Melting Ice Cream party, but we couldn't finish it all and I distributed the rest of the cookies n' cream to a ravenous pack of people down the hall.
In my room I peered out the window and shined my flashlight out of it; across the courtyard from me in Harbor Hall someone swung a beam of light straight into my eyes and lit their window pane in flashes of amateur Morse code. I illuminated people still walking throught the courtyard below, who arced their lights up at my window to answer me. I figured all of this back and forth was a good way to go blind. I went into the dark (though not quite so dark with the blinds pulled up) and went to sleep and had girly dreams, and was woken up at 7 AM by all the ice cream in my stomach, and the strange fact that a flourescent light was on in my room at seven in the morning.
Our power was back, but there is no school today.
At 11:47 PM on Thursday night, Angie was typing her blog. "Oh my God," I heard from down the hall, "Look at the window!" I hit post and publish, got out of my room and went to look at the window at the end of the hall, which was streaked with rain, and whistling, thundering and vibrating. A large puddle seeped through the carpet under it, which of course unwary people exiting from the stairwell stepped obliviously into, a second before people thought to say, "Don't step in the- damn." A few moments later, the lights in the hallway fizzed out, followed of course by girly screams of horror. There was a strong hum, and the lights came back on, and we all sighed either in relief or disappointment, and then we were abruptly plunged into darkness again, followed by more girly screams of horror. For several minutes, we were in a state of blind confusion (which may be worse in a dorm because you're stuck with all these people in the absolute darkness) before people began fumbling for flashlights, which swung their beams around through the cinderblock halls like miners' lamps. My room was lit up by my laptop. I tried to blog again and AIM people, but ResNet (the UMBC network) had crashed of course with the rest of the campus' power, so all I had was one battery powered laptop with no net connection. In retrospect I am glad that someone called out to me about the window; I had published my blog not thirty seconds before the blackout (and the post below would have been a bitch to rewrite).
I turned off my laptop, turned off my power grid, and begged Melissa to borrow her flashlight, which I used to fumble around looking for my cell phone, my wallet, and my roommate's flashlight, the location of which she helpfully did not tell me before leaving for the Eastern Shore. I rummaged through her stuff and found it though. (Moral scruples, boo hiss) In the lounge, people were collecting to play Murder, which I supposed was Mafia/Werewolf with another name. I think it's well established that I hate that game, so I left, called my parents (who were living by candlelight in Rockville) and called Lori, who was quite comfortable playing cards at Erickson second east, and Jeremy at four north. He was going for a walk and said he would meet me outside of Erickson, so I went to look for him.
I went downstairs, where a dozen people with shirts emblazoned with "Baltimore Co. Fire Department" in block letters stood around in a huddle. Outside was lighter than in, the night sky lit bright crimson, and sirens flared and the blue and red lights of a fire truck in front of Erickson circled my head, and in the glare of a dozen headlights I lost my night vision. The rain was gone, but the wind stronger than before. I went around to various exits and whenever I saw human figures I shined the flashlight at their faces, which did not help me recognize them. Over by the Pit a dark mass cheered as they slid around in the mud and more people streamed out of the buildings as those got increasingly more stuffy and cramped. I gave up hope on identifying any one person and people began breaking up the crowd and sending us back to our respective dorms.
I went into Kirsten and Alice's room (girls on my hall)... Andrew (introduced in Wednesday, September 10 blog) and his friend Neil were there also, though they said that IDs were being enforced now more than ever. We raided the warming fridge and had a Melting Ice Cream party, but we couldn't finish it all and I distributed the rest of the cookies n' cream to a ravenous pack of people down the hall.
In my room I peered out the window and shined my flashlight out of it; across the courtyard from me in Harbor Hall someone swung a beam of light straight into my eyes and lit their window pane in flashes of amateur Morse code. I illuminated people still walking throught the courtyard below, who arced their lights up at my window to answer me. I figured all of this back and forth was a good way to go blind. I went into the dark (though not quite so dark with the blinds pulled up) and went to sleep and had girly dreams, and was woken up at 7 AM by all the ice cream in my stomach, and the strange fact that a flourescent light was on in my room at seven in the morning.
Our power was back, but there is no school today.
Thursday, September 18, 2003
Wherein Angie Does It Like the French
I was talking to Lori online until 4:30 last night, so I was sleeping until twelve when I heard a knock on the door. I thought it might be people with hurricane information so I got out of bed to get it, but it was Jeremy. I made myself presentable, and we went on a walk in the wind that tore leaves off trees and blew them around us, until it started to rain, and we got wet. We went back to Chesapeake to watch Vampire Princess Miyu, which is Jeremy's favorite anime series, and involves lots of neck biting. We ended up leaning on each other as we watched it, and transplanted ourselves two and a half hours later, still in that position, to Jeremy's room in Erickson. In the common room between the two rooms of the suite, we sat on a couch next to each other with his arm over my shoulder and talked, and then stopped talking, and then I turned sideways so that my arms were around his neck and my face and lips next to his cheek, and then he turned around and kissed me proper. I liked it, and his stubble was scratchy but nice like that, and also his tongue was in my mouth (well not the first time but we got around to it) and I liked that too. Intermittantly, because his roommate was playing Jedi Knight on the computer, random sound effects like lasers, explosions and yells would emit from the door in front of us, causing us to stop and crack up, before going back to what we were doing. Outside the plate windows, the wind blew sheets of rain in front of the swaying streetlights and bent trees and sent clouds galloping across the sky.
Jeremy's suitemate came out and saw us in a compromising position and said, "I'm going out. You two can have the room to yourselves" and we did.
I was talking to Lori online until 4:30 last night, so I was sleeping until twelve when I heard a knock on the door. I thought it might be people with hurricane information so I got out of bed to get it, but it was Jeremy. I made myself presentable, and we went on a walk in the wind that tore leaves off trees and blew them around us, until it started to rain, and we got wet. We went back to Chesapeake to watch Vampire Princess Miyu, which is Jeremy's favorite anime series, and involves lots of neck biting. We ended up leaning on each other as we watched it, and transplanted ourselves two and a half hours later, still in that position, to Jeremy's room in Erickson. In the common room between the two rooms of the suite, we sat on a couch next to each other with his arm over my shoulder and talked, and then stopped talking, and then I turned sideways so that my arms were around his neck and my face and lips next to his cheek, and then he turned around and kissed me proper. I liked it, and his stubble was scratchy but nice like that, and also his tongue was in my mouth (well not the first time but we got around to it) and I liked that too. Intermittantly, because his roommate was playing Jedi Knight on the computer, random sound effects like lasers, explosions and yells would emit from the door in front of us, causing us to stop and crack up, before going back to what we were doing. Outside the plate windows, the wind blew sheets of rain in front of the swaying streetlights and bent trees and sent clouds galloping across the sky.
Jeremy's suitemate came out and saw us in a compromising position and said, "I'm going out. You two can have the room to yourselves" and we did.
Wednesday, September 17, 2003
The Singularly Strangest Blog Post You've Ever Read
(starting from 10 pm, Tuesday night)
So, after fencing, I played mahjong with Jeremy the evil lefty epeeist and a bunch of other white guys. Jeremy reads Japanese, and fights with live steel for fun, in rounds that end with first blood. Jose, his Hispanic friend who does not look Hispanic, owes him a pint of blood over a bet, which shall be extracted in a duel some day when they won't be caught by campus police. Because Jeremy is apparently gifted in the magic of Nordic runes, we then (with Jose) went into a cemetary at midnight. I wore a bone around my neck, which Jeremy solemnly swore on his word, his honor and his life, would not hurt me, and he has a voice that is reassuring, persuasive and sincere, and perhaps frightening because of it, and a very strange smile. We did a magic ritual and I suddenly fell over, which both Jeremy and Jose attribute to magic and I apprehensively attribute to the science of losing my balance when I stand with my feet firmly together on one spot on a hill with my eyes closed. There was also a magic ritual involving me closing my eyes and pointing to the memorial stones. I did this correctly according to Jeremy and Jose but I attribute this to the fact that there's a slab at just about every damn angle you could possibly point in. Jeremy and Jose had a kind of insiders' conversation saying things like, "I see the door's still open, I thought it would close by itself" / "Well you had better close it sometime" or "The enchantment is still surprisingly strong" / "It's coming from the book" / "Well I didn't do that"
I guess it sounds stupid and crazy now, but it feels different in the semi cold in the quiet with only us, in a cemetary at midnight with two people who totally believe in what they are doing. It's a very strange world, the campus at night- bright as day with sodium streetlamps yet the sky black, and not a soul or sound in the world except you. If it were the case of me and one other person.. my opinion is worth as much as his and I can dismiss him as a crazy... but with two other people they talk as if these things are real and they both have shared experiences and affirm each other, so that you wonder if it perhaps isn't you. And at a point some part of me wanted very much to believe in it, to feel some sensation... I think everyone wants to believe in magic because they'll feel more powerful. And another part of me said, "I believe in God, I believe in God alone, this is insane" and "I don't believe in Satan, this cannot be Satanic" and the third part of me going, "This is all psychology and science and some crazy D&D dorks in a field, I'm being a moron, when this is over they'll probably laugh at me amongst themselves at my expense." I went through with everything with some trepidation. I think that if you tell me anything to me often enough with enough conviction I will believe it... it turns out I'm still a superstitious idiot after all.
We walked around campus randomly. Jeremy said that if he knew me better he'd do a trick he always plays on female friends he takes to cemetaries, which was to tilt my head back, and very slowly, try to bite my neck like a vampire. He said it freaked them out, and I said I wouldn't be because I'd merely think he was necking me. Jose said to Jeremy, "There is hope for you after all." Jeremy put an arm around my shoulder, drew me close and said he would take care of me. I said okay; Jose laughed and asked me if I had any idea what I was getting into, and Jeremy tilted my head back and, very slowly, tried to bite my neck like a vampire (with my foreknowledge and encouragement, obviously). I've never had my neck bitten before, so it was interesting.
Jose commented that his divination showed he'd never find love. We went to a lounge in Sus, where Jeremy divined my future with cards and swung his bone pendant over them like Hitomi, and it was quite accurate, though I attribute this to it being quite general. This following fortune applies to me in a way which I won't say here... no doubt any other person who reads this can make it fit themselves like a glove as well?
(Five of Clubs) (spades?) I am presented with a trial that will repeat throughout the course of my future. (King of Diamonds) I have great expectations upon entering something, but those expectations may not necessarily be realized. (Seven of Hearts) I am emotionally stable, not becoming deeply involved in anyone, (Ten of Hearts) but that has potential to change. (Jack of Clubs) I treat college as something of an apprenticeship, a preparation for that thing for which I have great expectations (signified by the King of Diamonds earlier). All of this will converge in (Ace of Clubs) a trial, a judgement, for which everything earlier will have prepared me for.
Jeremy also has the Ace of Clubs in that position, which Jose says is a relationship card. Jeremy and Jose went out in the hallway to discuss. Jose came back grinning and we went into his room to check the computer for a lunar chart and no, the lunar phase I was born under isn't the same one Jeremy was born under.
We took our leave of Jose and then Jeremy walked me back to my dorm, and we ended up walking in a close and protective arm-around-shoulder-arm-around-waist-boy-girl position, and he said that I was a good armrest height and I said he was a good headrest height.
I went home and went to sleep at four in the morning and when I woke up I went to class, except for some reason I thought my class started an hour later than it did so I missed it.
There was a bizaar outside of the commons with jewelry so I went to amuse myself with shiny things with Lori, who has tons of jewelry already. It was all very exotic, with Persian handkerchiefs, crosses, dragons and claddaugh rings, and stones that resembled and I fancifully imagined to be lapis lazul and opal and Roman glass. There were silver bracelets with elephants and dolphins in relief, and Greek keys and stylized waves. We looked at little frog and turtle rings with mouths that opened and closed and legs that moved, and pewter gauntlet-fingers with articulated joints. The vendor said he'd been at William and Mary the day before, and then we bitched about Andrew D and how he never visits and never calls and I said to Lori maybe he bought jewelry for her to make up for it but our hopes were dim. I ended up buying a silver, Celtic knotted bracelet inset with peridot, which is a guilty pleasure. I suppose if I really wanted to freak out my mom I could tell her Jeremy bought it for me and she'd spazz.
Then I visited Jeremy again. He was drawing circuit diagrams, and had to go to class, so it was unproductive. I noticed that he is actually quite buff from swimming and fencing and noticably good looking, (and also has "manly stubble") but hides it with nerd attire. He wears big sunglasses so that you can never see his face. He wears tucked in t-shirts so you can never see his body and his hair comes from another century. Why he does this, I don't know.
I went to the dining hall and ate a lobster, cockroach of the sea, though I had to figure out how. I figured that I could probably eat the same parts of the lobster I ate on a crab, but I think I ate some gunk in its head I shouldn't have.
School is closed because of a hurricane. Though it is not here yet at sunset it pulled long cotton candy clouds across the sky. I am hoarding food and moving my material propety away from the dorm window, and my roommate has gone home to the eastern shore, which sounds stupid, because the hurricane will be worse there.
As of 2 in the afternoon, I have a nephew named Nathan, born to Stella and Jonathan Tea at Shady Grove Hospital. He weighed 8 pounds, came out without much trouble, and takes after his mom.
Pagan rituals, jewelry, lobsters, natural disasters, miracles of birth.
How random is my blog?
(starting from 10 pm, Tuesday night)
So, after fencing, I played mahjong with Jeremy the evil lefty epeeist and a bunch of other white guys. Jeremy reads Japanese, and fights with live steel for fun, in rounds that end with first blood. Jose, his Hispanic friend who does not look Hispanic, owes him a pint of blood over a bet, which shall be extracted in a duel some day when they won't be caught by campus police. Because Jeremy is apparently gifted in the magic of Nordic runes, we then (with Jose) went into a cemetary at midnight. I wore a bone around my neck, which Jeremy solemnly swore on his word, his honor and his life, would not hurt me, and he has a voice that is reassuring, persuasive and sincere, and perhaps frightening because of it, and a very strange smile. We did a magic ritual and I suddenly fell over, which both Jeremy and Jose attribute to magic and I apprehensively attribute to the science of losing my balance when I stand with my feet firmly together on one spot on a hill with my eyes closed. There was also a magic ritual involving me closing my eyes and pointing to the memorial stones. I did this correctly according to Jeremy and Jose but I attribute this to the fact that there's a slab at just about every damn angle you could possibly point in. Jeremy and Jose had a kind of insiders' conversation saying things like, "I see the door's still open, I thought it would close by itself" / "Well you had better close it sometime" or "The enchantment is still surprisingly strong" / "It's coming from the book" / "Well I didn't do that"
I guess it sounds stupid and crazy now, but it feels different in the semi cold in the quiet with only us, in a cemetary at midnight with two people who totally believe in what they are doing. It's a very strange world, the campus at night- bright as day with sodium streetlamps yet the sky black, and not a soul or sound in the world except you. If it were the case of me and one other person.. my opinion is worth as much as his and I can dismiss him as a crazy... but with two other people they talk as if these things are real and they both have shared experiences and affirm each other, so that you wonder if it perhaps isn't you. And at a point some part of me wanted very much to believe in it, to feel some sensation... I think everyone wants to believe in magic because they'll feel more powerful. And another part of me said, "I believe in God, I believe in God alone, this is insane" and "I don't believe in Satan, this cannot be Satanic" and the third part of me going, "This is all psychology and science and some crazy D&D dorks in a field, I'm being a moron, when this is over they'll probably laugh at me amongst themselves at my expense." I went through with everything with some trepidation. I think that if you tell me anything to me often enough with enough conviction I will believe it... it turns out I'm still a superstitious idiot after all.
We walked around campus randomly. Jeremy said that if he knew me better he'd do a trick he always plays on female friends he takes to cemetaries, which was to tilt my head back, and very slowly, try to bite my neck like a vampire. He said it freaked them out, and I said I wouldn't be because I'd merely think he was necking me. Jose said to Jeremy, "There is hope for you after all." Jeremy put an arm around my shoulder, drew me close and said he would take care of me. I said okay; Jose laughed and asked me if I had any idea what I was getting into, and Jeremy tilted my head back and, very slowly, tried to bite my neck like a vampire (with my foreknowledge and encouragement, obviously). I've never had my neck bitten before, so it was interesting.
Jose commented that his divination showed he'd never find love. We went to a lounge in Sus, where Jeremy divined my future with cards and swung his bone pendant over them like Hitomi, and it was quite accurate, though I attribute this to it being quite general. This following fortune applies to me in a way which I won't say here... no doubt any other person who reads this can make it fit themselves like a glove as well?
(Five of Clubs) (spades?) I am presented with a trial that will repeat throughout the course of my future. (King of Diamonds) I have great expectations upon entering something, but those expectations may not necessarily be realized. (Seven of Hearts) I am emotionally stable, not becoming deeply involved in anyone, (Ten of Hearts) but that has potential to change. (Jack of Clubs) I treat college as something of an apprenticeship, a preparation for that thing for which I have great expectations (signified by the King of Diamonds earlier). All of this will converge in (Ace of Clubs) a trial, a judgement, for which everything earlier will have prepared me for.
Jeremy also has the Ace of Clubs in that position, which Jose says is a relationship card. Jeremy and Jose went out in the hallway to discuss. Jose came back grinning and we went into his room to check the computer for a lunar chart and no, the lunar phase I was born under isn't the same one Jeremy was born under.
We took our leave of Jose and then Jeremy walked me back to my dorm, and we ended up walking in a close and protective arm-around-shoulder-arm-around-waist-boy-girl position, and he said that I was a good armrest height and I said he was a good headrest height.
I went home and went to sleep at four in the morning and when I woke up I went to class, except for some reason I thought my class started an hour later than it did so I missed it.
There was a bizaar outside of the commons with jewelry so I went to amuse myself with shiny things with Lori, who has tons of jewelry already. It was all very exotic, with Persian handkerchiefs, crosses, dragons and claddaugh rings, and stones that resembled and I fancifully imagined to be lapis lazul and opal and Roman glass. There were silver bracelets with elephants and dolphins in relief, and Greek keys and stylized waves. We looked at little frog and turtle rings with mouths that opened and closed and legs that moved, and pewter gauntlet-fingers with articulated joints. The vendor said he'd been at William and Mary the day before, and then we bitched about Andrew D and how he never visits and never calls and I said to Lori maybe he bought jewelry for her to make up for it but our hopes were dim. I ended up buying a silver, Celtic knotted bracelet inset with peridot, which is a guilty pleasure. I suppose if I really wanted to freak out my mom I could tell her Jeremy bought it for me and she'd spazz.
Then I visited Jeremy again. He was drawing circuit diagrams, and had to go to class, so it was unproductive. I noticed that he is actually quite buff from swimming and fencing and noticably good looking, (and also has "manly stubble") but hides it with nerd attire. He wears big sunglasses so that you can never see his face. He wears tucked in t-shirts so you can never see his body and his hair comes from another century. Why he does this, I don't know.
I went to the dining hall and ate a lobster, cockroach of the sea, though I had to figure out how. I figured that I could probably eat the same parts of the lobster I ate on a crab, but I think I ate some gunk in its head I shouldn't have.
School is closed because of a hurricane. Though it is not here yet at sunset it pulled long cotton candy clouds across the sky. I am hoarding food and moving my material propety away from the dorm window, and my roommate has gone home to the eastern shore, which sounds stupid, because the hurricane will be worse there.
As of 2 in the afternoon, I have a nephew named Nathan, born to Stella and Jonathan Tea at Shady Grove Hospital. He weighed 8 pounds, came out without much trouble, and takes after his mom.
Pagan rituals, jewelry, lobsters, natural disasters, miracles of birth.
How random is my blog?
Tuesday, September 16, 2003
I took a walk through the lovely picket fence and apple pie suburbs, where there wasn't a cloud in the sky, and the sky was a deep, deep blue. Beautiful, but strange; perhaps the calm before the storm. People thought I was weird.. local resident kids were like, "Are you lost? Cuz I saw you walking by five minutes ago."
Well, I got this letter in the mail about preparations for Hurricane Isabel, and we won't know if the school is closed until Thursday morning... I may not be going home this weekend after all.. first of all because Andrew is visiting and second because I'm not sure I want my parents driving through the highway in the rain.
Monday, September 15, 2003
Lori's been feeling bad. Here's what you do when you feel like shit, as I have discovered; Take a walk (though it turns out the wheat field actually is authorized personnel only... so we cannot go, or at least we must take care not to get caught) It also turns out that we have a pond, with a dirt trail that goes around it through wooded patches, with thorny briars, ducks, and a small wooden patio and mossy bird houses, all of which seem to have been abandoned for a long time. Or, go to the gym. Movement is a the ultimate cure for ennui and restlessness.
The weight machines scare the crap out of me but treadmills and other low impact cardio are my friend....
As are hot showers, after the treadmill.
Also, Dan Savage. Anything to make you laugh.
You know what the dining hall is good for? Coffee. Yes. All the coffee you could possibly want, with all the cream you could possibly want, and by default all the sugar you could possibly want though I think sugar ruins an otherwise perfectly heavenly cup of coffee. After you've got your cup of coffee, you must sip it with a straw.
Have a cuppa. It'll make you happy.
The weight machines scare the crap out of me but treadmills and other low impact cardio are my friend....
As are hot showers, after the treadmill.
Also, Dan Savage. Anything to make you laugh.
You know what the dining hall is good for? Coffee. Yes. All the coffee you could possibly want, with all the cream you could possibly want, and by default all the sugar you could possibly want though I think sugar ruins an otherwise perfectly heavenly cup of coffee. After you've got your cup of coffee, you must sip it with a straw.
Have a cuppa. It'll make you happy.
Sunday, September 14, 2003
Casey and her boyfriend are watching Dude Where's My Car. This isn't exactly quality cinema, but it has its good points:
1) Ashton Kutcher and Seann William Scott's slashy kiss. (insert fangirlish squealing here)
2) Maybe I'm nuts, but I liked the narrative structure. I mean, nobody likes Dude Where's My Car for its narrative structure but I do. There's something about not knowing what happened, and then going places to find out bit by bit that's just cool.
3) The repeated use of the word "shibby." This is some food for thought; I want to know the etymological origins of it.
4) A lifetime supply of pudding.
5) Monty Python references
6) Totally Gay Nordic Dudes
7) The fact that Chester is a total pothead, but knows his Animal Planet. I think it's adorable.
8) "Honaouble!"
9) When the Chinese tailor says "wasted" in Chinese, what he actually says is "trash bag" in Cantonese. That cracked me up when I heard it.
Dude in a nutshell.
1) Ashton Kutcher and Seann William Scott's slashy kiss. (insert fangirlish squealing here)
2) Maybe I'm nuts, but I liked the narrative structure. I mean, nobody likes Dude Where's My Car for its narrative structure but I do. There's something about not knowing what happened, and then going places to find out bit by bit that's just cool.
3) The repeated use of the word "shibby." This is some food for thought; I want to know the etymological origins of it.
4) A lifetime supply of pudding.
5) Monty Python references
6) Totally Gay Nordic Dudes
7) The fact that Chester is a total pothead, but knows his Animal Planet. I think it's adorable.
8) "Honaouble!"
9) When the Chinese tailor says "wasted" in Chinese, what he actually says is "trash bag" in Cantonese. That cracked me up when I heard it.
Dude in a nutshell.
I was reading everyone (from high school)'s blogs today, catching up with old things, and it made me feel remotely sad. Everyone is so happy, and it seems, infinitely more mature than me. Of peoples' blogs... Ranwa, Sharon and Puffy are all going places and seem to be rising and filled to the brim with potential... perhaps twenty years later I will be like, "Guess who I knew in high school?" Me... well, I'm happy sometimes, sad sometimes, which is a lot like how it used to be. I thought that college would be this big, brilliant life-altering change, but life continues more or less the same, in a different place. I don't know if these are the Best Years of My Life or whatever.
Also, everyone is so different... if I met my high school friends in the street now I wonder if I'd still become friends with them. Everyone is "nice" you know... and I'm sure most people are honest and decent, and enough have common interests, and I'd probably get along with them. I wonder if that really is what friendship is, though... just finding the people who are in your approximate vicinity, and nice enough.... and not something inherent in the human spirit. People always say you'll fall in love with The One and when you're in love you'll know it. Perhaps something similar has been said of friends... when someone is a kindred spirit with you you'll know it. I wonder how much of that is true, or if I won't be stuck with a bunch of "People I'm okay with" for a good long time. Perhaps my switches are malfunctioning... am I not in love and do I not have friends, or is it just that I am in love and do have friends but am being divided between so many people that I just don't know how to tell any longer? I have been in love and had had friends, and this doesn't feel quite like that, which is what confuses me. Of course you'll say, "What, relax, you've only had two weeks, you'll get to know people better" but it makes me wonder, how people have such strong bonds already.
My roommate invited her boyfriend and her girlfriend to stay last night, and the four of us got on as if we'd known each other forever, though I think that may partially have to do with the fact that three of the four had known each other forever. That made me happy; I thought it'd be weird having two additional random strangers living in my room.
I don't really know how things will be.
Also, everyone is so different... if I met my high school friends in the street now I wonder if I'd still become friends with them. Everyone is "nice" you know... and I'm sure most people are honest and decent, and enough have common interests, and I'd probably get along with them. I wonder if that really is what friendship is, though... just finding the people who are in your approximate vicinity, and nice enough.... and not something inherent in the human spirit. People always say you'll fall in love with The One and when you're in love you'll know it. Perhaps something similar has been said of friends... when someone is a kindred spirit with you you'll know it. I wonder how much of that is true, or if I won't be stuck with a bunch of "People I'm okay with" for a good long time. Perhaps my switches are malfunctioning... am I not in love and do I not have friends, or is it just that I am in love and do have friends but am being divided between so many people that I just don't know how to tell any longer? I have been in love and had had friends, and this doesn't feel quite like that, which is what confuses me. Of course you'll say, "What, relax, you've only had two weeks, you'll get to know people better" but it makes me wonder, how people have such strong bonds already.
My roommate invited her boyfriend and her girlfriend to stay last night, and the four of us got on as if we'd known each other forever, though I think that may partially have to do with the fact that three of the four had known each other forever. That made me happy; I thought it'd be weird having two additional random strangers living in my room.
I don't really know how things will be.
Yesterday, I went to Arundel Mills with Sexy Genius Pat and his friend Matt. It was quite fun, actually, and I was pleasantly surprised after I thought about it that guys would go to a mall. We saw Once Upon a Time in Mexico, which was good, and I think my first rated R "action" movie ever (I don't really consider the Cube, which is horror, Gladiator, which is a historical epic, or the Matrix, which is sci-fi/philosophical). Yes, Johnny Depp was in it, and happily, he is the type of actor who isn't good in just one movie.
Pat bought a Neo trenchcoat from Hot Topic, and I got a Zelda t-shirt, but we paid for it with my credit card, coming to a whopping sum of $98.70, of which he repaid me with $80 in cash (which is the cost of his coat). I don't mind walking around with like $2000 on my credit card, but walking around with $80 in greenbacks is just bizarre. It's a different mindset for some reason; I don't feel comfortable with having $80 in "spending money" which is what cash is to me, while the credit card was more like, "This is here if you need it." My room and board and tuition is free, so I have quite a bit of leeway in how much I spend on "stuff," but still. In high school I mostly didn't carry a wallet at all until senior year, and I usually had like.. fives. And then I'll have to explain my bank statement to my mom once she gets it; what I spent $98 at a mall on.
Pat looks hot in his trenchcoat though, and it is quite practical. I think the major payoff will come once it snows.
The downside, or perhaps the upside, of hanging out with Pat is that I have to constantly not think about jumping his bones. It's distracting, you know? I don't think he knows quite how hot he is, and I feel bad, because he has a girlfriend already and also it's just a fundamental aspect of courtesy to stop looking at people's crotches every once in a while and pay attention to the words coming out of their mouths. I don't think I even like him like him (I've known him for all of what, two weeks), I just want to do dirty things with him. Which is inconsiderate (of me).
Quote (from today, in a seperate context): "I'll fuck him til he loves me!"
Anyway... we went back to Matt's room and watched Spawn the animated series on DVD, which was gratuitously violent and annoyed me, so after a while I spent most of the time lying on Matt's absent roommate's bed watching Pat. Pat's roommate Eric came back, but he was depressed because his home life is bad, which is one of the downsides of being gay. His parents are disappointed that he won't have children, so home is a strained place... I don't know what I would do if I were gay; I think a lot of the things that gay people have to deal with I don't even given a second thought to in my everyday life. Pat made him take a shower, despite Eric's warning that, "If I take a shower I'm going to have sex and if I have sex you're leaving," because Pat would rather leave the room for a night than have Eric continue to be depressed ("Sex will make you feel better!").
I hear (this morning) that Eric got his boyfriend and played Scrabble.
Nonetheless, the result is the same; Eric is in a brilliant mood.
I wonder if I should not type of people's personal problems on my blog, especially one that they don't read, and therefore upon which they can't defend themselves. Sometimes it feels like a tabloid. However, it is a blog of my life, and as time passes other people's lives are getting more involved with my own.
Pat bought a Neo trenchcoat from Hot Topic, and I got a Zelda t-shirt, but we paid for it with my credit card, coming to a whopping sum of $98.70, of which he repaid me with $80 in cash (which is the cost of his coat). I don't mind walking around with like $2000 on my credit card, but walking around with $80 in greenbacks is just bizarre. It's a different mindset for some reason; I don't feel comfortable with having $80 in "spending money" which is what cash is to me, while the credit card was more like, "This is here if you need it." My room and board and tuition is free, so I have quite a bit of leeway in how much I spend on "stuff," but still. In high school I mostly didn't carry a wallet at all until senior year, and I usually had like.. fives. And then I'll have to explain my bank statement to my mom once she gets it; what I spent $98 at a mall on.
Pat looks hot in his trenchcoat though, and it is quite practical. I think the major payoff will come once it snows.
The downside, or perhaps the upside, of hanging out with Pat is that I have to constantly not think about jumping his bones. It's distracting, you know? I don't think he knows quite how hot he is, and I feel bad, because he has a girlfriend already and also it's just a fundamental aspect of courtesy to stop looking at people's crotches every once in a while and pay attention to the words coming out of their mouths. I don't think I even like him like him (I've known him for all of what, two weeks), I just want to do dirty things with him. Which is inconsiderate (of me).
Quote (from today, in a seperate context): "I'll fuck him til he loves me!"
Anyway... we went back to Matt's room and watched Spawn the animated series on DVD, which was gratuitously violent and annoyed me, so after a while I spent most of the time lying on Matt's absent roommate's bed watching Pat. Pat's roommate Eric came back, but he was depressed because his home life is bad, which is one of the downsides of being gay. His parents are disappointed that he won't have children, so home is a strained place... I don't know what I would do if I were gay; I think a lot of the things that gay people have to deal with I don't even given a second thought to in my everyday life. Pat made him take a shower, despite Eric's warning that, "If I take a shower I'm going to have sex and if I have sex you're leaving," because Pat would rather leave the room for a night than have Eric continue to be depressed ("Sex will make you feel better!").
I hear (this morning) that Eric got his boyfriend and played Scrabble.
Nonetheless, the result is the same; Eric is in a brilliant mood.
I wonder if I should not type of people's personal problems on my blog, especially one that they don't read, and therefore upon which they can't defend themselves. Sometimes it feels like a tabloid. However, it is a blog of my life, and as time passes other people's lives are getting more involved with my own.
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