Dreams

Sometimes I like to write about my dreams. Writing about them helps you remember them later on.

So last night I had two dreams and I remember almost every bit of them.

In the first one, Emma and I were running around outside, just being silly and having fun. Kind of like we did on the snow day last week, when we went to the park and made a snowman and explored. We were running around on some grass and going over a river with these big black rocks around it and I was on the phone with her sister. Her sister, Katie, couldn't stand being away from Emma and said she was almost at the train stop near us. I didn't let Emma know that she was about to see her sister but instead started towards the train stop under the guise of more exploring. Then I saw Katie from the back, she was on a payphone. I guess Emma didn't recognize her until she hung up on me and turned around. Her hair was short and it's natural dark color, like it is when she first gets it cut. There was a loving embrace between sisters and we decided to get on the MAX. It funny how there were no buildings around, just fields of grass and a MAX stop.

So we got on the train and I wish I could remember our conversations, but I can't. It was something fun. Tanner was there, for some reason. Emma was sitting next to me, in the front part of the train, Katie was in the seats in front of us, turned around. Tanner was across the aisle, sitting sideways so we were all facing each other. I do remember it snowing outside the max. There were no other passengers I could see, even though some had been waiting at the stop where we boarded. I commented that when we got off the train, I would be cold because it was snowing and I didn't have a jacket. I think Katie offered me one, but I said I was fine for now. I stared out the windows. It was dark now, kind of the purpley-grey color that the sky gets when it's getting dark on a cloudy day. The snow was really bright but I couldn't see any ground around us. Just purple sky and white snow falling. It was pretty.

Then I woke up, thinking I had fallen asleep on the max. I was really surprised when I woke up and found that I was in my bed, had kicked off all my blankets, was cold, and had drooled all over my pillow. It was the middle of the night, so I went back to bed.

The next dream I had involved Bullwinkle's because I was thinking about how much fun Grad Night was going to be before actually falling asleep. I was there with Colin, Brendan, and Savannah. There was this really fun game I played where you had to direct yourself (I think you were in a rollercoaster car or a boat) through the turns of railroad track, waves of taffy, and onslaught of rain drops. It was really cool. You stood on what looked like a DDR dance pad, with the arrows, but it was made out of a stretchy plastic, like a trampoline or a scuba suit. It was really stretchy, so it sank quite a bit when you stood on it. You turned and controlled the car by shifting your weight, so I don't know why it had arrows like DDR on it.

There were three of these pads, arranged with one in front and two behind like a triangle, but the one in front was raised above the other two. I think this was for single or two-player mode. I was playing for a really long time, and having a blast. I think I remember Emma being there beside me, cheering me on or playing alongside me, I don't know. Maybe my dream-self just had that memory because until I woke up, I was sure that I had played this game before, the last time I went to Bullwinkle's, which was with Emma. After I woke up, I realized that the game didn't exist and was kind of disappointed.

The game was really cool because when your cart did flips in the air or went upside down, you felt like you were going upside down. There was some story about a family going to a theme park and it was a murder mystery but I don't remember much of that. I just remember the flips in a pink, taffy ocean. It was wicked. But after I had played for forever and finally lost (but still making a high score!), I went to find Colin to play alongside him.

I did finally find him, shouting at him from across the room. He turned and he had this red stuff all over his mouth and dripping down his chin, like the blood on a zombie who just devoured somebody. He also had one of those wind-up keys that are on old toys spinning on his back. I remember thinking that he must have got his face-painted and a cool costume accessory from the prize-counter. Suddenly he was beside me, devoid of blood and wind-up key. I told him about the game and we ran off to go play it together. He was terrible at it, and we kept dying. It was still really fun. Then I remembered we hadn't seen Brendan or Savannah for a while so we went off and found them and I told them all how happy I was to hang out with all of them and be here. We ate pizza and had a blast, the four of us.

I love happy dreams. <3 <3 <3

One year of Bliss

As of 1 week ago, I have been dating the same person for 1 year. An entire year. That's a really long time for me to hold onto a relationship, let alone one that's healthy for me.

And I love him. More than I've loved anyone. I find this combination of love and time absolutely incredible.

Our anniversary landed on last Tuesday, but we celebrated on Monday. We made a blanket fort and watched Iron Man 2 and it was a lot of fun. I gave him a photoshop collage of a couple of pictures of us and all these different languages that all say 'I love you.' I took them from the 115 facebook posts he put on my wall. He really did post 'I love you' on my wall in 115 different languages. He's ridiculous like that. He gave me a shirt with a picture of us on it, which he's currently adding to. He also gave me underwear. I know what you're thinking, that he probably gave me some lacy little thong from Victoria Secret. You'd be wrong. He gave me pink cotton panties that say "The Beaver State" on the front with a picture of a beaver, and "I <3 Oregon" on the back. They're a good luck charm to get into Oregon State, or as Tammy Jo says "that Beaver school."

Right? My boyfriend is ridiculous. <3

It didn't really hit me until now how long a year is. Before it was just like "oh yeah, we've been dating a year. Whatever. It's a measurement of time." I guess maybe that's because this year has gone by so quickly. It seems like just yesterday I was still a junior, with a year left of high school. Now I'm proud of it. I have been dating Colin Sanders for an entire year. The next step? To stay this way for the rest of our lives.

1st Camping Trip Ever

I got home today from the best 72 hours of my life, and I got to spend all of it with my wonderful boyfriend.

I've never been camping before. My parents went camping when they were younger but they're not real outdoors-ey types so my sister, Sarah, and I have never been camping. We never even pitched tents in our backyard, because we don't own any tents.

So Colin, who has grown up going to kids' camps and outdoor school because he lives in artsy, crazy, crafty SE Portland and went to hippie school, decided to take me to the SRVIV'D campout.

A friend of the family's, Peaceman, got into an accident ten years ago. He was horribly injured and came very, very close to knocking on Death's door. Thankfully, he survived. That's why he holds this huge campout and invites all sorts of family and friends and friends of friends to his little patch of forest every year. To simply celebrate life and have a good time.

So I got to go to the 10th anniversary of the SRVIV'D Campout, or as dad put it, "a happening." I had a great time. There was a stage and sound equipment set up so live music was playing most of the time and you could hear it from all around. On Saturday, there were carnival games where you could win SRVIV'D dollars and go and buy stuff from the "store," which was a really cool gathering of prizes that Paula and her husband, Peaceman (also know as Christopher), had set up in their office. There was stuff ranging from beanie babies, to Elaine's truffles, to sports jerseys, to liquor. It was great. Colin and I went round all the different games for a while and saved up enough dollars to get some orange truffles that his dad's girlfriend, Elaine, made.

After we were done throwing baseballs at bottles full of sand, or trying to toss a pool noodle through a hula hoop on a zipline or dunking Elaine in the dunk tank, there was a huge potluck. Everyone brought food and I had gathered up much more than I could have eaten. I gave my leftovers to Colin's dad, Jason, who was too lazy to get up and get a plate of his own.

Colin, Jason, Elaine and I were planning on going to Salmon River at midnight for some swimming but after dinner we quickly realized that it would be much more fun to do it when it was still warm out and we had full bellies. So off we hiked.

Colin and I had tried and failed to find the river before because Elaine's instructions of "It'll take 30 minutes. Just follow the main road, then there will be a trail, then just follow the signs." were completely untrue. There was one sign the entire way and it took closer to 50 minutes. Still, swimming in a cold river on a hot day when there are no showers to be had is pretty wonderful.

After we got back there was music and Colin made me dance. We roasted a single marshmallow each and listened to more awesome music, this time more freestyle. This guy Will sang for about 30 minutes straight about how Jason's balls are shrivelly little raisins and how he wants to be "best friends" with Jason.

It was a great weekend. And of course, I had the pleasure of waking up wrapped in my boyfriend's arms.

My Perfect Little Nerd

I love my boyfriend. He makes me so very happy. I mean, how many people do you know are going to lie to you through their teeth, talk to your friends behind your back, and misuse your trust so they can surprise you the next day by being at your house before you get home from school?

He did that before we took the photo you see above. He lost practically all of his dignity and he was excited to do it. He was proud to put on a bra and dress for me, so we could take pictures together. He was ecstatic and couldn't wait until they were on facebook, so he could show his friends and family how cute we were. I mean, how sweet is that?

I literally cannot be sad when he's in my head. I had a math test today, one that I was in no way prepared for. While I racked my brain for the formula used to find the missing side of a vector, my mind wandered a little. I was wondering what my dear sweet boyfriend was doing, and if he was in precalc at that time, suffering as I was. I realized the oddest thing. My lips were spread out more and my cheeks had contracted. I was smiling where seconds before my life was abysmal. That's what he does to me, he makes me smile.

This last weekend we were walking on his side of town, in SE Portland, and we saw the oddest tree. It was absolutely covered in colorful strands of yarn. Whoever had done it had thrown spools of the stuff up in the air, over the branches, ran around the tree, letting it unravel and cover the trunk. It was crazy. I couldn't think of any explanation for it and I was so curious as to why anyone would do such a thing. So he gave me an explanation. He told me that the people in the house behind the tree were "chosen ones." They had to make a sacrifice to the gnome that ruled over Ladd's Addition (the neighborhood we were in at the time). The sacrifices weren't anything like ritualistic killings of goats or cats or anything like that. They were decorations. Every question I asked after that, he had an answer for, no matter how ridiculous or sensible. "what's the gnome's name?" "Ladd, of course." "Does he realize how small Ladd's Addition is?" "Well gnomes are much smaller than people. He's about a fourth your size, so for every step you take, he has to take four. So Ladd's Addition is four times as big in his perspective." It went on and on and I kept expecting him to laugh at me and say that's enough and we'd go home. But he didn't. He kept it all up, even when I took us totally off of our path to hunt for the gnome briefly. He even let me talk to a cat to find out that Ladd was on vacation. It was great. We're going gnome-hunting this summer.

I love my boyfriend. He's my sweet, confident, ridiculous, trustworthy, silly, encouraging, sexy, amazing, pretty, perfect, indescribable, little, Nerd. Everyone should have one.