I dreamed that Mostle and I were having lunch with our grandma (paternal) and some other family members. Apparently grandma was the head of powerful criminal organization of some sort (mostly family), and this lunch was a sort of interview or introduction to the group for us. During the lunch, this guy came up and grandma introduced him to us as Eric Raymond. We realized simultaneously (giving each other a significant look of epiphany across the table) that there was a Once Upon A Time setup going on, only with Jem and the Holograms characters (who apparently didn’t need new names in their new life since their old ones were close enough to normal) — and grandma was the evil queen!! This, I think, was kinda hilarious.

This is not my first dream inspired by Once Upon A Time. In another I had recently, I was sometimes Emma and sometimes just watching. Have I mentioned this already? I could swear I did, but I don’t see it in the lj… anyway, first there was some nonsensical stuff about alchemy; whatevs. Then, apparently, Regina decided to make a decisive move against Mr. Gold. I told Henry to run away, because it was imperative that Regina not get hold of the book at this point. I also mentioned something about knowing who Mr. Gold really was, so obviously I was believer!Emma (and had figured out who Mr. Gold really was).

To distract Emma so that she couldn’t stop whatever strike was happening against Mr. Gold, Regina sent all the children of the town down to the basement where all the witches were, so they were in danger of being cooked by the witches in all the giant basement ovens and eaten. And of course whenever childs are with witches and giant ovens, there is the possibility of the childs tricking the witches into looking into the ovens and then pushing them in, but clever Regina had thought of this. She had Gretel under her mind-control, and as all the childs arrived downstairs, Gretel came out of one of the ovens with a quarterstaff ready to defeat any child that thought to trick a witch into an oven.

This, I think, was also kinda hilarious.

Now to talk about choir practice. I hate to admit it, but I’m getting really freaking tired of it. This is something like the seventeenth time I’ve been in this production, and I guess I’m approaching my limit. The music and the actual singing are just as fun as they ever were, but everything else is becoming more and more difficult to deal with.

One of the problems is that the religious aspect of this is so different for me to how it is for the others there. They’re all there for Jesus and whatnot, whereas I’m there for the art. So, while I’m always interested in hearing about my mom’s creative process, I get a little tired of all the Jesus talk that’s inevitably involved. Jesus inspires some fantastic art sometimes, but I am just not that into him as a deity. And mom will get going about how we need to sing this one line in such-and-such a way because we want to convey our belief in this particular churchy concept, and how she believes that blah blah blah amen, and everyone else is like *__* and I’m like -__-

Oh, and everyone else. Have I mentioned everyone else? This is, I believe, more me hating people than religious stuff… they’re just so Poe-damned friendly. All these people I don’t know and don’t care about feel the need to come up and ask me not only how I am (which I suppose is tolerable), but a million pointless questions about my life that I’m not interested in answering. And it gets harder every year to stay polite.

Oh, and a lot of them are just stupid, too. It’s a tradition to heckle my mom (gently) at practices, which is one of the most enjoyable parts of the whole thing. We tease her about how many key changes she writes into every song and how we never get to breathe anywhere, and my dad is a total clown and it’s hilarious, and, of course, anything funny that comes to mind in response to what’s going on you just have to say. And even if only the three people nearest you hear it, you hope it’s funny enough that it’ll make them laugh, and then someone across the room will demand you repeat whatever you said loud enough for everyone. After the dress rehearsal when we have a sort of little party, mom always gives out peanuts to the worst peanut gallery of the year.

So tonight I was sitting next to this smelly, spacey lady, and, as usual, I had a few snarky comments to make at various points. Now, this type of comment, at least for me, is always sort of hit-and-miss; I like to think they’re not stupid or anything, but I don’t count on getting a big laugh most of the time. But tonight, every single thing I said made this lady look over at me with this startled, uncomprehending expression as if she literally had no idea why I’d said what I said.

And the heckling is one thing — one-liner, laughter, move on — but nobody at these practices can shut up the rest of the time. They have to start talking like a bunch of high-schoolers at every complete stop. I think I’m just getting grouchy in my old age, because this has been bugging me more the last couple of years than it used to.

I used to bring a sketchbook to practice because I concentrate better when I have something to do with my hands, but the attention it drew from the people around me got to be intolerable. It was this flood of idiotic questions and comments that was very difficult to respond to without snapping. Once again, I have a pet peeve related to this, and these peoples happened to unwittingly hit that button, so it’s not like it was entirely their fault, but there was just another annoying aspect of choir practice. In that case, at least, I was able simply to stop bringing the sketchbook with me (though I still get the occasional, “Oh, I miss watching you draw!”).

Anyway, I’m kinda hoping this can be the last year I participate. The problem with this is that I want to support my mom’s artistic endeavors. I’m afraid she doesn’t believe me when I tell her I like her music; it’s difficult for me to convey how I’m touched by her artistic expression independent of the Jesus factor when that’s the core of it for her. And I don’t like the message it might send if I stopped singing. However, it’s possible that I won’t live in the area this time next year, which would be a relieving excuse not to sing.

This brings me neatly to my next topic, which is that I may move in with my sister in Utah at some point. There are a number of reasons this would be awesome, but we’ll see if and when it’s feasible. There are a few things I have to get in order first, and I don’t know if I’m going to judge it a rational decision in any case — at least for a while — since I do have a job I don’t hate here and fuck this economy. But I’m interested in doing CNA training, and there are apparently several programs available just a bus-ride from my sister’s house. Oh, and a functional bus system *__* What a nice change that would be…

OK, so, Plastic. Well, Plastic world, really. First off, I need a series title. The reason I need it is that if I manage to complete and post any other stories set in this world, I don’t want to have to preface every single damn one of them with “A sequel to Plastic” or “Set in the same world as Plastic.” I came up with one idea for a series title, but Zombie Girl didn’t like it. She suggested one, but I don’t know that I liked that. So I guess we’ll see.

Anyway, recently, one of the planned stories (fourth one out) suddenly totally came together. I’d had a general idea of what was going to happen in it, but then one evening last week or something it all just clicked. This got me really excited, and I started thinking about the next two stories in the chronology (about which I’d also had little more than general ideas), and I think I’ve got it for those too. So I’ve been working on one of thems fairly well lately, and actually have hopes of finishing and posting it someday. Which, given my track record with sequels (one completed ever), will be little short of miraculous.

I’ve also been doing well on TLY still, which is good. Not much to say about it, though, since I’m not bothering to talk about it in detail here, at least at the moment. Don’t forget, though, nobody’s ever going to care or read it. I mentioned my mom and I have a difficult time connecting artistically, right? Or, hell, on most levels.

Hey, my exercising has been going well! I have missed a few days here and there, and every time the reason has been either that I was out late with Zombie Girl and didn’t have time or that I was too tired after work; I consider both of these totally valid excuses, and that I am doing well ^__^ Incidentally, why is half of Gundam Wing just a big stupid military dick-waving contest? And why is Wufei still a COMPLETE DUMBASS no matter how many times I re-watch the series? Ah, well.

So first I had that long, whiny Zombie Girl post, and now I have this long, largely whiny post about other shit XD I think this is more than enough long posting for today. Time to go be productive for a while.