Paris Adventures

Several people from the program are with me on the RER out of Paris. We try to get off, but realise at the last minute that the only exit is at the very back of the train, so we all run, dodging passengers, and hop off. Jessica is the last one and gets stuck inside. She waves to us sadly as the train goes back in the direction it came.

I am visiting a family in France; I must find the correct piece for the symphony to play before the evil conductor (the architect of the Basilica of Sacre Coeur) find the piece he wants the symphony to play.

I have been speeing in a tree. I wake up and sleepily roll over. My vision in very fuzzy, and I can't make out what I am seeing, but after a few seconds I realize I am laying beneath a veil. Sitting on the branch directly above me are two cats. They are frighteningly close, peering at me intently with very animated expressions. I am afraid they might attack me, so I meow at them. They jump down and frolic around, and I come out and play with them.

Someone comes in my room at the MEC while I am sleeping and says, "Look at all this stuff spread around here! It's like you've moved in for a month. How are you going to get it packed up and moved into your other room by noon?" It is 10:30 in the morning. I thought I was supposed to stay in the new room for a week, so I go down to the front desk in my pyjamas to ask if I really need to switch rooms. I ask the a lady I do not recognize, and she tells me, "You have to ask your friend." I look around and Alex is sitting on the couch. I go and sit down next to him, asking, "What are you doing here?"
He doesn't answer, but I don't remember asking the question, so I ask, "Why did you tell them to switch my room?"
He answers, "Because you can sleep in my room."
"And I'll be sleeping...?" "
On the couch," he replies. There is an awkward moment, because I didn't know he had a couch in his room so I hadn't been expecting that answer, and he said it like I shouldn't have asked the question. Also, the couch he is referring to is the one from the computer lab that is comfortable for about two peole to sit on, but certainly not for sleeping.
"Of course," I reply.

That's Nonsense

While sleeping, in the middle of the night my companion leaves and is replaced with a man who snores and groggily calls me "baby".

I go to visit my parents in Burien. At midnight they go to bed and I get something to eat in the kitchen. Alex knocks on the door and enters as if I should have been expecting him and begins to tell me about an interview he just finished. Nothing he says makes sense, but I gather something is wrong, and I interrupt him to say, "I'm sorry, I have to give you a hug". He then says, "And I've decided I don't want to be an English major anymore!" and walks into the living room, rambling again. I follow him as he takes off his suit jacket and sits down on the couch. Staring at his shoulder I say, "I don't understand, Alex! What are you going to do then?" But he just says it doesn't matter, he just can't stand writing anymore. I worry that something terrible must have happened to make him feel that way, and I touch his shoulder to try and get his attention, but he doesn't notice, too absorbed in not making sense.

Anna's dad had a huge-ass SUV, and we went on a trip to a lake that was supposed to be a protected wildlife habitat.
Then I went back to my apartment and fell asleep and I think they used the SUV to tow my apartment somewhere else (just my half of the basement).

Man, I am a terrible host

Kory takes our class on a field trip to show us the three "principles of dance":

Number one is a fake scepter placed on a velour cushion. I lead the group up to the porch of the cabin to look at the scepter, but everyone crowds behind me so I pass by quickly.

Number two is one of those poles you slide down on a big toy, with a curved top. When I approach I give Kory a skeptical look, and he sighs and says, "Envision a flagpole!" So it's a curved flagpole... I kind of get it.

Number three is a station wagon on a platform perched on top of a large pole. This one I just don't get. When we look questioningly at Kory he uses a remote control to tilt the station wagon; something spills out. We tell him to stop, the car is about to fall off. He tilts it again, and several small objects spill out and clatter to the ground like pop cans. The car slowly topples off, and we all run and take cover in great fear of the small objects inside the car (beetles?). I hide in the big toy for an unnecessarily long time. When I come out my mom is frosting cookies on the porch of the cabin. I help for a while, frosting some bundt cake from a paper sack filled with blue frosting.

I walk around the corner of the cabin to find myself on the playground at Shorewood. Kyra, some other familiar friends, and I take turns on the slide. As we slide, I ask Kyra questions about her upcoming surgery. She is optimistic.

I have some assignment that I'm late finishing for school, so I decide to go early to work on it. I walk down the Burke-Gilman trail and end up on Lake Union under I-5. Alex is there, and I stop to talk to him, and then I continue on, now wading through the water. When I pass under the University Bridge and arrive at my my desired destination, and start to climb up the bank to get out of the water. Too late, I notice the muddy structures around me moving- they are trolls! No one ever told me there were University trolls! They seem to jsut be waking up from a nap, so I hope that if I climb quickly they won't notice me. Then my shoe gets stuck in a hole in the wall, and when I turn I see another troll climbing out of the water after me, a dead fish in its mouth. I consider screaming, but decide against it.

On land I find my way to a designated study area, which is a small patch of grass next to the Burke-Gilman where about nine people already lay in a grid formation. When I get there I feel sleepy, so the natural thing to do is lay down. I wedge myself in an empty slot and arrange my stacks of books around me. Chris, a guy from Solstice who always orders "short americans" is there, telling a friend that he is in my French class as well as in another girl's senior seminar. This is not true, and it frustrates me, so I leave.

Back in my apartment, I am just waking up from a nap, when I become aware of a giant plasm television on the wall next to my bed. My eyes are closed, but I can see the colors from it on the insides of my eyelids. I can also hear that my mom and another family member or two are in the room. Listening to the program, it is a news interview. I hear "University of Washington Track", "New Zealand", and "Vinh". I realize they are about to interview my friend from my tea class, and I roll over and try to open my eyes to see the TV, saying groggily, "Hey, it's my track star! That's my friend!", which comes out as an incomprehensible mumble.
My eyes will not open. I focus all my energy on opening my eyes, but all that happens is I can see some very blurry outlines. Urgently I pry my eyelids open with my fingers, but I still cannot see. I let go and my eyes fall shut. Feeling as though I am on drugs, I sit up with difficulty in front of the mirror and try to open my eyes again. I suspect that the lids are actually opening, but my vision does not work.

Later, as I walk down the path to Shorewood Beach with a number of people I tell them about the incident over and over again.


Then Courtney and Kris had sex. This was not surprising to me, but Andrea was really concerned about it, especially that Beth would find out, so she devised a complex plan to drug all of our friends and somehow hypnotize them to forget about it. She invited all of the Academy 4.0s over to my house and prepared several dips that would cause everyone to fall asleep. There were also small, crescent-shaped pieces of sheet metal that she fed to the guests after they fell alseep for some reason.
The problem was that everyone arrived at different times, so we had to move the party out onto the patio, and then Megan Su wanted to make her own guacamole, and Andrea almost flipped out. I tried to pull her aside and tell her that maybe this wasn't worth it, and ask what the pieces of sheet metal were for, because they seemed really dangerous for someone to be consuming. Andrea didn't pay attention and told me to go feed more dip to the sleeping peole upstairs while she helped Megan make a new dip.

A Four Pack of Novelty Alien Rats

In the kitchen at Solstice, I examine a package of four novelty "alien rats". Each one has its own personality, and I think it's kind of a cute idea. However, I certainly do not expect them to leap out of the package and scurry off as soon as I open it. I run into the cafe, pleading with my sister and mom to help me capture Amelia, Susan, Bob, and Gary, but alas, they have already hidden. Finally, I spot a suspicious looking pastry bag on the floor, grab it up, keeping it carefully closed, and take it to the back where I try to extract the rat inside like icing. However, either the rat has been too quick for me, or it was actually just some cardamom cake inside, but I fail to catch any rats.

I leave work and walk down 45th with Laura. I start noticing a large number of people dressed strangely, emanating it seems from American Apparel and walking west on 45th in groups. They are all females in the 18-29 range, very pretty, extremely tall and very skinny. They are all wearing hip variations of black clothing from American Apparel, but their faces are all painted white and their hair disheveled. I think it is some sort of urban fashion show, but Laura reminds me that with is the dead bride remembrance parade. It was like a rather morbid party.

We get to Laura's apartment, which is on about the tenth floor of an apartment building on 45th, she prepares a bed for me by dragging her mattress out onto the north-facing balcony. This is something she does all the time on nice nights. I thank her, pull the comforter up when my phone rings. It is my mother, asking a question about financial aid. I assume she's talking about the FAFSA, which I have to finish soon, but I see the form she has with her at Solstice bears the title, "Inheritance Trust Fund", which has something to do with my (living) grandma. My mom needs my signature on one section I can't understand by her description over the phone. I look at the image in my mind and see this section is titled "Optional Serenade Authorization", which authorizes the government officials to serenade me upon my inheritance of the trust fund. I tell my mom that this really isn't urgent, hang up, and go to sleep.

When I wake up the sun is shining from behind the apartment building on the south side of all the buildings I can see. I notice that the University Tower has a really beautiful alignment with one of the dorms from this position, and feel like I should draw it for homework. Then I notice that the mattress I'm laying on is level with the railing of the balcony, and is not full-size, as I had thought, but actually a twin. As I am discovering this Garett, Laura's boyfriend gets out of bed in the living room, and I am surprised that he is not Lucas, Laura's roommate.

I get out of bed, which is now on the patio behind my house, where my family is having a sort of reunion, and my cousin asks for help buying her friend a birthday present. We go to Target, where I pick out a book of crosswords and look for a set of pencils. We opt out of the crossword-patterned pencils and then get distracted by the stationery, but it is not as cute as it once was.