groceries and a nightmare

I was at the store today and saw one of the chefs dressed in his chef coat and chef hat, pushing a shopping cart containing a big cardboard box that had the words "CHEFS HATS" printed on it. It struck me as very absurd and made me laugh out loud at the grocery store.

Also, this morning I had the most revolting dream while I was hitting the snooze button on my alarm clock*.

I must warn you, it's vile.
If you have a thing like a phobia about bugs, don' t read this.
If you are eating right now, don't read this.
If you hate hearing about people's dreams in general, don't read this.

OK, you have been warned.

I dreamt that I was at the beach with some friends, we were laughing and enjoying the ocean, boogie boarding and surfing and such, and then it was time to get out. I started swimming for shore, and then got to the end of the ocean, which was surprisingly tiled like the edge of a swimming pool. I was trying to hoist myself out of the water next to a couple who were starting to make out. I was attempting to get out and not disturb them but I accidentally bumped the guy and disturbed their, ahem, activities. At first they were irritated (as expected) and then they noticed some small bumps on my arm.

"Oh, you swam through sea spiders" she said and pointed to my arm. I looked and there were three little bumps on my wrist, that kind of looked like fire ant bites after they pop.

The woman grabbed my wrist and then sucked on the bites. I was disconcerted that a complete stranger was sucking some bug bites on my arm, but that was only the beginning. After she sucked on the bites for a few seconds, she stopped and then spit out the TINY BUGS that were INSIDE the bite on my skin. (UGH!!).

She then told me that I would need to suck the rest of the bugs out of the other bites that were on my other arm because they could grow there and be dangerous.

I warned you that it would be gross. But anyway,

I thanked the lady for telling me about the sea spiders and then noticed that there were some stairs out of the ocean so I could get out of the water easier than hoisting myself up and out over the pool ledge. I went to the beach house with my friends and while they all took naps I attended to my bug bites.

By this time the bugs were bigger and I was squeezing little centipede like creatures out of the bites. I found one large bite that had about 10 creatures in it, and they flew out of the bite on one arm and onto my other arm, where they magically grew into inch long centipede-y creatures that started trying to BORE INTO MY ARM!!!! I had to keep these centipedes from rearing up and boring their heads into my skin, being careful to get their head out so it wouldn't go into my arm and get lost in circulation. Also, if I accidentally took the head off of a centipede before it bit me, the next segment would automatically become the new head. I kept peeling the bugs off of me and throwing them in the sink, trying to be very quiet because my friends were napping.

I woke up completely grossed out about the idea of BUGS UNDER MY SKIN! YUCK!

Sorry, but if anything deserves unabashed use of capslock BUGS UNDER SKIN sure does.

*shudders*

I went to sleep worrying about not doing enough work this weekend and enjoying myself too much. So I suppose my dream punishment for hanging out at the dream beach with dream freinds was bugs under my skin.

The internet tells me that insects and spiders in dreams symbolize worry, so perhaps my worried thoughts when going to sleep started it.

Also I had just read the story in the Onion about a caterpillar on a rampage. My bugs looked an awful lot like a hairless, flesh-eating caterpillars. I'm just sayin.

Well, I hope your days and nights have not been filled with flesh eating bugs.

Sweet dreams.

*for the, like, 10th time

The dramas of an overeducated, spoiled American and an Aussie dog

Dudes.

My laptop charger died today. Just died. No real warning, no real reason I can think of. It wasn't the socket, it wasn't the plug adapter, it wasn't the cord that goes from the socket to the charger, it was the charger. At least it waited until AFTER I gave a presentation this morning.

My first thought was "my laptop is my life, I cannot get any work done nor can I find any useful information or live in any satisfactory way if I do not have my laptop. I must replace this cord right now and I don't care how much it costs."

My second though was "well, no, I do care how much it costs. Hopefully it won't be that expensive. I mean, it's not like I am replacing a battery or anything. Are any shops even open at this hour?"

Luckily it's Friday, so it's a late night shopping day (most days all shops close at 5pm here, except for Thursday and Friday, when they are open until 9pm), and that I discovered the problem at 8:30pm. A couple of minutes and AU$100 later, and I have power!!! Granted I also now need to get a plug adapter so I can use the cord when I get back to the U.S., but that's like 3 bucks, I think I can manage that.

I am trying to figure out when I became a slave to my technology. Specifically, my laptop and my cell phone. When I got to this country, I didn't have a cell phone for about a week, and it was killing me. I didn't have anyone to call, nor anyone that needed to call me regularly, but I HAD to have a phone.

And, today, the idea of not being able to use my laptop was just unacceptable.

I'd rather live without a car than without my laptop. Isn't that crazy? Isn't it also a little sad?

Luckily, this little lady reminded me that there were far more important issues than my potential power loss. Apparently there was no one in the whole wide world giving her any attention right this second!



What kind of world lets this happen? It's a madhouse!! A MADHOUSE!!!!

I blame the Bush Administration.


I realize that I only have 17 days left of time in Australia, and I have heaps of stories I haven't shared yet. So my goal is to post at least 1 entry per day from now until I leave. I plan on using the hell out of my snazzy new power cord.

one fish, two fish

Recently, I got a new fish. A lovely shiny new red betta:


Grr...he's a fierce looking guy! I am trying to find a good name for the little fella.
I already have one (blue) fish called Basil, so I was thinking about something else along the spicy line of names, like paprika, thyme, or curry paste. Any suggestions?