I had the most frightening nightmare last night/this morning. And I have a hunch that it was because I was napping on the couch versus our bed which sits calmly underneath a dreamcatcher. And yet, I was in the living room because I had decided to sleep in and didn’t want the alarm to wake Jasbaz. She’s a lot easier to get ready when she’s half asleep.

Anyway, in the nightmare, I was in a building in some sort of town. There were bandits of some sort around, messing with people, so I hid upstairs in a building along with someone else. I cannot remember much about them. Just that we were both upstairs with Jasbaz playing quietly nearby. Anyway, the other person was watching Jasbaz while I was doing something. I could still see her but I was a few feet away. The person ended up walking away without me noticing and Jasbaz caught my eye as she was heading down the steps.

She walked down the first and second step as I lunged for her. My hand touched her dress but she had already started to fall down the stairs. I tore down them and picked her up from where she had fell, then slid into random debris.

She had the calmest look on her face and then started to have a seizure. I hugged her to me as tight as I could, rubbing her back and whispering in her ear that it would all be alright. Then I woke up hugging my pillow and shaking.

It really, really messed with me this morning because of the look on her eyes right before she had the seizure in the dream. It was filled with pain and confusion and mistrust, like why did I let her fall down the stairs? Why didn’t I catch her like I was trying to? It was really heartbreaking.

She got the biggest and longest hug this morning as I was getting her ready. She seemed rather confused by it too and patted my back for encouragement. Which was exactly what I had needed.

I guess you could say I was mildly inspired by Christine’s reminiscing about puddles and playtime today because instead of going home and getting dinner like normal, I drove to KFC, got my meal to go, and headed to a playground. Longest runon sentence ever. Currently.

I hurridly finished my food in the car and headed for the swingset.

Today was the day for swingsets, let me tell you. There was a nice breeze in the air and for once there wasn’t the undercurrent of frost and cold seeping into ones bones. The sun was shining and the reflection on the river danced merrily in the distance. It was just a really pretty afternoon and I only had about fifteen minutes to enjoy it seeing as how I had to go to class (where I am now).

But enjoy it I did. I hopped on a swing and took off into the air, pumping my legs the whole way. Twas very refreshing and brought me back to the days of intermediate school where we used to have competitions on the playground to see who could jump off the farthest. I never won, being a tiny tot myself, but man could I launch through the air, arms flailing, legs kicking, in an attempt to get farther than the rest of my classmates.

When we weren’t having swingset championship launching competitions, we would play this game we called Jurassic Park (since it was THE movie back then) where there was one Tyrannasaurus Rex and the rest of us were prey. Sometimes, we’d have raptors too, if we were feeling fiesty. Anyway, the goal of the game was not to get eaten (tagged) by the TRex.

The safeties were the playground equipment surrounded by sand islands. You had to be out of reach of the TRex. But, the TRex couldn’t see you if you stood perfectly still. Of course, that is where the raptors came in. They could see you no matter what, but they couldn’t get on the sand islands. Also, to keep things fun, you couldn’t stay on safety for very long or else we’d all get mad at you and make you the TRex.

Man, that game was such a hit. I think I was in fourth grade at the time? All I know is that we played that game without fail if the swings were already taken when we got out for recess. Heh.

Anyway, all of this was bubbling up in my head while I was swinging until I realized that there was a problem. I have… hips now. And they do not like being squeezed by the seat. And after about two minutes of realization, I had to get off because OW MY HIPS WERE NOT HAPPY THAT THEY WERE BEING PUSHED TOGETHER. But still, it was nice.

It’s funny how some days you can realize instantly that you are not meant to be a super posh fancy pants person. For me, that moment was as I was driving one of the company vehicles. It’s one of those big Cadillac’s with extras to the nines. In gold paint. Seriously.

Anyway, I was driving the vehicle and I realized that the rear view mirror has a built in compass. Not any Jacques Gusteau compass either, this one was digital. It entertained me during the drive because at any given moment, you know exactly what direction you’re going! It was exciting in one of those, I shouldn’t talk about this because people will think I’m crazy, kind of ways. But still, I’m half tempted to buy a compass and dangle it over my rear view mirror because it was definitely very spiff.

It was a bit chilly out when I was driving too and when I first got in the car, my little teeth were chattering and clattering all over my mouth. It was like a drunk percussionist was in there just banging away. With drumsticks. Eventually however, I was nice and toasty warm. But… in an odd way. The air wasn’t warm, but my bum was.

My bum is not one of those temperature radiant kinds, so I was rather perplexed until I realized that DUH, the seats are heated. And you know what, heated seats are damn nice. I snuggled all into that seat and I could almost feel the warmth rising up through my spinal cord. It was crazy.

The only bad thing about heated seats, however, is that after a certain amount of time, it has the effect on ones bladder similar to that prank that girls always play at sleepovers where you sit a girl’s hand in a bowl of hot water. And, you know, her bladder decides to be lazy.

I had the strongest urge in the world to go pee and no way to do so. Plus, in this fancy dance car, I had no idea how to turn off the danged seat heat. What is a girl to do? Seriously, the sheer number of buttons on this dash board was astounding and rather scary. Kind of like driving a ship the size of Titanic with all the knobs and gadgets found inside jets.

It was a very rough twenty minute drive, if you get my meaning. And when I finally got to park the car and get out, I went barreling for that bathroom. I made it, though! No worries! But, I think I’ll just stick with the compass for an upgrade option when we get our next car. It won’t torture my bladder.

This whole WordPress 2.5 set up is very slick. I almost feel lost. =)

It’s time to flex my whole PHP muscle and see if I can’t jerry-rig this theme into something a bit more suitable for a person of my unique caliber (read: odd).

I’d also like to extend even more thanks to dear Birgit for setting me all up and giving me a little nest on the internet to call my own again. Yay! I felt lost all week, I tell you. Now I know how birds feel after hurricanes have blown their nests away. Sad and disconcerted. But no longer! All the twigs are firmly in place. Except for design ones… but I’ll be sure to copy all the info as I take it out so that hopefully I won’t break what we’ve got set up.

Anyway, hopefully by tomorrow this place will be looking a bit more cheery and a bit less standard WP.

EDIT – Whoa. So over my head with this file permissions thing. Time to seek professional help.

RE-EDIT – I’ve claimed my own sanctuary to fiddle with designs.

EDIT-TO-THE-THIRD – I’m distorting WordPress as we speak. It is glorious, I tell you, glorious. =D Many thanks to Jem, the amazing PHP Ninja of DOOM and HTML supergenius for breaking it down like the alphabet in first grade. Hello!