1900 years and 2 months before I was born...

Did you know, that on this date, in the year 79, Mount Vesuvius erupted in Southern Italy, burying the ancient city of Pompeii? I'm figuring that most people probably didn't know that. I mean, it's not like it's common knowledge.

In either 7th or 8th grade, we had a project in school. It was sort of a "creative writing" assignment. We were given one chapter of a story and were asked to write our own chapter to follow it. The following week, we would write another chapter, and the week after, the same. We were to write 10 chapters in all. The title of the story that was given to me was, "A Night in Pompeii". I can't remember exact details, but what I can remember is, there was a young woman who traveled to the ancient ruins of Pompeii in modern day Italy. She was somehow transported back in time to the year 79 on the eve of Vesuvius' catastrophic event, and one of the citizens was trying to help her escape from the city before it was buried. (Pretty feckin dark for middle school, don't you think?)

That's what I was left with. I had to make an 11 chapter story out of that. I have no clue how the rest of it went, even though I wrote it; I can't remember what I wrote at this point. All I know is I believe I managed to get a pretty good grade on it, so I must have written something good.

It was the first time I had ever done any "creative writing", and I think I enjoyed it. I always liked making up stories in my head when I was a child, so I remember it being exciting to actually put one on paper for a change. Although, I could have simply enjoyed it so much because we got to type the whole thing out on Apple IIe computers, giving birth to my love for all things Apple.

You mean I gotta drink this coffee hot?!?

Subliminal advertising is no longer subliminal. I have come to this realization as I stare at the animated coffee sign hanging in the window of the café across the street. It is a simple sign, that for less than a second says the word "coffee" in an italic, red script; quickly changing to a yellow coffee cup with white squiggles of steam rising from the top. It's very silly looking, and makes you question how pretentious the owners must be to think this a fabulous sign. Yet, for some reason, the moment I set eyes on it, I wanted nothing more than a nice, big, smooth, heart-warming cup of coffee.

I will now fight this temptation by making a cup of Darjeeling tea.

How did I miss all the Spare the Air days?

It seems as though everyone I know hates riding BART. I rather enjoy it. It's yet another little action that makes me feel like I am doing my part to save the planet. I don't know that I really enjoy riding during commute hours, but I still find it exciting every time I get on a train. I love to watch the landscape passing by; a blur of steel and concrete, hillsides and houses, and thousands upon thousands driving their automobiles down the highways. But the tunnels do get a tad boring.

The driver of this train sounds slightly crazy. His voice is exuberant each time he comes over the P.A., announcing stations as if they each led to some wondrous new destination in a newly opened section of Disneyland. Mum says she thinks he may be the same driver who announced that they had installed windows in the Trans-Bay Tube so the passengers could watch the fish. Apparently they were stopped in the Tube for a long time that day. He quickly admitted that he had been joking, and soon they were on their way. Oh, how I wish I had been there.*

"Good Morning BART riders! Welcome to San Francisco!"

Does he really have to be so enthusiastic? It's too early for that shit.

* note the sarcasm.

I didn't know reunions could be so...

I don't know why I am so surprised that I can't sleep right now. It's not like it's anything new for me to not get any sleep the night before an important day. Even though I was so exceptionally tired not more than an hour ago, and decided that a shower in the morning would work much better than taking one tonight, I am remarkably awake now. So I've begun writing. I haven't done this very much lately, and feel that I should make an attempt to keep up my creativity. I have also been inspired recently by the slow (but hopefully soon to be steady) return of the original inspiration. It's nice to hear her words again. They still dance around my head every day, and I'm glad that she has begun writing again.
  • I shall re-read thoughts from years gone by.
  • I shall refresh the memories and dust off the pictures in the photo album of my mind.
  • I shall return the needle to the first groove of the record so the words can keep dancing until the morning.
  • I shall.....go to sleep before I start to sound far too cheezy.
The point is, I'm going to start writing more often. That is, I am going to write as often and as much as I can. If I have a moment to spare, and some thoughts in my head, I will write them down. I'm going to begin this the old fashioned way (pen and paper), simply because:
a) I do still love pens and notebooks,
and b) it's somewhat more convenient than my computer, as I don't have a portable one to write on.

Some of my "Pen and Paper" entries (such as this one) will make it online. But I doubt that all of them will be worth publishing on the web.


Now, I really do have to get to sleep. It's after 2 am, and I have to be up at 7:30. Goodnight.

Eight lives left.

We hit a cat tonight.
It was one of the saddest experiences I've had in quite some time.
But rest assured, the cat is alive and well.

We were on our way home.
It ran across the street, then doubled back right in front of us.
Warren slammed on the brakes and swerved to at least make sure that we went directly over it, instead of it going beneath one of the wheels.
We heard a small knock, and I shivered...
...no large bumps.

Surely it must be alright, we thought.

Maybe just a headache from hitting it's head on the bottom of the car, we hoped.

We drove home.

But when we got there, we realized we couldn't just leave it at that. What if it was hurt, or, shudder to think it, dead?

We drove back.

We were prepared.
If it wasn't there, we'd assume the best. If it was hurt, we would find a 24 hour emergency vet to take it to. If it was lying in the street motionless, we'd see if it had tags, and at least try to take it to where it needed to be.

The drive seemed to take twenty or thirty minutes, yet it was less than two miles away. We slowly approached the intersection around the corner from where it had happened. We looked left, down the road, trying to see anything from a distance before we made the turn.

Nothing.

So we turned, and drove slowly up the block, looking on both sides of the street; on the sidewalks; in people's yards.

nothing

And then I saw it. The little grey tiger striped ghost in the night who had run in front of our car not ten minutes earlier.
It was sitting in a driveway staring at us as we stopped in the middle of the street in amazement.

We decided we should park, and at least try to check it out, to make sure it wasn't hurt.
As we slowly walked over towards the lucky feline, I noticed a second cat sitting there with it, both of them now staring. The new one got frightened, and ran away, squeezing under a nearby fence.
Our grey friend quickly made the same move, showing us that he obviously wasn't very injured.

This time we drove home feeling much better. We went inside and ate our food that we had gone out to purchase, and called it a night.

All this because we wanted Western Bacon Cheeseburgers and Starbucks at 1 am.

So...which one deals with the sun?

The weather is shifting....finally...

It was warm yesterday, and last night for that matter. The stars were out, the moon was basically full; it was beautiful. I know the rain isn't quite over yet, but there's talk of more sun and warmth early next week. I don't know if anyone realizes just how exciting this is to me.

I guess I'll keep playing songs on my ukulele to appease the gods so they'll bring more sunny days. It seems to be working so far...

Why didn't I think to turn to Hawai'ian rituals two months ago...?

Can too much rain give you cancer?

Spring has been here for a week, and yet we still haven't had any Spring-like weather. I'm growing increasingly disgusted by the cold and rain with each passing day. It's starting to suck the life out of me. I need sunshine. I need warmth. I need the smell of Spring flora in the air. I've been so uninspired lately simply because I can't do any of the things I'd like to do. I miss my car, and I'd really love to finish fixing it. But does the rain care? Doubtful.

I'm proposing a change. Winter should not be allowed to go past mid-January; February first at the very latest. I think this would solve many problems. For those of you who care about Valentine's day, the weather would be warm, which means you could have dinner with your love at an outdoor cafe. You could take a walk at night and look up at the stars. It would be lovely. San Francisco could even become a Spring Break destination. Think about walking along the Embarcadero in March. It's usually still pretty cold and crappy. But with my limit on Winter, it would be beautiful and sunny and a wonderful place to spend a week away from college.

They said on the news tonight, that this has been the rainiest March on record for the bay area. It's sad. For the last three weeks I've been thinking to myself, "Maybe next week it won't rain...". But it just doesn't stop. A day of sun here and there, but never very warm. Mid 60s at most. I wish I was in Hawai'i. It's nearly midnight in Honolulu, and it's 74 degrees.

Can Spring actually start already? Please?