avrelia

It's been a while since I had a really weird dream. Or remembered one. So I hasten to tell you all about the dream I had the last night. You see, I dreamed that I met George Washington. That same George Washington, you know whom I am talking about, even if you are not American. Neither he, nor I traveled in time in order to meet. He just... still lives. Very old, very curmudgeon-y, and obsessed with footwear – he still wears his 18-century pair and talks about making shoes a lot.

There was him telling me stories about the Declaration of Independence days, and him being angry at some stuff and other. There was something else that I happily forgot, but still...

Now, I read and studied The Declaration of Independence, and the US Constitution back in the day, and I know the general history stuff, but I have zero knowledge about the founders fathers, their personal lives and personalities, and frankly, not much interest. What's up with dreaming about George Washington?

Well, I've finally watched all three Toy Stories. Not at once, over the last month. Then I had nightmares.

Is it normal?

I liked them well enough, I see that they are good kids' stories, and D loves them, too. I think I liked the second one most of all, and it seems that D liked it the best, too. We got them from the library, so right now only the third is at home, and this is the one he carries around the house.

But the nightmare was real, too. I dreamed about a mother whose kids left for college, and she is home absolutely alone with nothing but alive toys.

Strangely, there was a female military toy unit, built out of random small dolls. It was kind of cool.

Then the mother turned into Alice (Carroll's one) and got lost in Buckingham Palace. It was no less terrifying.


And now I am sitting there and wondering whether it is totally crazy to be freaked out by Toy Story... I mean nothing makes the characters happier than to be owned and played with, and the perfect life is a short period of bliss followed by eternity of despair, and the daycare is hell. And their friends and loved ones are being sold on yard sales or thrown in the garbage... And I am the one who gets annoyed when fairy tales are judged by adult standards and the one who happily reads stories where characters are eaten or meet some other kind of gruesome death – or escape it. Why Toy Story made me sad?

Non-work-related:

The Corpse Bride – we saw it last Friday, and were rather disenchanted about it. I certainly expected to like it much more. The Bride was lovely, and visuals were stunning, the music with songs and without was good, and the dancing skeletons were amazing and very enjoyable, but… It was boring! The story was absent whatsoever, and the fact that I couldn’t care for any of the characters lost the movie for me.

Just like Heaven – rather enjoyable fluff, but utterly forgettable. The end was too happy for my taste (I am surprised, as I usually like happy ends) – too magical or whatever. They seem to put all the best things in the trailer, which is the wrong idea, as it brings higher expectations. Except I didn’t (as opposed to the Corpse Bride), and managed to enjoy the movie and forget it immediately after.

To say nothing about the dog by Connie Willis. I’ve never heard about it before, but somehow through some cross-references I found it, ordered from the library – and was happy for several days reading it. It hit all the right buttons with me- the time-travel, the mystery of time, the making of history, personal choices and general course of events, happy fluff and irony. Kittens and ugly objects of décor to add – all made for very satisfied Avrelia.

I almost didn’t watch TV, and I don’t feel anything about it. What I did watch though – AtS DVD, s1 and 2 – still the for the first time ever. And it feels a lot like filling in the blanks. And seeing it all again, it came to me that they face the same problems over and over again - it is they are running circles – first just running, then running and jumping through the hoops, them running, jumping through the hoops blinded, then all that but carrying 50-pounds stones, then all that, but with the left big toe in each others’ ear… Yes, a disturbing image…

Work-related:

It was crazy and very crazy – conducting the shareholders’ meeting in Russia, while being here. I didn’t sleep that well, and when I did, I dreamed about shareholders’ meetings and raccoons. It is done now, It could have been done better – I could have done it better, but it is done, and now I can focus on other things – not better, but different. I am still worried silly about the thing, but the important thing, it is over. (and on Friday night – after work- I fall asleep on the couch at our friends’ place watching Star Wars.)


Looking forward to the vacation…