3:59 p.m. - 2002-09-02
back from Middlebury, with four strange dreams to interpret
First off, tributes of the day: Keanu Reeves turns 38, and today was the day that J.R.R. Tolkien died, in 1973. Everyone take a moment of silence in respect.
Ready? Ok, then.
Five-hour drive up. Lots of traffic. I read "Lady Knight." At dinner I accidentally completely sprayed myself with steak sauce. Still have no idea how, but I felt like a two-year-old, and I had really liked that shirt, which now seems to be beyond salvation. Damn. The guys sitting next to us let us use some of their miracle cleanser, or whatever it was. The problem is, Rachel had some too, but once she got her shorts back from the laundry they faded. Hmmm. I don't know.
On Saturday they wouldn't let us into the dorms, so we hopped in the car and just drove around. I was pretty pissy at the beginning, bored to death at this stupid farmer's market, but it got better. We went up to Burlington, which I liked a lot. As stupid as it may sound, it makes me so HAPPY to see gay couples walking around openly. No, really! There were these guys walking down the street holding hands and then one leaned over and quick kissed the other, and I was like, you know what, that's just fucking awesome. You rock, for not trying to hide yourself. David would have been on the ground laughing hysterically, but I don't see what is funny about it.
Anyway, yeah, so Burlington was a great town, I want to go back. It was a funky mix of hippieishenss and preppy stores. Checked two more stores for the beautiful pop-out Lord of the Rings poster. I have the feeling that I may have to wait a year for when "The Two Towers" is released on DVD and they have special promotions again... I'm still so pissed about losing that one at FYE, I was three days late!
After Burlington we went to the Ben & Jerry's Factory, and I called Hannah because she lives in Stowe which is only about fifteen minutes away. No one was there, and I just found out that on Saturday she left to go to boarding school in Massachusetts. Damn! At least that means that maybe we can see each other another time, though, we're going up again in late September for parents' weekend and Mom and I need to go up for interview and admissions and a proper tour and all that shit. At Ben & Jerry's I got a shirt and cow socks. Ha. We didn't take the tour because they don't make ice cream on the weekends and we decided we may as well wait to watch it live. We also stopped at the Vermont Teddy Bear Company, where the bears are so overpriced that I ended up just buying postcards of them. They ARE really cute and snuggly though. We had dinner at the same place as Friday night.
I really liked our inn. Mom and David had stayed there when David interviewed (did I mention that David applied there early decision, two years ago? Well, he did. He loved Middlebury. He didn't get in because he slacked off in high school, and Bates was his second choice. Lauren got in early decision last year). I shared a room with Kelsey and Lauren, and it was small but cozy. They brought breakfast in the morning, hot chocolate and breads. We were about two minutes from the campus, which is, if anyone's looking at it, beautiful. I really think Middlebury is my top choice. Great writing program, incredible language program. You can live in the French chateau and only speak French and eat French food. I would love to do that. Vermont is pretty, if a bit cow-y and in the middle of nowhere, and freezing cold, but I don't like hot weather either. If I went there, I'd be starting while Lauren was a junior. I don't know if I could deal with that. Then again, if I go to Yale or Brown or Wesleyan, those are all schools that certainly Alexa and probably Kelsey will be looking into. So I could decide not to go to Middlebury just so I'd be alone, on my own, which is the point of college, right? And then one of my younger sisters would join me! Oh, I don't know...
Sunday we got up early and moved everything up outside Lauren's room on the fourth floor. (Revise "we" to include Dad, Kelsey, Alexa, and I. Mom and Lauren got into line. They were second in line, and waited for nearly two hours. By the time they finally opened at 11, the line stretched way out into the parking lot. But that's Mom: always there early, always there first.) A security guy let us into the room, so we dumped everything and joined Mom and Lauren. By then it was nearly 11, so they were able to go in and do the necessary paperwork, and we were able to go to the bookstore. I got a Middlebury shirt, a Middlebury sweatshirt, a Middlebury pen, AND a Middlebury bear. I named the bear Paravel, after Cair Paravel from the Narnia books. I am such a dork. :)
Kelsey, Alexa, and I hung out at the bookstore and I tried to make myself read "Tartuffe" for an hour or so. I'd finished "Lady Knight," which I have to admit I didn't love. Tamora Pierce has never been THE best of writers, but I've always liked her books, and this one disappointed me a bit. I still think the Alanna series was the best out of the Tortall books (actually, probably the best out of ALL her series, but that's a different matter). This series, the Protector of the Small, with Keladry, were... hmmm... I don't know how to describe it... but the last two in the series, "Squire" and now "Lady Knight," were kind of too long. They droned on a bit. Plus (and spoilers ahead, so don't read this if you're planning on reading the book!), some part of me still wanted Kel to wind up with Neal, damnit! I love Yukimi, but Kel and Neal... WHOOO... and I still think Raoul is gay. I DO like Buri, but Raoul made a great swinging bachelor!
End of spoilers.
Basically, the three of us stayed out of Lauren's room while Mom and Dad got her unpacked. Her roommate, Lily, is from Minneapolis, and seems very nice. The room is small but not too bad, and they rearranged the furniture to make more space. (Lily moved her bed WAY up and put her desk under it! Lauren moved her bed up a little and put her refrigerator and a bunch of boxes with clothes underneath, and moved her desk by the window.) We were very happy to learn that Lily already had a copy of "Moulin Rouge," so Lauren let us take our copy home. While Dad and Lauren set up the computer, Mom took us to do some grocery-shopping for Lauren. We didn't get back to the inn until after 3, at which point we collapsed for an hour. I wrote some letters and postcards. Actually, I've been writing a LOT of postcards and letters this trip. Remember I said I wanted to get back in touch? I've been DOING it. With those emails I sent out to CTYers from my first two years, just since I got back, I had six responses! (Amanda, Mo, Mer, Tracy, Eva, Marla.) I love getting email, but I love getting mail more. If I don't get any mail within the next week, I'm going to be very, very unhappy. :(
Let me finish up Sunday really quick... we went back to Middlebury at 4:45 to listen to some stupid speeches that could have been summed up in a few sentences. First speech, "It's hard for parents to say goodbye to their kids." Second speech, "Take risks." Then they had a ridiculously disorganized dinner outside where I never even made it through a single line to get food. The weirdest thing though was that I saw Liza! She was my seventh-grade science lab partner, and she had French with me in eighth grade too, but then she went to a private Catholic school. Her sister is starting at Middlebury this year. So we talked for a bit, which was pretty funny, I'll have to email her.
We gave up on the lines and got dinner somewhere else. At dinner, Mom and Dad tried to convince Kelsey to take an accelerated math class at school, and just listening to the dialogue reminded me that Kelsey and I really are different in some major ways. When I was her age, and got yelled at, I would start to cry (I cry so, so easily) and then get pissed and embarrassed that I was crying and escape to my room at the earliest opportunity and write suicidal poems. Kelsey, on the other hand, actually sticks up for herself. It's taken as cheek, and yes she can be unbelievably obnoxious, but still, at least she doesn't let herself get completely trampled, like I did. I stick up for myself more now, but... wow, I definitely didn't used to.
Ok, who here is good at dream analysis? Something about that inn made me have bizarrely vivid dreams EVERY SINGLE NIGHT. Anyone feel like interpreting them for me?
First night: I had a dream about the song "Like A Virgin," from Moulin Rouge... Madonna was singing it and she had black hair and a very red face... and then this guy came into the room to bring our breakfast, only he had her face...
Second night: Nightmare! This one's kinda hard to describe, but bear with me here. There's this island thing, and four towers at each corner. Tall, dark grey stone towers, and water at the bottom. A voice says, "They once were kings, great kings of men." You see the nine kings riding onto the island. I start to run, because I know what's going to happen next. "But one by one, they all fell." Each time the voice says that, I get killed; usually, I'm on top of one of the towers, and they throw bricks at the tower and it crumbles and I fall into the water. But it's like they're programmed to kill me. The same thing kept repeating, and the last time before I woke up, I ran extra-fast and got to the farthest tower. I saw one of the kings and he was just swinging his arm back and forth, empty, while the voice said "They once were kings, great kings of men." But as soon as the voice said "But one by one, they all fell," there was a brick in his hand, and he threw it at me and magically appeared at the top of the tower with me and pushed me and I crumbled into the water with all the bricks... and then made myself wake up... this one needs SERIOUS interpretation...
Third dream: Last night, I actually had two, and they were both so vivid and detailed it was scary. I was really convinced they were true... one, I was in French class and they were reading "Tartuffe" and I hadn't FINISHED it yet! This is the third dream about that, maybe I should LEARN! Anyway, in the dream I remember thinking "But that's impossible, what happened to Tuesday, I was going to read it on Tuesday" and then Tuesday never happened... hmmm... and then I had a dream that I was buying glowsticks in some store. There was more, about the Olympics and all my relatives, but the glowstick part is all I remember. The store looked kinda like this one at a nearby gas station, and there were just these glowsticks loose in a basket, a bunch of different colors. So I remember picking out one in every color -- blue, pink, green, etc. -- for myself and picking out an extra orange one to send to Matt, and I went over to the cash register and paid, and it was $1.65, but at first he told me $11.65, and he didn't give me my change right away, and then all the glowsticks disappeared... and when I woke up, it took me a really long time to orient myself, I had been lying there happily and then realized that it was just a dream and I didn't REALLY have more glowsticks. But damnit, I want them. I don't care if I swallowed one, they're pretty and fun and clearly don't hurt traveling through your system.
Anyone want to take a stab at interpreting them?
Today, Monday, we got up early and packed, said goodbye to Lauren quickly, and then drove back, making stops to buy apples. I love apple season. I read "Tartuffe" most of the way back. I'm into act 4. I really, really hope to finish it today, but I don't know if I can. Tonight, I'm going to write checks for at least an hour with Dad. That's $5 right there, which I desperately need, especially if I want to buy the Moulin Rouge soundtracks before Kelsey does. (You know what, though? She has a "Hardcover Books Fund." Isn't that cute?) Tomorrow, Mom says, is Schoolroom Cleanup Day, which could easily take all day, especially since I also need to clean up my own room, get myself organized for school, AND do the practice SAT IIs for Lisa. Shit. I have to get in touch with Ben sometime this week to work out writing tutorials stuff, and I need to start memorizing those fifty vocab words for Lisa. Basically, I need to get myself organized, and I need to get off diaryland right now...
I'll be on later. There are a lot more random things I want to write about, as always, but I really, really need to get some shit DONE.
Oh, go here and read the article. That's my town. I posted something about that a while ago. Scary.
