Step

Cinderella

House steps

"Step kick kick leap kick touch. Again..."

"On the steps of the palace..."

"Step in time step in time, step in time step in time. Never need a reason never need a rhyme..."

"And I took myself one step. One high steppin' one step. And taking that one step, I won't stop with two."

"Steppin' to the bad time...oooh ooh oooh (Steppin' to the bad time....)"

"Somebody get me an anti-depressant. She's at the most maybe post adolescent. Time can be so unkind. I'm a beat behind."

I could probably come up with more, but that's about 60 seconds :)

muse.

Funny. I almost used "muse" for yesterday :)

Muse...

I didn't even know what that word meant until after college.

"You are my muse, and I, your prism."

Amuse

"We are not amused...."

Amusement park.

I've always had dreams about amusement parks. When I was young they were dark dreams. Funhouses mostly. I don't have as many of those darker dreams nowadays, but I dream about amusement parks very often.

Lots of times it's about Disney. - Except it's not Disney. But in the dream it is. And sometimes it happens to be one that's close by and open seasonally. Why it's specifically Disney in those cases and not just any o'le amusement park I'm not sure. Sometimes there are water parks next door too which I'm always trying to figure out how to fit in. Very often there's something about a main roller coaster I want to go on, but as with the real Disney, the park is large, some lines are long, meeting up with people is complicated, and there never seems to be enough time to get everything in when and how I'd like.

Sometimes I'm there when the park opens and there aren't many people yet. Sometimes I "remember" about the park late in the day and wonder if it's worth it to go for a couple of hours before the park closes... will I get enough done in that short time to justify the cost of the ticket... is even that little bit better than nothing.... will it be a waste of time and money for only a few hours since - with walking, and lines and all - I'll probably only get to do ONE ride before closing.

Time management, theme parks, and getting everything in I want to do seem to be the common themes in these dreams. And a longing of some kind. Wanting to be able to fit in what I want "this time" and not leaving feeling like I've missed out on what I really wanted to do most, again.

Band

Elementary school band. I could probably still play all those tunes if I had the right instrument.

Ok maybe not. But I remember them all vividly.

My orchestra teacher was always talking about how parents would come up to him astonished by how good we were. He'd tell them "I give them music that's appropriate to their skill level. They know how to read music, and they know how to count... So if they play what they see, why is everyone so surprised?"

As an adult, I now better understand both sides of that. After hearing numerous abysmal children's performances, I'm left wondering what the big deal is. They know how to read music, they know how to count... why aren't they playing the pieces perfectly?

Thunder

Interestingly, this brings up the old disco song for me, whereas yesterday's word didn't.

I also think of "A sound of thunder." I read that short story in first grade, I think, (maybe 4th... I'm trying to picture the classroom.) That story stayed with me all through adulthood. It had a huge impact on me, and I never forgot it.

Science fiction should be a larger part of childrens' curriculum. Makes them think.

Lightning

Lightning bugs.

I love these. Still. They're so magical to me. I wish I had a good way to capture that magic in a photo or a film or a painting.

They're a bit scary close up though. I guess most magical looking things are, if you take a really good look at them.

Hmmm... that's a bit deeper than usual ;)

Skeleton

"Skeletons in the closet." Interesting image. Interesting that that became a popular phrase. What must life have been like back then...

Ticket

Golden ticket
Ticket to platform 9 3/4

Hattie.  Hattie is someone my father knew when I was very young. Younger than five. She worked as a coat checker at some high scale place. I'll need to ask my dad where. I remember going to visit her and sitting at the window taking the red tickets. She lived near a museum, so our visits to her included her apartment, some very very long white steps, a visit to the museum, and sometimes swinging by her work to visit her at the coat check.

She was very nice, and had white white hair.... dad said she was ancient ;)

I heard her name mentioned later in a monologue (first and last name) and I wondered how many people there could be with her name? The monologuist had lived in the same city and they could have known each other. I'm so curious about that now, but they're both long gone. I wonder if they knew each other.

violet

This is interesting (to me! Lol!) I was going to write that Violet was the name of Snoopy's original owner. But it's not. Lila is the name of Snoopy's original owner. Which in Spanish is the word for Lilac, which is purple.... like violets are...

The mind works in mysterious ways....


* Of course there's always "You're turning violet Violet!"

Violent

"Violins on television..."

Anyone remember that? ;)

Can't think of the rest of that routine at the moment.

No. I'm not going to write about violence. What could I say?

megaphone

"GOOD MORNING [INSERT NAME] FAMILY!!!!"

;)

That's the first thing that comes to mind.

Megaphone...

Gosh does anyone even use those things anymore? Besides him?

trophy

Why did "trophy wife" come to mind?

The next thing that came to my mind was trophies I earned as a kid. I had a whole shelf full of them. Some because my father forced my siblings and I to play sports so somewhere along the way I was bound to win some trophies or ribbons.

The most important to me, though, were the non-sports ones. The ones I didn't even expect to win. The ones I didn't even know there were trophies for! Those are still the most important to me.

There was one for music, one for.... what did they call it... it basically meant "best friend to others" at camp. I was runner up, but I was surprised to have been noticed or considered at all. I didn't even know there *was* an award for that. It was voted on by staff. A couple of them came over to me after the "big camp awards ceremony" to make sure I wasn't upset with not having won first place. That was so strange to me. Like I'd be insulted? Lol! Runner up was fine with me! And still surprising.

I have another award for humor, and one for art. An unexpected one from an old roommate that I still have -Makes me laugh to this day! There was also one for most improved in a class I didn't even take. - Talk about not expecting an award ;) Right teacher, wrong class. I was in his other class. He was mortified. I still found it funny. I felt bad later for telling him he goofed because he seemed upset by that, but I understood what the award was for and I appreciated it regardless of what the little printed words on it said.

Oh.... and I also just remembered one more trophy I have. It isn't even mine. Well, it is now. It was "awarded" to a character played by a friend of mine. The friend passed away, but I still have the award with his "alter ego's" name on it.

I miss him. I don't think I have anything else of his... Just that, and some pictures, and my memories... and a vague recollection of some really bad jokes he used to tell...

I miss you D

Sticks and stones...

Sticks... Fire.

I was recently thinking about a friend I had when I was young. Maybe six or seven years old? (I seem to have a lot of memories from around that age and younger.) She told me she knew how to make a fire and I wanted to see. I would never make one because I didn't know how and I knew it was dangerous. But heck, if SHE knew how and had done it before...

She said she shouldn't because she'd get in trouble and her mother would hit her with a spoon (apparently it was a large slotted spoon that hurt.) and I, being the good friend that I was, continued pushing her to make a fire anyway and just not get caught!

She did eventually. (How horrible am I? But I was so curious! I thought it would be so cool to have a small little fire with sticks! Like a campfire! But smaller!) We got a few sticks -twigs really- she cleared away a small section of grass, which I didn't even realize was something that needed to be done. She really had done this before, and I was learning a lot! Once there was a small patch of opened dirt, we put the twigs in and she nervously lit some matches. She was very quiet and kept looking up to see if her mother was coming, -afraid she was going to get caught.

I had no fear at all. It wasn't my parents. I'd never been caught playing with fire and whacked with a spoon, so I didn't have a real frame of reference for that. I didn't think at all about her. My thought was "She knows how to do it, she's done it before, just don't get caught and you don't get hit by the spoon! No big deal!"

I'm sure this is the part where you're expecting me to say that something disastrous happened and we learned some valuable lesson. - Sorry. It didn't. She made a small fire, I was TOTALLY impressed, then she put it out less than a minute later, covered it with dirt, and we went back to the rest of our play date.

As I've been writing this, and remembering how quiet and hesitant she was, I've been thinking about how terrible I was and what a bad position I put her in, pressuring her like that - I did keep pushing her to do it! And yet, if memory serves me correctly, (and I believe it does) she had the matches already in her pocket! I think that's how the whole subject came up!

Gosh I hope no kids read this!

Another cigarette? I have a headache from all these cigarettes. Maybe the new word will come soon.

* Now see, if I smoked cigarettes I could go have one now while I wait. But I can't. 'Cause I don't. ... Ooooh! Unless I can find one of those old bubblegum ones! Remember those?

(Note: The word didn't change over on time today. This was my ever so subtle hint to the remarkably diligent Brian who usually changes the daily word like clockwork!)

Cigarette?

Is this like the "Vodka" question? ;)

Cigarette. I don't use 'em. I tried one once out of curiosity. I didn't want to smoke, I just wondered what it was like. It's hard to explain this to people but I felt the effects of it instantly, and for about a day or so afterwards. In my throat. Talking was ok, but I felt a difference, and singing was very difficult. I couldn't control my vocal cords as effectively. A couple of days later things were fine, but I was surprised that any effect like that would last beyond a few minutes.

I have the same trouble with helium. You know how people sometimes inhale helium to make their voice sound funny? My voice stops sounding like a munchkin after a minute or so, but even after it sounds normal again, it doesn't work 100% normally until a day or two later. Every once in a while the cords will just spasm and completely give out, and no sound will come out. Even during regular talking.

I can only imagine what the long term effects of daily smoking must be like if I could feel such a difference from a couple of puffs. - That and er... helium addiction...

bow

Hair bow. Boat bow.

Bow wow....

Bow legged.

I bow to the wind, and the wind lifts me up. Invisible, soothing, familiar. Whispering, "I am here."

Etiquette

I know to use the outermost utensils first and work my way in.

I know the fork goes on the left, because my friend once told me "It looks better on the right side doesn't it?" and I said "Ah ha! So it does go on the right!" and she said "No, I meant on the CORRECT side." - Frankly it looks the same to me on either side.

I know my napkin is supposed to go on my lap, but I've never understood that. I don't use a napkin on my lap unless I've been given two.

I need my napkin for my hands, or face, or the table if something drips or spills there. How could I spill something on my lap? It's under the table!

If I must cover my clothes, it makes more sense to me to wear a bib. Or a large tarp. Because what are the odds that something would spill on my lap without getting anywhere else on the way down?

Plague

I think "Bible."

I gave up on the Bible when I was about six. It described such an angry petty God. The God I imagined was nothing like that. So I decided the writers didn't know what they were talking about and continued to believe in what I considered to be a more enlightened and less hormonal omnipotent being.

Straw

The last one of course.

The last straw with me is when you put my life in jeopardy. I generally try to stick to a two to three strike rule, but when you screw with my life, whether you meant to or not, - whether you knew you were or not - I won't have anything to do with you.

I may not stop caring or wishing things were different, but I'm not a complete idiot. (Though I'll sometimes wonder how bright I could be to have missed this trait in you.)

I would never be so careless with a life. That you would be, speaks volumes.

- May you get every single thing in life, that you deserve.

Mean

People come to mind. Specific people.

What does that mean? "Mean?" Maybe it means intentional harm, or pleasure derived from harm to others, or maybe it just means someone who doesn't care enough about anyone but themselves to make sure they never do anything to harm another.

I hate people sometimes.

(Yeah I know... pot... kettle.... blah blah blah.)

Expecting

She hadn't been expecting this. She'd thought it would be more like a working vacation. Getting to know new people... learning new skills... Visiting places she'd never seen before. That no one had ever seen before. Being a kind of pioneer in an era when there wasn't much left to explore. Well, not in her immediate vicinity anyway. But this...? This was not what she'd signed up for.

Maroon

Geek alert.

Let's just say, I don't own one.

For anyone in the dark about that, don't worry. That just means you're NORMAL.

My friend broke her leg in first grade. The teacher told us we could all sign her cast if we wanted to but that we should take turns, and not all go over at once. The place to sign the cast was on the floor, over by the window.

- I had no idea what a cast was but eventually I went over to sign it and almost jumped out of my skin when I saw that my friend was attached to it.

* I was expecting to see a card, or a box. Not the person I thought was miles away!

Stem

When I was younger, I noticed a small tree growing. I don't know why it was such a big deal to me but I watched it grow, and I'd talk to it... check on it when I came home from school... I was so excited to see it get taller and taller. Taller than me even. I'm not sure if you could call it a tree. It looked more like a tall green branch. But it had maple leaves on it and it was growing out of the ground.

Then one day the gardener mowed it down.

Life sucks.

Assisted

She assisted, more to keep an eye on things than to be of any real help. She didn't know what they were doing. And he did not need her help. She wondered, did he know why she was really there? No... it was enough that she'd said she'd wanted to be. No further explanation had been needed.

She craned her neck to see above the barricade. Not too far, and not too obvious, or they would see her.

How did this happen. Why hadn't she left sooner?

Because she'd wanted to believe that these were good people. That someone would still come through. But all of them had known from the start.

Crane

Paper

Frasier

Crane your neck

Crane in a construction zone....

Ugh.

Paper cranes. Always wanted to know how to make them. Then did. Then I think I forgot. I can still make a blow up balloon/box/ball thing though. And a frog. Used to jump those all around the classroom from desk to desk. Because that's what you do when you're a creative/geeky type and bored in class. - Passing notes was so "yesterday."

Given

It was a given that she'd be going along. There was no way she was going to miss out on this adventure. Her husband could stay at home and take care of things while she was away. It wasn't as though they wouldn't be in touch. Oh, "the powers that be" could try to limit communications, but she knew how to get around that.

Honest

Honesty is everything to me. Honesty in your words, in your dealings with people... and especially in your dealings with me. And that includes standing by your word. If you give your word, whether casually ("I'll call you!") or definitively ("I promise."), you'd darned well better stick by it, if you ever expect me to stick by you.