My long absence from Livejournal means several things ( Read more... )

1. A man--no, men--chasing me. Evil intent. A junkyard and an intentional lighter fluid-burning of the face. Grotesque. SO much fear.

A dream within a dream. Maybe even my unconscious mind cannot take all that. I "woke up" thinking I'd been watching all-the-evil as a movie.

2. I'm walking down alleys of a strange city. I am suddenly asleep (within a ( Read more... )

Hey, everybody. If we haven't already met, I'm Kat, Elisabeth's older sister.

She and I are a few years apart, so I've always felt protective of her. When she was preschool age, I used to get in trouble by our babysitter for speaking for her.

"Would you like a cookie, Elisabeth?"

"Yes, she would, thank you."

"Do you need to use the restroom before we ( Read more... )

I have to say: jury duty was such a pleasant experience last time I was here. As I may have mentioned, it was Juror Appreciation Week, so perhaps that was the cause of all the appreciativeness, but it was nigh-on-amazing. For example:
1. Free coffee and cookies because "we appreciate you."
2. Every time I had to interact with anyone in the court ( Read more... )

I'm sitting in a plain, uninspiring room, yet it's only now that I am inspired enough/have enough time to finally update again. This is a common theme in my life (not jury duty, but the lack of time). It's Jury Duty Day, everybody! And as annoying as it is to have to check whether or not I'm being called in for almost a week (and therefore not ( Read more... )

I used to carry the books in my bag like a secret.

with the cover off, I could have been reading anything.

Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, Kafka.

Were anyone to discover the truth,

the name alone might not have caused undo judgment,

undo harm to my reputation as an English teacher.

But the moment I saw you encased in movie paraphernalia,

skin like a glitter bomb ( Read more... )

02/02/12--PM

In an effort to finally have some Dutch cuisine while in Amsterdam, I've researched and drug myself to a restaurant aptly named, Roots. Somehow, dining by myself makes me feel sophisticated, mysterious.

Who knows why this woman (a foreigner--apparently, obviously) has come to dine by herself? Surely, she is not a restaurant critic, ( Read more... )

02/01/12

At least I expected the torturous cold yesterday. The day fell grey and snow covered the ground. But today, the sun shines, completely confusing the unmelting icicles on my face.

Everyone looks at me in the non-Dam parts of the city (tourists still, but less). I am surprised by this. I've had this fantasy that I could pass as a native. Do I ( Read more... )

01/30/12

Day three in Amsterdam. I've officially done the tourist thing and consumed too much of everything. I am changed by my travels in the following ways:

1. I can walk into a bar and order a local beer I know I'll like--La Chouffe. I'm fairly certain its logo is an anthropomorphized garden gnome. This feels fitting.

2. I can confidently use Euro ( Read more... )

01/28(probably, though when you're on an airplane, there is no day or time)/12

No one ever told me that at night in a plane above Manchester, you can see veins of gold. Silver. Precious metals that remind me of the story of the golden windows. I've never seen the veins from in the night sky in the U.S.. Lights from cities, to be sure. But not such ( Read more... )