July 2007
july 12
It's my birthday and I'm waiting for Mark to call me. I've been in my room and leave for just a minute, and when I come back, I find a message from him - actually a little video that's a promo for some musician (?) who has a new single out. Dana also called and left me a real message. It's later and Maria tells me that Mark was telling her some story about John, but called him by the wrong name, which she found hilarious. Dana tells me the same story later on, but doesn't want anyone to point out the mistake that Mark made because he'll be upset. So few people have remarked on it being my birthday that I consider posting a MySpace bulletin asking them to comment so I can win some contest. My mom and I go to see my stylist, whose salon is on the roof of an apartment building. I get my hair trimmed and my eyebrows done, which she says is $10 each, but I end up giving her $34 - a 20, a 10, and four 1's - out of the $36 in my wallet. After I realize the mistake I made, I ask for the $10 back. She makes a comment about having looked forward to my money, but returns the $10. She'd also done my mom's highlights and, right as we leave, tells her to make sure to use conditioner. I'm walking around inside the apartment complex, and it turns out to be where Dana's boyfriend lives. I go by and Dana's there, but I don't go in because I'm looking for my purse that I've set down somewhere. It's the tan Bath and Body Works purse with red and green stripes. I find it on a stairwell at the exact time that this group of guys and Rose come upon it. The guys are all crooked detectives, and though only one of them seems to be paying any attention, I say that I don't need the whole purse, just something inside really quick. I take out my birth control compact, say "See?" and pretend to take a pill. Rose tells me in an aside to take out everything I need and hide it in her purse. I'm watching some medical show similar to "House" and it's a season finale. The hospital was being closed and only a few doctors were left, gathering their things. Two of them were talking together when the third doctor, a skinny guy who was going insane, came up to them. The two friends are polite for a minute, but manage to get away and jump over the barbed-wire fence that was put around the building. The crazy doctor tries to chase them but doesn't make it.
july 13
I'm in hiding at a hotel, and there's a kid (14 or 15) who's hiding out from the same people. He was walking around the halls and got into a conversation with an older man who tried to assault him after the kid told him that he thought he might be gay. The kid gets back to his own room and calls me on the hotel phone before coming to my room. I wait in the hall for him to show, and pull him into the room to make sure no one else tries to grab him. I worry that someone could have gone into the room while I wasn't looking and planted a bug so they could listen to my conversations. The kid wants to be with me because he's now sure that he's not gay, but I tell him no, he's way too young for me. I'm at a book club meeting that's taking place at my grandparent's old house in Pittsburg. The meeting is ending and I realize I've forgotten to bring the money for a fundraiser we're doing. The leader is busy saying goodbye to everyone else, so I write on her notebook that I'll bring the money either at the next meeting, or the following Monday if she needs it then. As I'm leaving the house, I poke my head into the TV room to say goodbye to Amanda and her family. They find it funny when I say, "Goodbye, ladies and gentlemen." I go out to my car, which is in the parking lot at the mall near the old Michael's and the Hallmark. It's getting dark outside. I have a hard time moving the steering wheel, and after backing out of my parking space, I do several tight spins around. When I leave, I find myself on Brentwood Blvd. and it's now daytime. I'm having problems getting on the street I want to be on, and I find an Oakley Road that I think will lead me to it, but it's a dead-end that won't go anywhere until the new freeway onramp is opened. I'm back in the hotel with the kid, and we're being followed by the ghosts of these three little boys that we have to "kill." Our weapon is this hammer/pickax looking tool wrapped in foil that we have to use to hit them on the top of the head. We get two of them and I say, "Two down, one to go." These big security guards come by, and I hide the weapon. I find the hotel manager's wife and tell her about the haunting, and she takes me to the ballroom to see a photograph she thinks will be important. They're having a fancy party and she's wearing a kimono. When we get to the ballroom, there's a band dressed as characters from "Happy Days," and they're playing the theme song. She stops them to make an announcement about the ghosts, but she and everyone else get possessed. The band starts to play the favorite song of the hotel's original owner, which starts off with the line "You're the first one I ever fell in love with."
july 16
I'm on the freeway, trying to get home from somewhere, but I'm heading in the wrong direction (west instead of east). I'm worried that I'm going to miss the last exit that will take me into Pittsburg. I see a sign for the onramp to the 160, but nearby there's a smaller sign that says "Back to the street." I think this means I'll end up in a neighborhood, and decide to exit there. When I get to where that is, I actually can't drive on it; it's this tall tree and very narrow ledge that you have to climb onto. I'm worried about my arms being strong enough for me to hold onto this pole so I can get on the ledge. I'm at home and freaking out because there are a bunch of bugs there. I just can't handle it, so my mom and grandma take me to a Kaiser hospital. I sit down in an armchair to get my blood pressure taken, but their machines are different and the reading comes out as "1700." I think this translates to 170 over 100, and tell the worried doctor that their machines have got to be wrong, that my last two readings were perfect. I end up making him angry and he leaves the exam room, so I get in the hospital bed while my mom and grandma sit down.
july 17
I talk to Dana on the phone about Maria and the two of us going out to dinner, or having dinner at my place. It's evening and I'm already in pajamas when the doorbell rings and I panic, thinking it's them. It turns out to be a cousin (?) I haven't seen in a long time, and two of her friends who are twins. I call Dana and she says she and Maria went to dinner already, but that we could get together on Friday. It's Friday and I think they're coming to my house, but when they don't show I call Dana. She says they're at Chili's and already eating. I decide to go even though they're almost done. My mom drives me, but she first wants to go by the park so I can pick up my last check and so she can see this cemetery and church that are there. I say this will take too much time, but she doesn't care. She parks and we walk by the tiny graveyard firsts. All of the headstones are the tall, rounded kind, and they are covered in Greek symbols. There are a couple of women there, dressed in old-fashioned Quaker type clothes. We go into the church, which is Catholic and absolutely huge. As we're walking in, my mom says she's going to confess 50 sins, and I say, "Jesus Christ, Mom, that'll take forever!" A priest comes up right as I say that, and my brother, who is sitting nearby, starts laughing at me. The priest points my mother to the super-long line of people who are waiting to confess. I'm annoyed and push my way through the line so I can get to the exit.
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