Wow, I really haven't written anything in what feels like a very long time. Starting up again feels difficult and slow, like all the words I pick are awkward and strange, sort of like that kiss between David Daskel and Larissa on Average Joe II - Hawaii. Anyone else see that??

Anyway, I've been working like a million thousand hours on getting the London pictures online (almost done!), and will have the London entries up sometime soon, too, hopefully. Still need to get the entries off the laptop, onto this PC, and upload them.

I've been busy working on a college application, though. Oh, and I've been busy doing a whole lot of sleeping, too. Apparently, I've been having a lot of deep sleep, actually, because I've been dreaming vividly and remembering them, which is very unusual for me.

So, for your entertainment, here are a few of the dreams I've had lately:

1) I dreamt Joe and I had a brand new baby boy. The dream involved me losing the baby in the grocery store because I forgot I had him (too new to the "mom" thing, I guess!). The happy part of the dream, though, was that I was holding my baby, all wrapped up in his little blue baby blanket, staring into his dark, dark brown (almost black) eyes. And I smiled and cried as I looked at him, then turned to Joe and said, "I just love him so, so much." Joe just smiled at me and said, "I know." And that's when I woke up! Wanting a baby. But then I remembered how young I am and thought better of it.

It was such an incredibly vivid dream, though! I can still see the baby's face clearly in my head.

That's the third dream I've had in my life in which I'm a parent. In the first one, I had two girls. In the second, I had a boy and a girl. And then there was this last one, with just the baby boy. It's weird, is all I can say. Do other people have baby dreams, too? It's not like I want one any time soon. I don't know what my brain is doing to me.

2) After I went back to sleep, following the baby dream, I dreamt I was taking care of a dog and a snake. The dog is a dog I know in real life. I haven't seen him in a while, though, and in real life, I'm a little afraid of him. Anyway, I had him and this rosy boa constrictor (a solid, dark, reddish-brown color in my dream). At one point, they were both loose in this building. The dog was supposed to be on-leash and the snake was supposed to be secure in his carrier. I was trying to get them both under control, when the snake started shedding his skin. I saw his eyes become cloudy, then I instinctively knew he needed something to rub up against to pull his dry skin off. It became dry and crinkly on his body in a matter of seconds. I put my fingers on either side of his head, and he pushed through, again in a matter of seconds (doesn't happen that quickly in real life!). I was left holding the snakeskin. The dog began barking at the snake and jumping at it. The snake felt scared and vulnerable, having just shed its skin, so I tried to hold the dog back with one arm, and pick up the snake with the other, trying not to get struck by the snake myself. Then I saw Nora, who I used to work with at the animal shelter. I said, "Please, hold back my dog!" She laughed, shook her head at me, and said, "Sure, okay, I'll hold your dog." I couldn't figure out why she was making fun of me. I turned around to look and my dog had turned into a giant snow leopard, with long fur. As she led him away, I felt utterly confused. That's all I remember from that one.

3) Another night, I dreamt I was still in London. I was calling home, knowing no one was there, so that I could check the voice messages. I called and someone answered. I immediately recognized the voice as my own! "How can I be home when I'm HERE?" I asked myself (and by that, I mean, I literally asked the question to myself, on the phone). The me on the other end of the line didn't know what to say. Right after I asked that question, I began to slowly black out. In slow motion, I dropped the receiver of the old black telephone, fell to my knees, and as I started to fall backwards onto the floor, my vision faded out. I fought it, struggling to stay conscious, to stay upright, and solve this mystery. But alas, I couldn't. I continued falling backwards to the floor, and I woke up. Right after I woke up, too, I felt really freaked out. Then I relaxed and decided I will have to make that the basis for some kind of short story sometime in my life. For now, it just remains one of the weirdest, yet coolest, dreams I've ever had.

4) Last night I dreamt I was at a party, acting and feeling tipsy, even though I'd had nothing to drink. There was also something about trying to walk down a tiled ramp wearing my pajamas and my boots, and I just slid down because I couldn't get any traction. I can't remember the rest of it clearly, so I won't bother trying to describe any more of it.

My conclusion: Dreams are WEIRD.

Also, I hope to stop experiencing weird sleep confusion. For example, two days after I got home, I was napping on the couch in the evening. Joe called me when he was on his way home from work. I answered the phone, heard his voice, saw that the clock said 8:00 and wondered why he was calling me at noon. Heh. I had instantly subtracted eight hours, thinking I was still in London and he was home. I was confused to be in my own home! But I'd never felt confused waking up in the hotel. Weird, huh?

Another night, I did the ol' waking up at 9:30pm thinking it's really 9:30am thing, wondering why the hell it was so dark outside.

Crazy stuff! I think now that the jetlag has worn off and I'm feeling much more comfortable about being home (and less like I need to have another traveling adventure, like, rightnow), all that should wear off. I hope the vivid dreams stick around, though! For someone who rarely remembers her dreams, it's been a very cool experience.

Other unrelated notes of interest:

I'm actually making progress, bit by bit, on my goal to walk 500 miles in 2004! This makes me incredibly happy. I'm also eating well and overall, being much healthier. It's amazing. I guess I just built up some good momentum and good habits while I was in London, and didn't want to lose that.

And laugh all you want, but Dr. Phil's weight loss challenge shows are surprisingly inspirational for me. They spur me on. I love that it finally occurred to me that, really and truly, the only way to start being healthy is just to START. So now I'm making lots of healthy decisions, and it's great. Yay for me! I'm keeping track of my mileage on the sidebar over there on the right, by the way, so if you're at all interested, you can keep track by glancing over there every now and again.

Last but DEFINITELY not least:

Today is Joe's birthday. Happy Birthday, Joe!!! I love you!!!

Have a great day, everyone, and may you all have sweet dreams, too!