Why do I feel so bad in the mornings? I dreamt I was going to school again. I was taking four classes: art, exercise/physical ed, oceanography, and one other, which I don’t remember. It rained often and I don’t remember there ever being a sunny day. I had to drive to campus in a small car (a VW Bug?) and had parking space #233. Pat Latas had #234. My art class was up the hill from my parking space, but I either got there late or not at all because I couldn’t wake up in the morning. My exercise class was held in a gym, but I don’t remember what kind of exercises I did in that class. Was it badminton, dodge ball, volleyball, or just running around the gym? I remember all the familiar squeaking-of-the-shoes-on-the-gym-floor sounds.

For the oceanography class, I went out in a sailboat with three other classmates to experience the ocean firsthand. We had scuba diving gear on and our assignment was to find out about the floating “B.” The floating “B” was a great big ship shaped like an embellished letter “B.” It was pink and glittery like Circus Circus in Las Vegas—all lit up with light bulbs. I wondered how it stayed afloat, so straight up. We approached the “B” with apprehension for we didn’t know who was inside. The “B” was like an unapproachable pirate ship. When we docked by the lower corner of the ship the side opened up and a clown asked us to enter. This is when I knew I was dreaming. So, because I was curious about how the dream would turn out, I urged everyone to go in. We jumped into the cold water and swam over to the ship. We had barely all gotten in, when the clown pulled a chord of rope and the side of the ship closed up. I had a bad feeling about the situation, so I kicked out a side panel and let the chamber fill up with sea water so that we could reach the opening at the top of the chamber. The clown wasn’t happy about it but didn’t do anything to stop us. As I was about to make my escape and explore the rest of the “B,” I woke up. Funny, I was feeling very destructive at that point. The scheme of blowing up the whole ship was on my mind. Hee, hee.

Okay, I managed to get out of bed around 1pm. I’m not really sure how many times Mom tried to get me out of bed before that. So, today is the day that I have to wear a skirt, damn it. Mom is excited to get dressed up and also to see me “wear something nice for a change.” Ugh. What a pain. I hate putting on stockings too. So much work for what? Grumble, grumble. At 2:25pm, Mom and I leave to pick up Aunt Kathy at Bark Lane. We drive to Hayward and get seated at the Main St Rue Francais Restaurant. (is that what it was called?) We are late 10 min, but didn’t miss anything because the people there were running a little late. The Wadas were already there, of course. The setting is okay, murals of what I assumed were French scenery covered the walls.

Then the food came… all 9 items on one plastic plate!! Awww, if only the food were on a “real” plate it would have changed the whole thing. Since no one came to our table, I looked around to see where I could get something to drink. I found some punch, red wine, and white wine. I picked the red wine for Mom and got the punch for myself. During the time I was there, I ended up getting maybe 5-6 cups of punch because the cups were so tiny. I felt bad for the Wadas because they had paid $60 for this (vs $40 for us). Mr. Wada seemed to enjoy the music a lot though, I was glad to notice. Mrs. Wada and Mom joked around and when I threw my head back to laugh, I bonked my head against the wall and made a “thump” noise that turned heads :P

At the end of the program, my uncle, Billy, sang “My Way” while his wife, Lamae, played the piano accompaniment. He wore his usual bright yellow jacket instead of a suit, which Mom and I were looking forward to seeing. The singing was pretty good, actually. I took a few pictures :)

Back at Bark Lane, Aunt Kathy showed Mom and I her flowers in the front and back yard. As much as I usually dislike being in Aunt Kathy’s presence, today she was rather pleasant on the way to Hayward, back from there, and at Bark Lane. (thank goodness!) She has planted quite an assortment of flowers: Nasturium, Iceland poppies, Ranunculus, honey suckle, orchids, forget-me-nots, morning glories, potato plants, wisteria, roses, lavender, lemons, and more that I can’t remember at this time. This must be her redeeming quality… it takes her a lot more effort, time, and energy to plant and maintain the plants than the average person (because of the aftermath of her stroke). Plus, she has to fight off uncaring people (mainly grandma) who are always trying to hack away her plants.

Oh! I also met the Saitos across the street when I was getting ready to leave. Maki was sitting by her living room window and I caught her looking my way from the corner of my eye, so I and turned and waved. She waved back and ran towards the kitchen and family room. I crossed the street to say “hi.” She seemed the same as when I used to tutor her and I finally got to see her baby sister too. No Berg though. He’s already back in Japan. Mrs. Saito gave me a packet of tsukudani to give to Mom and encouraged me to take a bag of lemons out in the front yard because she has too many. I did :)

Mom and I drove to Long’s to pick up the two rolls of film we dropped off two nights ago. They came out well :) Lots of pictures of Fishbone being queenly and Seri harassing her in the park.