March 21, 2001
Sleep Deprived Ramblings? Who Me?
Let's see, I have about 3,000 to 4,000 words more to write on Adrift (the Tribe 8 book, Adrift on the River of Dream) by Sunday. At some point soon I'm going to do my first edit of everything we've all written so far. I have a paper due a week from tomorrow for my lit class that I haven't started yet -- another 2,000 to 3,000 words. (Good god. When did I start thinking in terms of word count? Oy.) Somewhere between now and Friday I have to finish my self-review for work as well (see the year ago link at the bottom for my feelings on that subject). So what am I doing? Writing a journal entry! I think I need to add a "Procrastinating on" feature to the sidebar.I've managed pretty well all semester -- very well, actually -- in terms of getting homework done and going to class and such. But damn. The past couple weeks it's been a struggle. I know that's partly because of the book deadline, and partly because I've been a goober and staying up too late online, and partly because of spring fever (again, look at the year ago link). I'm so ready for a vacation. I have a week between winter semester and spring semester, which I'm planning on taking off from work as well. The only question right now is if I'm going out to California during that week and for how much of that week. The way I feel right now, I could just as easily sleep for an entire week.
This morning I was nearing rock bottom. Crawling out of bed and getting ready for work was almost physically painful. Compounding this was the fact that my mom has the rest of the week off and was still asleep. At least I've quit dreaming about English royalty. I have, however, started dreaming about ex-boyfriends again, so I'm not certain this is an improvement.
I've written an awful lot about how music gets associated with different events in my life. There's a strong connection for me between memory and music. Since I spend so much time on the computer, and since I often listen to music while I'm on the computer, it's probably no great surprise that certain songs are linked with certain events and periods of time I've spent online. I've started listening to yesterday's song, "Spark", again, only to realize that it reminds of the spring I first started MUSHing seriously -- god, three years ago, now. This was back when I first found myself staying up all night to hang out with the likes of Brand and Mo and James. I can vividly remember one morning when I hadn't gone to bed at all, stumbling around trying to get ready for work while still typing messages, listening to the CD I'd put on repeat somewhere around 4 in the morning. "Spark" was playing, with its hookline "6:58 are you sure where your spark is", and I noticed that it was 6:58. Silly cross-connection, but now I can't hear the song without remembering that whole first spring.
Other songs have similar connections. Almost anything by Sisters of Mercy makes me think of the very first MUSH I was on, City of Darkness, back in 1994. It was also a World of Darkness MUSH. I played a mortal named Angelique. The same person who introduced me to MUSHing also sent me the mix tape with the Sisters on it, and I'd listen to it incessantly while I prowled the virtual streets of Manchester, England. Some Tori Amos songs, older ones, have the same effect, because she was on the flip side of the tape. Of course, Angelique is still around... only since her melodrama-drenched days in Manchester she's changed quite a bit, no longer mortal, instead she's a satyr in Seattle, and she's annoying my Changeling players. Or one of them, at least. Heehee!
In more slightly recent MUSHing history, "Name" by the Goo-Goo Dolls is linked with the beginning of the end of the Plot That Ate Emerald Dreams -- I should really post those scene logs. It's covered briefly in Jake's history. That song was playing from Ryan's car radio as Jake broke up with him, thinking that was the end of things. Hah. I have entire playlists dedicated to certain characters. I've made mix CDs made up of character songs. Yes, I probably need help.
I think I'm off to stare blankly at my computer s'more. It's a toss up as to whether I'll get to bed before midnight tonight.
Posted by Lisa at March 21, 2001 09:20 AM
