Last Night, Ten Years Ago, and Tomorrow

Last Night:
the PIRATE TRAIN

I was on a foreign island of a foreign country and it was hundreds of years ago and everyone's wearing period costumes, all fancy dresses; but mostly we're all immigrants, wearing shoddy draperies or tousled pirate clothes. I am with a small group of comrades and we are trying to hide, for whatever reason. We board a train. Now, there are good pirates and thief pirates; we're hiding from the thief pirates who are rumored to attack our train, and the good pirates (a more bumbling, old-fashioned kindly breed of pirate) are helping us. Most of the people on the train are poor immigrants, and they are fairly helpful. In my group of comrades, looking disheveled and messy in our ragged clothing (I'm the only female wearing pants, of course; I think we're thieves but not thief pirates) we don't have seats so we run from car to car talking to passengers about the current literature of the time period. Suddenly, the train is attacked by thief pirates and I freak out and duck under a seat until they leave the car. A little immigrant girl comes up and asks me to tell her a story. I agree to under the condition that she lets me hide under her blanket if more thief pirates come. Later I look out a train window and it appears we're on a very small jungle island. How far can the train even go, if we're on such a small island? Perhaps in circles. I'm not quite sure. I woke up some time after I started considering the terrain.


TEN YEARS AGO: FWAFA
I left public elementary school, an environment in which I had no friends and I cried daily because teachers were mean to me because I was constantly thinking but not about the given assignments, a problem that still affects me to this day, but I digress; I left public elementary school in fifth grade for this new school in the city where the Texas Boys' Choir studied. It was small and cool and adventurous and there I met some fantastic friends. We were the "punks" of the school. By that I meant that we painted our nails black with sharpies and laughed at the straight-laced "popular" kids and talked about how much society sucked and how much we liked Avril Lavigne. But I still studied hard and made good grades and all that, because no matter how much of a rebel I wanted to be, I couldn't shake off the nerd. Oh, and gray became my favorite color, which is still true to this day. But I made great friends from that time. I started working at Funimation as a voice actor and I started to value myself as a performer. And that was that, I guess. Yup. A whole decade ago, in 2000. Bizarre.


Today and Tomorrow: 2009 & 2010
2009: fade in on girl, about 20, sitting at computer, struggling to write a blog entry.
[Tracy enters.]
Tracy: What up.
[Kate looks up at Tracy]
Kate: Not much.
Tracy: I love that headband. I love going through your stuff. I always find lots of... cute things.
Kate: [types away]
Tracy: You writing some kind of happy family entry? ...no? Ok.
Kate: [continues to type furiously]
Tracy: Man, you type fast.
Kate: ...Wait, don't go away.
Tracy: K.
[There is a pause. Tracy puts things away in the room]
Kate: Do you have any New Years Resolutions?
Tracy: [looks over Kate's shoulder at screen] Why are you writing this all verbatim?
Kate: Urrrrr I dunno.
Tracy: Um, yeah, I'm gonna lose at least twenty pounds.
Kate: That works. [continues typing. Tracy sits on couch next to two useless but happy dogs]
Tracy: I'm always so sad to take the tree down. Especially this one. This one was so nice. Didn't you like it?
Kate: Mhm. [types for a while, then pauses and swivels chair]I love this tree. It's a little lopsided.
Tracy: Well that's cause it's a real tree. Oh look, iz Charlie, hey little buddy! [Tracy makes cooing noises at fat useless dachshund, who wags tail and pees a little] What dreary weather. Some time, though, you know it's gonna get up to 70 and we're gonna end up having drinks on the patio... Are you writing down everything I say?
Kate: [laughs] No...
Tracy: [coughs, hacking up a lung]
Kate: Are you feeling any better?
Tracy: A little bit, yeah. ...Are we going to Angelo's to see the Thayers tonight?
Kate: No, I'm going to Lauren's. I love Angelo's but I can't handle that much meat.
Tracy: When do you want to take the tree down?
Kate: I dunno. I'll help you though.
[Tracy fiddles with ornaments, then steps behind Kate's chair and looks at computer. She guffaws, almost as if offended, and saunters out of the room.]
Kate: [over shoulder] It's a playwriting excersize! ...Kind of!

"TOMORROW"
A collection of New Year Resolutions
1. I will become proficient in Japanese, and memorize the two other alphabets other than Hiragana (Katakana and as much Kanji as possible)
2. I will gain a basic knowledge of French, Mandarin, and possibly some other language.
3. I will be as kind as possible and gather up lots of good karma.
4. I will figure out exactly what it is I plan to do with my degree.
5. I will start writing a play called "Landslide Birds" that will make people laugh and cry and become philosophers.
6. I will finish planning my philosophical short film "Solipsist" and perhaps even work on filming it.
7. I will buy my brother Pocky because he just discovered that I ate his box he got for Christmas.