Batch

09-28-2012 -- I'm at a theater somewhere in Orlando with BC, preparing to take in a performance of All in the Timing, though it doesn't seem to be under that title. The problem is, neither BC nor I have any money for a ticket. So why are we here again? We are just about to leave when Karl O. comes running up, wanting to know what the heck we are doing here. AH is performing in this, and if she sees me, she'll blow a gasket! [In real life, this is nonsense and AH would be the consummate professional, and might well be glad for the ticket sale, even if she didn't want to interact with me personally.]

BC is saying we wanted to take in the play, and I am explaining I wanted to see all six scenes, instead of just the four I saw the last time. He is asking which two I'd not seen before, and I remember 'Variations on the Death of Trotsky', but can't bring 'The Philadelphia' to mind. He has taken long enough talking to us about this that suddenly AH is wandering into the area, and BC and I take off running before she can start screaming at us.

We are now running through a Disney park. It might possibly start out in the Magic Kingdom in Florida, but if so, it almost instantly warps to Disneyland. We find ourselves running right into an area where they are roping off the street in preparation for a parade, and are ducking under ropes and things. We get separated, and I am trying to catch up with her, but the parade ropes soon turn into a ride queue for some kind of children's ride.

Soon I am having to climb a sort of ladder, and I find myself looking at a very small hole I have to crawl through. There's no way ... not even if I was half my size. I have to apologize to people as I squeeze past them back down the ladder. I am looking for a cast member to explain the situation, but it seems they are trying to save money, and have cut back on the staffing, so there is nobody here. Instead I just duck under a barricade and into the loading/unloading area and prepare to walk out the exit, just as a boat or car appears with a cast member wondering what I think I am doing. I start to try and explain, then just say "Never mind," and bolt as the employee glares after me.

I wander around for a bit, then climb a short railing into some brush surrounding the Matterhorn, where I find my little red motor scooter. I pick it up and start to hoist it over the railing when a Disney security guard comes up to me and demands to know what I am doing. "You can't park a motor scooter back here, even if you are a cast member ..." he looks closer at me, and says "And you're impersonating a cast member, as well!" He's ticked off.

I glance down at myself, and find I am wearing western garb that might well look very much like a Frontierland costume. It gets worse as I glance at my feet and find my shoes are huge! Somehow I am wearing Goofy shoes! I think back to this morning, when I was getting dressed, and I just grabbed the first clothes I could find. I didn't mean anything by it. The shoes seemed slightly big, but comfortable. I honestly didn't realize!

But moment by moment the shoes are getting bigger, and the clothes are slightly shifting so that they look more and more like a character costume. Thank God I'm not somehow wearing the head, or I'd be dead! The security guard (who looks like Bob Hoskins in Roger Rabbit) is furious, and ties me to a rope as he is closing a gate to allow the passage of a train, monorail, and even a stage coach to pass [seems more like Knott's than Disney] but the rope falls off, and I move to an out-of-the-way spot. I could have rushed off and been free, but I didn't want to be hunted, so I waited, figuring I could explain.

But he doesn't want to listen. He drags me down to Main Street to see a supervisor, but the supervisor seems to be overseeing some sort of water show. I am told to just wait quietly, and maybe write out a report of my defense. But they have no paper, I have no paper, and am stuck either writing on my arms, or pulling out a rare 1990s park guide map from my backpack (which is loaded with such souvenirs) and writing it on that.

I am trying to point out that I am a collector of old Disney stuff, using that as some of my proof, and trying to show I meant no harm, and didn't even realize what I was wearing, but they don't want to listen. I continue to try to write my report, but splashes from the water show keep hitting the map, and the paper is getting soaked and the ink is running. I finally give up, throw away the guide book, and try to move out of the way so I won't get soaked.

I soon find myself standing in the very back, well behind all the seating, and again I could have just disappeared in the crowds to never be seen again. But when the guard starts looking around for me, I wave to him so he can find me. He seems to be wearing some kind of police car costume that looks like something from the Roger Rabbit movie. He soon discards the costume, grabs me again, and pulls me backstage.

This is the part that is much more like past dreams than real life. He is pulling me through an area that seems to be half backstage, half onstage, to a small door right next to a barber shop which leads to the Disney security office. As he pulls me through, we walk past Denny Hardwick, who I am hoping doesn't recognize me. Bob strolls right through some crowds, but I am a bit bigger, and have to wait for them to pass before I can move past them.

He leads me up to a counter where a young woman glares at me and asks me coldly "what are you in for?" By this time I am getting really disgusted with the way a simple error is being blown out of proportion, and tell her she already knows exactly what I am here for. If she didn't, she would either assume I was a normal person, or an employee, not an imposter! She doesn't deny it. They are just rude and obnoxious, and seem determined to railroad me! AAUUGGHH!!

09-11-2012 -- I'm at Newberry's in the Buena Park Mall, where I run into Joel K., who in telling me about this neat daily freebie in Runescape that I wasn't aware of. There is something about a weird sleep issue that might have told me I was dreaming if I was paying enough attention, and something about some kind of farming connection.

I am just finishing up an herb run, and have my pack full of herbs. Joel has warned me there is some kind of sacrifice involved, and I might lose any food I have in my backpack. I don't know if herbs might count as food or not, but I'm thinking it might be wise to stop at a bank and drop off my herbs, first. Joel suggests if I am stopping by the bank, to get some robes to use as the sacrifice instead. I don't get what he means immediately, but eventually I think the idea is cheap, disposable robes, so I don't lose anything of real value.

I think we're walking through Al Kharid, which seems to look just like Fiesta Village at Knott's. We're approaching the garage that the small Model T ride runs out of, which seems to be right behind the palace. There, Joel has a short fight (perhaps 20 seconds) with a small, chipped blade which is floating in the air. Beating it should be easy, even for me. He is gathering up some kind of small grubs or something, and storing them.

He explains this is only the first part of things, and leads me past some buildings and things until we come to a small cabin down a long road on the side of a cliff, where there is a witchdoctor waiting. He tells me this is where the second part takes place, and gives me a small carafe filled with powdered Tang. When I do this myself, I will mix the Tang with water to make a drink for the ceremony. But he tells me any kind of drink should work.

He briefly turns into Greg Jones, then disappears. I am now wandering around Disneyland/Runescape in an area that reminds me of the Big Thunder Trail between Frontierland and Fantasyland, and I spot Dale in line for a ride. I head further down the road, passing first a large wood chipper, then two or three inflatables that look like carnival rides. There is a ride that seems to be kind of a cross between a mine train and a Norwegian Viking ride, and Dale comments it is one of his favorites.

I make my way back to the hut, and now there is a guy there who seems to be dressed like one of the rangers at the Karambe Wildlife reserve in the Animal Kingdom. I think he is there collecting real blood samples or something, but it turns out he is part of the freebie. I admit this is my first time of doing the freebie, and I don't really know what I am doing yet. He doesn't get my Tang powder, and to my horror he throws it out, but just replaces it with powdered lemonade and adds water, so it's still ok.

While he is standing there, an evil witch appears behind him and beheads him with a huge lumberjack saw. I grab my weapon, and strike the saw, and manage to break it. The witch is about to attack me, but there are animals here that are defending me. I think there is a large tiger, and something huge (elephant, rhino?) is actually tearing it's way through the roof and pulling itself inside to help protect me. Unfortunately since we're in this tiny, frail cabin on a cliff, I'm afraid the beast is going to cause the whole thing to fall off the cliff.

07-15-2012 -- I'm in my original bedroom in the Hickory House, which is a Hogwarts dorm room. I'm surrounded by piles and piles of trash and I'm shoving them around with a bunch of dorm mates making a half-hearted attempt to clean the place up. We're actually a lot more interested in learning a secret Ravenclaw spell that helps them keep the Slytherins at least slightly under control.

We Gryffindors learn it and abuse it for revenge, which leads to all-out warfare at the school. Thankfully the year is almost over, and we're leaving on the Express, but it is not a comfortable journey. There's a lot of magic being thrown around on the train ride, and it is starting to reach dangerous levels. I'm about to get between cars and try to release some of the magic so it can drain off into the countryside, but they've sealed the passages between cars.

At this point things have kind of shifted, and I'm halfway watching Harry, and halfway being Harry. There is a strange multi-timeline story going on, where there is a girl stuck in an inaccessible part of the castle, back in the founders' time. She's trapped in an area that is flooding, and is going to drown, and nobody can do anything about it.

Harry, in the present time, is working on some sort of project involving the Mirror of Ravenclaw, a long-lost artifact from the Founders' Era. Dumbles is trying to help, but really doesn't know what's going on. Harry has managed to recreate the mirror, and is sending it back in time along with a powerful cloak. The two items together can help save the girl.

Rowena Ravenclaw receives the cloak and the mirror, and manages to save the girl, then reveals that she never had any special mirror, and the rumored artifact that Harry 'recreated' was actually the mirror itself, which he sent through time. He was responsible for what he was trying to copy. The drowning girl was saved, somehow in the Smith's Food King parking lot. She half-turns into a guy, then turns back into a girl.

By this point, we are walking through the Disneyland parking lot, instead. Some of the girl's friends are telling her that they will meet her at the end of the night, in the employee parking lot near Harbor House. Problem is, they don't actually work there. I can understand their interest, but am explaining it is better to get a spot in Bambi than in Alice, anyway.

We're getting nearer the main entrance, and suddenly my sister Melody is there, and is two clues away from finishing a Penny Press crossword puzzle. She's going nuts about these last two clues, reading them out to see if anybody else knows them, and drawing thick lines in a grease pencil to make it easy to tell at a glance what the two clues still left to solve are.

We are now at the ticket gates, and I am now with my friend Dale as well as the girl rescued in time. Dale goes through the gate with a normal annual pass. I have one as well, luckily, but it is a key chain version, and is falling apart, like the old key chain I had for L.A. Fitness. They just barely get enough of a response from it and let me in.

It is raining heavily, and as we pass under the train station and reach Main Street, there is a really lousy parade going by. It's one of the really minimal parades like 30 Years of Magic, just something to pass time until they unveil the next major parade. I just try and ignore the whole thing. Dale has walked into the fire station for some reason, and I find myself walking down Main Street singing the Tap Shoes / Harvest Moon medley from Showbiz Is ..., and tap dancing my way down the street. I think I am dancing really badly, but for somebody who doesn't know what they are doing, it is actually pretty good.

I cover the entirety of Main Street in about five seconds, and suddenly find myself at Coke Corner, looking for the piano player. It is still pouring rain, so the piano is inside the restaurant. As I walk in, I find Johnny Lee there, talking to a guest. The guest keeps talking about the last piano player he saw there, who was a bit friendly, a bit crazy, and played very, very fast, and Johnny admitted it sounded like Rod.

The guy was asking Johnny to play a song, and Johnny indicated he wanted to, but unfortunately he had managed to break both his legs, so couldn't make use of any of the pedals. Instead Johnny seemed to be getting ready to go to sleep, and was pulling himself onto the piano keyboard and pulling the keyboard guard thingy over himself almost like a sort of coffin, before he took a nap.