Transcriber’s note: Paul comes across as a little whiney at times midweek. He’s not used to severe pain on a regular basis. Forgive him.
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Monday the 11th of November 2002 CE @ 22:38 hours PST.
Currently Playing: The Lion King Original Broadway Cast Recording
Track: "Rafiki Mourns"
Last night/this morning I kept my entry short due to my lack of time. I’ll now try to catch up for the weekend. If I don’t finish tonight, it will be because either my lack of sleep (once again) or the severe headache I developed today. My parents offered me some whiteflower for what they assume is a sinus headache due to my running nose. I guess they don’t recall the fact that my nose runs every year when the temperatures drop. My sense of smell also gets better during this season. Most people’s bodies do something when the climate changes, they just don’t pay attention from year to year. Besides, I’d rather make my body do its own work unless absolutely necessary. If you always have your body assisted by outside agents, it gets used to that and needs outside agents more often. That’s a bad vicious cycle that I have no intention of joining. That’s why I didn’t buy any aspirin at the Emporium today when I bought more facial tissue. If I was still able to close the park and start this journal entry, then obviously the pain is not severe enough to require outside help.
Thursday night I found myself in another delightful conversation with Jessica. That woman so reminds me of my younger self that sometimes I feel that in some ways she is similar to a younger sister I always had but of which I never knew until now. However, because I was irresponsible enough to type with her until after 2am on a work night, I was overly tired the next day. Lori even asked me what was the matter with me at the game Friday night. Between the running nose and the severely tired look I guess I looked pretty bad.
Speaking of Friday night, I was late getting off of work. So Jackson rushed home figuring everyone would be waiting for him by the time we arrived. Nevertheless, we arrived only to find no one. Mike ended up having several voice mails from Rusty asking if there was going to be a game that night, and whether or not they should come over. In the first v-mail Rusty even said that he suspected that Mike was picking me up from work. Yet Rusty never called my cell to seek confirmation? And why should he need confirmation when last week we had confirmed already? They never need same day confirmation when Kitty is in town. I swear they can’t do anything on their own. Should Kitty ever fall off the face of the Earth they would all be lost souls. When I asked Rusty why he didn’t call me, he feigned not having my number. When I told him where to find it at their house (their address book in the kitchen!) He said he couldn’t use it (and he’s an engineer for Bull!). When I gave him my number right there, he claimed that he couldn’t put it into his cell. Useless. They’re all useless.
Speaking of useless, Monte showed up for the game (around the same time as everyone else, so he wasn’t late but normally would have been). He’s already quit the trucking industry with no other current job prospects. I really pray that God gives that boy a wake-up call. He actually had the audacity to ask me to buy him a Mickey Mouse shirt while I’m at Disneyland. This despite the fact that he’s one of my primary reasons I don’t have much spending money saved for this trip.
Our characters
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Tuesday the 12th of November 2002 CE @ 21:32 hours PST.
Currently Playing: The Sherman Brothers
Track: "The Age of Not Believing" – Angela Landsbury
Well, obviously I feel asleep. The same might happen tonight. Doors started slamming at 4am and every hour on the hour thereafter. To top it off, the hotel phone rang right after the 7am barrage. By the time I woke up enough to get out of bed and stumble across the room it stopped ringing. So of course, just after I crawled my way back into bed, someone knocked on my door. My parents wanted to know if I was up yet. They had gotten up at 4am, showered, and had breakfast already. Considering that it is the same schedule they use in MST, I could easily see how they’d have adjusted. However, I’m not used to being woken up several times before getting up at 7am MST. So obviously, I had a lot less sleep than I’m used to getting. I just don’t see how they can’t see that.
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Tuesday the 12th of November 2002 CE @ 23:24 hours PST.
Currently Playing: The Sherman Brothers
Track: "Feed the Birds (Tuppence a Bag)" – Julie Andrews
Well, I was sleeping until someone slammed a door. Perhaps someone had a late night at Downtown Disney? Who knows? I’m not sure how much longer I’ll be awake so I’ll try to rush through everything.
I’ve been cranky today because I’m tired (see last entry), in pain in my left nasal cavity (see entry from a few days ago), and in pain from my upper left wisdom tooth (which has been bothering me for weeks, but is especially bad right now).
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Wednesday the 13th of November 2002 CE @ 8:16 hours PST.
Currently Playing: The Sherman Brothers
Track: "On the Front Porch" – Burl Ives
Morning. OK, I got up a little earlier today than I expected. My wake-up call service called after I got out of the shower. Still, at least it was of my own volition today. I’ve a little bit of time before heading to DCA this morning, so here we go.
Friday, our characters travelled to Citadel Felbar, this time by warhorse rather than pegasus. On the way snowcloaker abominations attacked the party. Weird little buggers who could fire magic missiles as a spell-like ability. This upcoming Friday we’re supposed to meet with the dwarven king of this citadel in order to create some sort of treaty between them and the barbarians in Silverymoon Pass. Of course I’ll either be here or Tucson rather than at the game. They weren’t supposed to be playing this week, as they were supposed to be at TusCon, but we all know they can’t do anything without Kitty. How could they ever make it to Tucson all by themselves? The likelihood that Squigbarm will be involved with this important meeting is rather slim right now.
Saturday Travis decided to run his Earthdawn campaign. He hasn’t run that since he was a teenager. I wish he’d have given me a chance to bring my old character as well as my spare mainbooks. I always enjoyed Earthdawn. It was a great fantasy RPG, better in most aspects to AD&D. Tom and I had to make new characters because Travis did not give us advanced notice to bring our characters. Lori had to make a new character because she hadn’t played in Trav’s campaign before. I made Nois the Journeyman. The journeyman discipline is human specific, utilizing their special racial talent of versatility. If I have the time and inclination, I’ll explain more at some future point.
Lori, Tom, and I brought our new characters in while the party was looking to add to their partial decimated crew. We joined and returned with them to their ship which needed repairs. My journeyman’s craft skill was in sail making, so he was busy repairing the sails while Rusty’s dwarf was using his shipwright craft skill. The rest of the characters joined guard duty except Lori’s troubadour who chose to act as wandering morale booster through the ranks. Treelike beings of immense size and speed eventually attacked us. They’d been losing the crew to these things each time until this one when our group was able to aid them in repelling the creature.
Sunday Mom and I hiked Phoenix Mountain Preserve trail #100 between 7th Street and Cave Creek Road. She did much, much better than when we first took that stretch. I suspect that she’ll be more than prepared for all the walking at Disneyland. I just worry about my step-dad. He really needs to have reconstructive surgery on his knee.
After mass, our parish had its first St. Paul’s Café. On the menu was lasagna, garlic bread, lemonade, tossed green salad with Italian dressing, and a bullet-style popsicle. It was a good community-building gathering with good food. I look forward to next week’s meal which is supposed to have meatloaf, mashed potatoes, green beans, cake, and lemonade.
I’ve got to go now. I’ll catch you up on Monday-on tonight.
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Wednesday the 13th of November 2002 CE @ 20:48 hours PST.
Currently Playing: The Sherman Brothers
Track: "There’s a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow"
That stupid wisdom tooth keeps feeling worse. I’m going to have to make an appointment when I’m back in town. The pain just gets worse throughout the day until it shoots all the way from the tooth, to right behind the left nasal cavity and left tear duct, all the way to the front lobe of the brain behind my forehead. I’m in such pain that all I want to do is keep ice on my head and drift to sleep. As it is, it’s taken me a half hour just to write this. I’ll try again in the morning.
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Thursday the 14th of November 2002 CE @ 4:31 hours PST.
Currently Playing: The Sherman Brothers
Track: "Ten Feet Off the Ground"
OK, for some reason I awoke an hour ago and no longer feel tired. That’s only seven and a half hours of sleep as far as I can figure, but I guess it was close enough for my body. I ended up spilling Pepsi Blue on my bed sheets and floor while I slept sometime, and when I awoke the whole room smelled of artificial berries. At least it doesn’t seem to be staining anything.
On Monday morning I tried cleaning out e-mail boxes, doing laundry, packing my bags, and watching SG-1 between when I got home from St. Paul’s Café Sunday night and when it was time to shower, pack the car, and go. We left on time, so I tried sleeping on the way. I was successful until Banning, CA. After that there was too much sunlight and too much noise in the car.
We arrived before hotel check-in, but they allowed us to check-in early anyway. I got room 418 while they got room 416 (two doors down).
We then proceeded to Disneyland park where we did Main Street USA, Adventureland, New Orleans Square, and Critter Country before they took an afternoon nap back at the hotel. I took advantage of that to ride Splash Mountain once more. Our materials had warned us that Splash Mountain would be closing the next day for remodelling over the next several weeks. However, when that was mentioned to a cast member, she said that the resort still had scheduled people to work the ride tomorrow. After that I met my parents in Sunshine Plaza in DCA for Disney’s Electrical Parade. Our same paperwork which had warned us of various ride closures also warned us that the parade would only run Monday and Friday this week, so this would be our only chance to see it. After that DCA closed, and we went back to Disneyland Park for a nighttime Jungle Cruise.
One thing I found while riding on Monday was this annoying desire to cuddle with someone on the rides. Many of the rides are two-per bench. This meant I was odd-man-out of the three of us. Luckily, this affliction faded away between Monday and Tuesday.
The Haunted Mansion has been completely redone for the holiday season. The Pumpkin King has brought his own version of Christmas to the mansion. The ride is almost completely different from the regular version. I really loved the ride. It has good visuals, good music (Yay for Danny Elfman! Woohoo!), good poetry, and a good storyline. Jack has even taken over Le Bat on Rouge (the Villains Store) and the French Market (restaurant), both of which are also in New Orleans Square. The French Market has a gingerbread house replica of the mansion which looks way cool.
I did see an It’s a Small World postcard which was oddly-shaped and really cool looking which reminded me of Linda’s odd request. However, I didn’t know her mailing address so it’s her loss. 
Tuesday we did Tomorrowland, Fantasyland, Critter Country, Adventureland, and Main Street USA in Disneyland park before doing Hollywood Backlot and Paradise Pier in DCA. We discovered that Star Tours and The Walt Disney Story featuring Great Moments with Abraham Lincoln were closed for the next few days, while Jungle Cruise was closed for the next few weeks. None of these closures were mentioned in our materials, and sure enough Splash Mountain was open. However, the rest of the mentioned closures were right. The Matterhorn was totally torn open in several places and obviously undergoing a major rehaul. The Sleeping Beauty walk through tour in the Sleeping Beauty Castle was totally closed. All that was left of the King Arthur Carousel was a frame, and a new frame compared to how I last remember it. So they must be building it from scratch again.
My stepfather really got into collecting pressed coins on Tuesday. He had started on Monday, but today was when he really started hunting the machines down and started buying collector’s books to display them in. He really seems to be enjoying that.
Tuesday night they left early to have dinner in Downtown Disney before the last shuttle bus left. That gave me time to hit stuff that they weren’t interested in and use single rider lines for attractions with long waits.
Wednesday we did Condor Flats, Bear Creek Recreation Area, Paradise Pier, and A Bug’s Land in DCA. Then they went to Downtown Disney to use their 10% off Disney Store purchases at The World of Disney. That gave me time to do the Disney Animation building at Hollywood Backlot before meeting up with them outside Pirates of the Caribbean. I knew when I went with them to the animation building they wouldn’t want to spend as much time as I would, so this way I could go as fast as they needed. In New Orleans Square I had to greet them with bad news about restaurant closing times for Tuesday through Thursday, so we ate at the French Market rather than The Blue Bayou or Rancho del Zocalo as planned. So we did New Orleans Square and Fantasyland before close. Being in line at It’s a Small World Holiday! when fireworks are going off almost directly overhead is murder on the ears. I don’t know how so many people could willingly be there and not want to protect their ears in someway. This little girl who was maybe six or seven and I seemed to be the only ones whose ears were hurting. At least I did not hear the noise inside the attraction. It’s a Small World Holiday! is the holiday version of It’s a Small World where all the characters sing Christmas Carols with the occasional It’s a Small World refrain mixed in. When we left the attraction we were in time for the "snow" which falls after the fireworks and before the park closes.
Which leads me to today. My tooth hurts even more today. I really need to do something about it.
Last night I had this weird dream where I was trying to solve a mystery, gaining and losing sidekicks as I needed their specialties. At one point I ran into Jessica as she was making a poster board-mache mosaic that was going to fill the walls of an entire house. She really seemed to being enjoying the project, and I got the impression that it was either a commissioned piece or a personal project which had already been receiving offers. After some small talk on her project, I had to get back to my mystery and wished her well. I’m used to mystery solving dreams, I’m used to dreams in my Dreamworld, I’m used to interludes or complete plot twists, but I’m not used to other invading my dreamworld. Few real world people ever set a foot there other than me. I’m not sure what it means. Maybe it just has to do with the reworked Haunted Mansion and I associated her with Tim Burton and Danny Elfman. Maybe I associate her as belonging more to the world of dreams than to reality. I don’t know. Still, it’s been years since Nich visited for his short guest starring role in Dreamworld. And it’s been even more years before that when my parents first abandoned me there in the first place.
I don’t remember how much of Dreamworld I’ve explained to this journal already, but I don’t feel like a long-winded explanation right now. Suffice it to say that it is a place in my dreams which I have slowly mapped out. It has themed lands, like certain amusement parks. It is the first place I learned to be lucid in dreams. It used to be a place solely for nightmares, but since mapping it out and claiming control over myself and my dreams I rarely have problems there anymore. Of course, it’s not a place I visit every night, just some nights.
Well, I’m going to go get ready for the day. Chao.
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Thursday the 14th of November 2002 CE @ 20:56 hours PST.
"Pain!" In my head I keep hearing Yoda’s SWII:AC quote about Anakin’s reaction to his mother’s death. This pain is getting worse every day. I just stuffed a folded facial tissue square in my mouth between the tooth and the cheek. This is only helping a little with the pain.
It doesn’t help that the parental units postponed our 6pm diner plans until 9-10pm. They decided to watch Great Moments with Abraham Lincoln instead of going to dinner at the park. The Disneyland Resort has "improved" the attraction with 3-D sound in the headset they give out, but it’s still the worst attraction in the park. Possibly it’s the worst attraction in the resort, but I haven’t actually tried the Jumpin’ Jellyfish in Paradise Pier yet. So I’ll wait until I’ve had the opportunity to try that attraction before confirming my speculation.
They ordered Chinese food to their room, so I can’t even take off my shoes and relax because I have to go back over there when their food arrives. I should have just let them do Lincoln while I ate dinner at the Plaza Inn, where we had originally planned to dine together.
Let’s see, for the non-whiney department Thursday saw Mom and I do Tomorrowland, Adventureland, New Orleans Square, and Condor Flats while my stepfather went to the Queen Mary and the neighbouring Russian submarine in Long Beach.
I’ll be back. They called to let me know dinner is here.
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Thursday the 14th of November 2002 CE @ 22:11 hours PST.
OK, dinner was good until the pain overrode my desire to eat. I was hoping to be in Phoenix tomorrow to make a dentist appointment, but Mom just informed me that she just charged a Friday night extension for both hotel rooms to her credit card. That’s what I get for making the arrangements with the travel company for all three of us. I guess our rooms are linked somehow so that she could do that. She says I can pay her later. So I guess I’ll see HP:CS at AMC Downtown Disney if the pain doesn’t drive me mad tomorrow.
Following my previous recap of events, Mom went to the three Disney hotels to get collectible pressed coins for her husband while I proceeded to do all the walk throughs and movies that they didn’t want to do at DCA. We met back up and did the remaining A Bug’s Land attractions. Yet before we could do Jumpin’ Jellyfish in Paradise Pier my stepfather called and met up with us to do Paradise Pier, Main Street USA, and Fantasyland. So unless Mom and I can figure out a way to do it tomorrow, we’ll never get the chance to try Jumpin’ Jellyfish.
Now I get to get up an hour earlier than the rest of the week while staying up later thanks to fast food delivery dinner. I’ll write to you either Friday or Saturday.
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Friday the 15th of November 2002 CE @ 23:36 hours PST.
It’s amazing what the body will do. Since I woke up this morning, I’m now unconsciously holding my lower jaw further left than my upper jaw so as to alleviate most of the pain. It only gets really bad when I eat, and that’s because my jaws have to realign to chew.
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Saturday the 16th of November 2002 CE @ 11:57 hours PST.
Currently Reading: Rich Dad, Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not
by Robert T. Kiyosaki with Sharon L. Lechter CPA
I fell asleep while journaling again. We’re just getting on the road. As I start this, we’re leaving the hotel parking lot and passing by the south side of DCA.
Friday morning I tried getting advanced tickets to HP:CS at AMC Downtown Disney, but the box office wasn’t open. The times for HP after Disneyland Park closed were 22:10 and 23:15. They had absolutely no midnight shows of any kind, even though the Downtown Disney doesn’t close until 2:00. That seemed really odd. Isn’t AMC in the business to make money? I didn’t even see any HP:CS movie posters outside. However, I did see posters for Treasure Planet, Santa Clause 2, LR:TT, I Spy, Jackass: The Movie, and a bunch of other forgettable, unappealing movies. On top of that, they didn’t have a box office opening time listed. So I entered Disneyland Park empty-handed.
We did Main Street USA, Tomorrowland, Adventureland, and Critter Country before my step-dad left to do some shopping without his wife. Mom and I did Frontierland before she left to take a nap. I shopped the various lands for the few Christmas presents I couldn’t really afford but would be expected to have purchased for family members who knew I went to Disneyland Resort. Then I met up with them in Fantasyland for Minnie’s Christmas Party before doing Toontown and Frontierland. Then they left for the night leaving me to do my favourite attractions one last time (or two) in Frontierland, New Orleans Square, Tomorrowland, Adventureland, New Orleans Square, and Main Street USA. I then tried AMC DD only to find HP:CS sold out and still no midnight show planned. They had SC2 in more theatres than HP:CS, even though all day throughout the park all I heard people talking about in the attraction lines and at the restaurants was HP. Guess which one of the two was sold out and which one wasn’t? Go figure. I was so displeased with how AMC handled the whole situation that I chose not to spend my money with them at all, even though I would have watched I Spy or SC2. So I walked back to the hotel and met a family who was also walking back to Stoval’s Inn. We chatted up our DCA experiences before heading towards our separate rooms. And that’s where I fell asleep composing my previous journal entry.
And we’re back to today as we pass through Riverside. Later. I’m hungry. It’s time to find something to eat in here.
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