:: Just One Terror: Zavi ::

:: Saturday, September 22, 2001 ::

I am so sleepy.
It's 1:46pm, Saturday, September 22, 2001, and I'm home in KY. I stayed up till 7am and just got up. As I've already recounted part of my train trip to Jann and our brother Cedric, in IRC, this blog will be that log, editted for... coherency, I guess.
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*** Astron has joined #AntCult
Astron: 'Lo.
MistaCat: Hallo. I love the train.
MistaCat: I love the train so much. I want to live on the train.
* Astron comes back. "You cannot live on a train. It'd be odd and you'd be hard to find."
* MistaCat grins. I cannot live on the train because it'd be expensive and I don't want to *work* on a train. I met a filmmaker!!!
MistaCat: And a photographer from Portland! And a shaman! And a drunk guy! And fireguys! And a cop from Grand Rapids!
MistaCat: And Bill-the-cafe-guy who was so funny.
MistaCat: And the dragonlady, who ran the dining car.
Astron: The train was a madhouse, neh? :p
MistaCat: And I met the future President of the United States, currently 18months old. Alec Kinney.
Astron: No...no, I don't see an Alec as being president.
MistaCat: The train was wonderful!
MistaCat: It's not the Alec so much as the Kinney.
MistaCat: President Kinney just sounds right.
Astron: Even so. The Alec would have to be involved.
MistaCat: Or Kinny, mebbe. I didn't ask, and his mother didn't put her lastname on the survey.
Astron: Survey?
* MistaCat laughs.
MistaCat: Yeah, our Attack on America survey that we did on the 11th... I took all the extras with me.
MistaCat: Chris has the most amazing 120 SLR camera. I want one. It makes this huge clunking sound. She said it scares little kids.
Astron: A camera that scares little kids? What breed of whiney little kids are these?
MistaCat: Ohh, and I met Juda. Juda lives in Sandpoint, Idaho, and agrees with me that Idaho does not exist.
MistaCat: I don't know what breed of little kids. One that get scared by clunking sounds, I guess.
Astron: Juda? You trust a Juda?
Astron: Juda's'll lie sure as the sky is long.
MistaCat: No no. Juda rocks.
*** migs_ has joined #AntCult
migs_: hello
MistaCat: Hallo, migs_.
Astron: Why, hullo there.
migs_: how are u?
Astron: Giddy.
MistaCat: I'm in love, migs_. It's name is the Empire Builder.
*** Shalarn has joined #AntCult
* Shalarn waaaves.
* MistaCat bounces around Jann.
*** migs_ has left #AntCult
MistaCat: Well... bye, boring drifter.
MistaCat: Okay. I met a filmmaker. Robert Pascale.
MistaCat: He's from NYC.
Astron: It wasn't a very good drifter...it should practice more.
MistaCat: A photographer, Chris. She's from Portland.
Astron: Hullo Sharl.
*** Shalarn Quit (Read error: Connection reset by peer)
MistaCat: Her computer's not letting her restore a minimized IRC window, just letting her use AIM... she's restarting.
Astron: Bah...set it afire, I say.
*** Shalarn has joined #AntCult
Shalarn: Computers are evil things.
* Astron whispers. "Set 'er on fire, Sharl. Just let it burn. It's for the best."
MistaCat: Returning now to my trip report, which perhaps I'll just post to the blog as a log... umm.
Shalarn: But, but it was very expensive.
MistaCat: Robert Pascale - Filmmaker from NYC - going from LA to NYC
Astron: That's ok. It'll be a 'spensive fire.
MistaCat: Chris - Photographer from Portland - going from Portland to NYC
MistaCat: Tom Owen - the drunk guy
Shalarn: Oh, did everyone go to sleep at night? Or were people still awake and available to talk to?
MistaCat: Some people slept... after we picked up the smoking car, in Spokane, there were usually people still awake, and hanging out in there.
Shalarn: Ooh, picking up a car. Ooh. Trains are so cool :)
MistaCat: We picked up several cars, "the other half of our train", in the words of one of the conducters:)
MistaCat: Unforunately, along with the smoking and the dining cars, we also picked up the dragon lady...
Shalarn: Umm . . . not the cool dragon lady?
MistaCat: Ohh, yeah, the model dragon lady! She's cool.
But no, this was a bad dragonlady;)
MistaCat: Dragon lady - the conducter of the dining and smoking car
Astron: Are dragon ladies commonly nice? I've not met any...
Shalarn: There's a model called the dragon lady . . . I think . . .
MistaCat: Ralph - the conducter of my car, and perhaps other cars
MistaCat: Bill - the guy who runs the cafe car
MistaCat: Alec Kinney - the future President of the United States
* Astron shakes his head. "No. His name's Alec. He can't be president with a name like Alec."
MistaCat: Gini - Alec's mother
Astron: And with a mother by the name of Gini...no, I just don't see it.
MistaCat: Frank - the extremely fat guy, one of the smoking car group
MistaCat: WhiteApache - the shaman/aromatherapy guy, half Apache and very cool
MistaCat: WhiteApache was also commonly found in the smoking car.
MistaCat: The smoking car was evil, it was all plastic. And the dragon lady didn't allow anyone to have any kind of drink in there, even water.
Astron: Maybe she'as afraid anyone with liquid could be an anti-smoking extremist aiming to drown people's smokes.
MistaCat: The fireguys - two firemen on their way to NYC because their taskforce had been called out to help
MistaCat: The cop from Grand Rapids - asked me if I was a cop
MistaCat: K. Venkatesan - the India Indian guy that Chris talked to a lot
MistaCat: Did I list Bill the cafe guy?
* Shalarn nods.
Shalarn: Coool . . why'd he ask if you were a cop?
* Astron comes back. "Someone mistook you for a cop? You? ;p"
* MistaCat comes back and grins. I was wearing my Baltimore Police Homicide Unit shirt. I was asked more than once if I was a cop.
MistaCat: I think the Grand Rapids' cop's words were, "What department are you with?"
MistaCat: One of the fireguys said, "She's a homicide cop!"
MistaCat: And "She's a police." But they knew better.
MistaCat: Let's see. Bill the cafe guy.
MistaCat: Juda - from Sandpoint, Idaho :p
MistaCat: He *agreed* with me, though. And he *lives* there.
Astron: I don't care. That doesn't make him an expert.
* Shalarn grins.
MistaCat: The pathologist's wife - well, she's a pathologist's wife. She was across the aisle from me.
MistaCat: I have the first day all typed up, but it's trapped on my laptop:( So I'll have to recreate it as best I can...
Shalarn: Eeek :(
Shalarn: Did you contact juggle for people?
MistaCat: I did I did:)
MistaCat: My contact juggling was quite popular with the people of the smoking car.
* MistaCat tries to remember if there are any other people to introduce, before she starts telling stories.
MistaCat: Juda and I watched Chocolat. We sat on the floor in the lounge car, cos the seats were taken, and Bill (the lounge is right above the cafe, in the same car, so it was Bill's) reminded us that he has seats. It was funny.
MistaCat: Then we hung out in the Spokane station. Watched them add the extra cars.
MistaCat: Got to see the inside of the smoking car, at that time. I declared it evil, because it was all plastic and clinical looking. And had tinfoil ashtrays.
MistaCat: And I caught sight of the dragon lady. She had fakely red hair, but the air about her that if you asked, she'd say it was natural.
MistaCat: Juda and I got back on the train, he sat next to me even though his seat was in another car. We talked a while, quietly because people around us were sleeping.
Shalarn: Juda is a waycool name.
* MistaCat nods. Juda is a cool name:)
MistaCat: Theeen. *Then.* The guy a seat head and across the aisle from us started having a seizure.
Shalarn: Eeek!
MistaCat: We watched, shocked, for a second. Then Juda and the pathologist's wife ran off to find help. I sat there and watched. To make sure he kept breathing. Didn't know what I'd do if he stopped, but, eh...
MistaCat: The pathologist's wife got back, without anyone. I went off to look. I got back, and Juda had come back with the dragon lady.
MistaCat: We re-enacted the seizure for the dragon lady. The guy, Nathan, had woken up by then. He didn't understand who we were talking about, even after we said, "You!" several times.
MistaCat: We *finally* got the dragonlady to go find the conducter of our car. We re-enacted the seizure for *him.* It took us forever to get *him* to call for help.
MistaCat: Once the paramedics got there, we had to re-enact everything for *them.* Then we all, the paramedics, Juda, the dragon lady, the other conducter, the pathologist's wife, and me, we all had to then convince Nathan to forget about how to get to Chicago, go to the hospital.
MistaCat: He said he had no history of seizure.
MistaCat: He was taking Neurotonin. I have to find out what that is.
MistaCat: The train was delayed a bit longer after he left. Juda and I talked about how we'd just participated in saving someone's life, but we'd never know if he actually did survive.
Shalarn: Hmm . . .
MistaCat: Then the train went on for a few minutes. Then it stopped for a few minutes. Then it *backed up* all the way back to the Spokane station and just sat there a while.
Shalarn: Weird . . .
MistaCat: They never explained that...
MistaCat: Then it went on, to Sandpoint, where Juda got off. I think I may have slept a little while after that, then stayed up till dawn, so I could see Montana. It had *snow.*
MistaCat: And mountains. *Huge* mountains.
Shalarn: Whoah . . .
MistaCat: Then I went to sleep... when I woke up, we were still in Montana, but it was totally flat.
MistaCat: I love the train. I love it so very much.
Shalarn: Trains are terrific.
Shalarn: I wanna go onna train.
MistaCat: We must go by train next year:)
MistaCat: I guess I must've met Gini and Robert around that time...
Shalarn: 'Kaaay :) Only . . . eee . . . time, and money. But yeah.
MistaCat: Robert is the blonde guy with the camera, cara. From the PDX station.
MistaCat: That camera is *so* amazing...
MistaCat: He had a laptop with him, too. A G4, I think. Made of titanium.
* Astron comes back and looks way up. "My mom takes Neurotonin. For note."
Shalarn: Ohhh, my dad thought he might be the producer guy . . . Lyn called my mom and told her about the producer, and my dad wondered if it was that guy.
* MistaCat blinks slowly at a site. This says Neurotonin is being used as an antiseizure medication.
MistaCat: What's she take it for?
Astron: It's an anti-epileptic drug. Primarily. Although she takes it for pain.
MistaCat: Well... well that's weird.
MistaCat: Cos the guy said he had no history of seizures. But that he hadn't been taken the Neurotonin when he was supposed to.
Astron: It tends to help with...neuro...neuropathic, I think. Neuropathic pain. Nerve damage and similar things.
MistaCat: I sat with Robert and Gini for a long time. Then Chris joined us. Chris is so very cool.
Astron: They make it pretty clear that it's an anti-epileptic, though.
MistaCat: I think he'd mostly doing stock film for Getty, now.
MistaCat: Bill. Was so very funny. He made really funny announcements. "This is Bill from the cafe, located to the centre of the train, in the car. I am delighted beyond my wildest dreams to announce that we are now selling the Empire Builder chilled roast chicken dinner."
MistaCat: Er, "center of the train, in the lounge car"...
Shalarn: BRB . . . contacts must go out . . .
MistaCat: Contacts are icky. I was thinking about how it might be kinda difficult to deal with contacts, on the train... I guess not really, though. Just take'em out when you're ready to sleep... unless you can't see enough to walk up stairs and get back
to your seat...
MistaCat: We all had two seats to ourselves. It was great.
MistaCat: Except for the metal bars between the two seats:p Robert was lucky, the metal bar on his seats wasn't raised.
MistaCat: I have to remember to take a pillow (I stole the pillow from the train;), a blanket, socks, and shoes that I can wear constantly, next time...
MistaCat: At St Paul and... someplace else, they announced that they were going to be picking up a lot of people. So we spread our bags out over our seats, and left the train;)
MistaCat: And no one stole our extra seats.
MistaCat: Chris and Robert and I talked all day... it was great.
MistaCat: And. *And.* There were *Amish* people on the train.
MistaCat: Hey... wake up...
MistaCat: I'm sleeepy. I should continue this tomorrow.
MistaCat: But I must remember Bill's Amish story. Everything WhiteApache told me.
MistaCat: And I must talk about Ralph trying to put me off at every stop. And my discussion with Tom.
* Shalarn grins at spreading out one's things so people won't take the extra seats.
Shalarn: I'd have thought it'd be really crowded . . .
MistaCat: It's so amazing. It's like you've got an instant family.
MistaCat: I thought it would be, too... but it wasn't...
MistaCat: Oh, and I have to talk about the fireguys. And the Grand Rapids cop.
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More later... I'm burnt out.
:: Coco Lennon 5:48 PM [+] ::
...

It's time to leave. I guess we're going to Burnside for a while, then on to the train station--two days on a train. It's going to be odd.

I hope I'll be able to properly soak my ear in saltwater...

I just learned that Jann's cat Koko is a Three Muskateer. He's Three in One. Hehehe.

Jann says she might post while I'm on the train--that'll be very cool to read when I get home...

So... we're off...
:: Coco Lennon 4:37 PM [+] ::
...

The forensics test says I got 17 out of 38 correct, which is strange because there are 59 questions. It says my average is 45%.
:: Coco Lennon 8:20 AM [+] ::
...

Jann and her mother went to work. I packed. And watched LEXX movies. And talked to people online, and stalled. And talked to my parents on the phone; my dad asked if there is work out here, and my mom said I can't have my dog. Ha;p

My duffle bag is giantly large, and very heavy. I hope the train people don't reject it.

We went out to dinner for yummy food at the Oregon City Mc-place-I-can't-spell, and I gave the waiter guy my redwhiteandblue ribbon I was wearing, because he had an Air Force shirt but no flag-related thing. He was happy at that.

We played the Object Game, discussed Jerry Hall, unicorns, dragons, theories, Art Bell, and, um, we must have discussed other things. Jann and I ate cheesecake weirdly. Again.

Everyone should go here and audition for things.

My left wrist hurts. Quite a bit.

I want a Popple. I must find one, somewhere.

I'm not doing so well on this forensics test.

One would think I'd have more to say... but I don't. I'll have to make a lot of notes while on the train, and publish anything here. It'll be quite interesting, I hope.

The AAPA site isn't very helpful; it talks about PA training but doesn't specify what "on the job" training is like, and if you *have* to have proper training first. Eh.

Weather.com says... well, nothing very useful, for Chicago on Friday. Except that it's supposed to rain the day before and the day after. Grr.
3:24am
:: Coco Lennon 6:31 AM [+] ::
...

I've got a random mug from the cabinet sitting beside me, with sea-salt water cooling in it. It says, in elaborate gold letters, "By Appointment to His Majesty The King of Sweden", and has a crest on it. Very cool.
:: Coco Lennon 4:29 AM [+] ::
...

I slept late, which was cool. We watched a thing on tv about Elvis... it seemed so absurd, in between terrorism-related news broadcasts, they were showing a biography sort of thing about Elvis.

We spent the evening at Jann's grandparents' house; that was very cool. We ate ELK, of all things. Elk burgers. It was quite yummy. And corn on the cob, very very good corn on the cob. And strawberry shortcake, mmmmmm. Jann's grandfather taught us how to play pool, I got a minor lesson in chess, and we played MTG. Jann's uncle, who I wasn't going to get to see because he was out to sea or something and I was leaving last Wednesday, showed up, and had forgotten my name. He and Jann did a funny KidsintheHall thing that they do. We saw funny videos Jann's grandmother took in Sweden, and one she took on in the restroom mirror on the plane home; that one is absolutely hilarious. "The food is icky, I'm bored..."

My ear feels cool.

And now we're home, and my left wrist hurts, and the tv isn't showing Springer even though the official site says it should be. Pout.

I have to pack tomorrow. Well, today... as this is 12:49am, Monday, Sept 17. Ignore the blog's timestamp, it's still on KY time...
:: Coco Lennon 3:56 AM [+] ::
...

We sat around. I read Alien Nation #1 and giggled at its presentation of Bryon Grazer. We watched a basketball movie... I ate too much. I added a tracker to my Springer blog, and people are already getting to it from weird search strings. I took photos of the cats, and Truffles-the-bunny, and Jann's parents' cars, cos there are interesting things taped in the back windows now. My ear feels like it's already healing, which rocks. My head kinda hurts. This is incredibly short.
:: Coco Lennon 3:44 AM [+] ::
...