Coughing, but got several goodies

What the, despite the vitamins, fruits and honey, I have a developed a cough. Sickly girl. Sickly girl, I am.

Maybe I'll try herbs next time. I sure am getting tired of this. Ever since I was a kid, I get a cold or a cough every month. Sucks!

Some goodies: Porky, my hedgehog is growing big. He's 400g now. Little fatty :3

I've also received my certificate for my modest success at the 2013 Basho Haiku Festival:

In terms of publishing, I have four, for which I'm thankful for the editors. Thank you for believing in my work.

Have one from Modern Haiku, for my poem "Today's Special." Haiku don't really have titles, but after writing more than a hundred, tracking them is driving me nuts. I first appeared in MH in their autumn 2013 issue. You can get a sampler of their excellent haiku here.

Also have one from Liquid Imagination. They invited me to record a reading as well, for my poem "Ace Hardware." Gonna have to oil my rusty reading skills! Ahem Ahem!

Third, Expanded Horizons will feature my poem "Molting Season" in January 2014 or February. Looking forward to that. Last time I appeared on their pages, I wrote fiction, which I'm pretty sparse in now.

Last but not the least, David Kopaska-Merkel, editor of Dreams & Nightmares wrote me this very kind acceptance letter:

Anne

"Three times she loved" is sweet and poignant: how I wish I thought it a speculative poem! Actually, I like all of these, but want to buy "The visitor" for DN 97 (January, 2014)... 

Best,
David

Thanks so much, everyone. I should recover from the curse of colds soon with all these good news.

The weird world of dreams

So I watched the Exorcism of Emily Rose a few nights back because I lost in a challenge, a challenge which was MY idea in the first place. The consequence my boyfriend >:< gave me was to watch a horror movie of the winner's choice. The thing about that movie is that it isn't really scary while watching it. I mean there was hardly any blood, gore and violence. But it was certainly eerie. The thought of unseen entities, demons in this case, latches on to one's imagination long after the movie is done.

I was so intrigued that I kept reading about the phenomena of possession. Causes are varied. Dabbling in the occult is pretty believable. But among the silliest I've read are playing Dungeons and Dragons and listening to rock music. O_O It still escapes me how people come up with these things. A cause incites a direct effect. Someone tell me how one's preference to certain music or games will cause them to be susceptible to the spirits? Well, maybe I'll understand if the music or songs are some outright worship of evil, but come on. A little skepticism would go a long way.

I couldn't sleep for a few days because I kept waking up in the middle of the night at around 2am. I'd panick because I didn't want to be awake by 3am or else I'd imagine all sorts of monsters lurking in the dark.

I expected to get nightmares. However, I got only a weird dream last night. I seemed to be in a mall. There were security guards rummaging through my stuff. I had no idea what they wanted from me. After a few moments, they pulled out a stick of Rexona.... O_O end of dream.

Because I found this dream so weird, I decided to look it up online. The official interpretation of the dream is:

Deodorant
If you dream of applying deodorant, this may signify that you are able to avoid or overcome obstacles due to your strong character.

Well well well... good things can come from weird boxes after all.

LOL

Odd Nightmare

Dreams can be really baffling. Sometimes, they show you normal aspects of everyday life, like say, work. You feel as if you've gone through a day at the office, only to wake up and find that the day is just beginning. You have to go through the whole 9-to-6 drill all over again.

Sometimes they're plain nonsense. Once, I dreamed I could fly if I shook this branch of a mango tree in my hands.

Last night, I had a nightmare. When I told my mom and friends about it, it seemed funny. But in the dream realm, it was awfully unpleasant. I was doing my groceries. I was filling up the basket with stuff. I didn't even seem to care what I was tossing in. A bunch of nameless, plastic-wrapped things. When I was about to pay at the counter, I found that the grocery basket was no longer in my hands. I scurried off, somehow knowing where to go. Met some friends (dunno why they were in my dream, but it seemed we all happened to be in the same store). They told me to go to the meat section to get my basket. Found it. Lost it again. Chased the guy who snatched it from me. Found it. Lost it again.

The cycle went on like this. It felt like hours. Until my mom woke me up. I'd forgotten to turn on the alarm. I posted this awful dream in my FB stat. One of my friends, Leslie, pointed out that the dream might be symbolic of something I'm searching for in my life, a something that keeps getting wrested from my hands.

And so...I've decided to look up a possible interpretation of my dream, because yes, I feel as if I don't know what I want these days. I told myself I'd like to simplify my life from now on, avoid the perfectionism that's been driving me to depression for so long. And yet, the simplicity that I seem to have achieved proves to taste paltry compared to the achievements I so long for.

Shopping Cart

To see or use a shopping cart in your dream, indicates that you are reaping the rewards and benefits of your hard work. Alternatively, to push a shopping cart in your dream, suggests that you need to search out more options for some aspect of your life. Remember that you have choices and you do not need to settle. If the shopping cart is empty, then it suggests that you are coming up empty in some endeavor or plan.

I like the part about searching out more options. Perhaps, it's time to move on...from many things. Among people I've been holding on to, perhaps it's time to stop clinging, find my center once more. Among the things I thought I'd be doing forever, perhaps it's time to look for a new hobby. Writing fiction has been pretty tiresome these days. Perhaps it's time to find something else I'm good at, for now.