Hannah's Random Thoughts #21: A List

A LIST

-a yellow hollow rectangular border
-a green mug with a chipped handle
-a perfect ratio of tea and sugar and milk
-a window looking out at fog and drizzle
-a grey blanket with a creamy fuzzy underside
-sparse
-ewe
-preface
-Neville
-Penelope
-cul-de-sac
-cerulean
-lemon-lime
-dogs
-horses
-monkeys
-whales
-gilded edges
-"Man, I'm probably really confusing people"
-abcDefgHijkLmNoPQRstUvWxYZ
-0256
-14
-3879

AN EXPLANATION:

-National Geographic. Obviously.
-The mug I drink tea out of every morning. I made it in 2008.
-My definition of a perfect cup of Earl Grey.
-Good Weather
-A blanket that's on my bed.
-I said this word incorrectly a few days ago. As if it was "spare", not "SpAHRse"
-This is just a weird word that actually is pronounced like the letter "U" and not like "Ewwww"
-well we all just read this word, we never really say it.
-I wasn't subjected to many obscure names before I read Harry Potter so I think it's okay I said his name like "Nee-ville". Don't laugh.
-I always say it like "Pen-eh-lope" not "Pen-eh-lo-pee"
-From about third grade to eight grade I could never remember this word for the life of me
-best most awesome color in the Crayola box.
-second best most awesome color in the Crayola box.
-Fun to look at in the World Book Encyclopedias
-Fun to look at in the World Book Encyclopedias
-Fun to look at in the World Book Encyclopedias
-Fun to look at in the World Book Encyclopedias
-Exterior of the World Book Encyclopedias
-My thoughts
-letters I think look better capitalized or not.
-Neutral numbers
-Numbers I don't like as much
-Numbers I associate with being good. (Yes, I categorize numbers... don't you?)

Hannah's Random Thoughts #20: Imaginary Games

Sally and Nally
Sarah and I have a long history of imaginary games. Our first one was probably "Sally and Nally". (We didn't want my name to be Hally, because that actually sounded like a name and so did Ally, and we then decided on the third and last letter of my name, so it had to be Nally. I don't know why it couldn't be a real name because Sally was... Oh well. Sometimes childhood logic doesn't always line up.)

Crystal and Violet
That game was a good one, and as we got older, we developed a new game, "Crystal and Violet". I was Crystal, and I had two horses: Brownie (a brown horse), and Sand (a horse that looks like Spirit from the best movie ever "Spirit: Stallion of the Cimmaron".) Sarah's, or Violet's, horses were Mountain and Pumpkin. Crystal and Violet was a longer lasting game, and thus a bit more three dimensional. There were more characters, like our friends Magenta, Mahogany, Mrs. Flower the teacher, Sammy, and Mean Sammy. Mean Sammy had a horse named Thunder that was all black with red eyes... Creepy. It was a bit like Gaston's horse in Beauty and the Beast. There was also one of our favorite "episodes" (as we called them) of Crystal and Violet, where one of us was Blackie the black lab, and something exciting happened. There was also another episode with Goldie or Sparkles, the Golden Retriever. I think her name changed.

Thorny Prickles
Thorny Prickles was a game that didn't last for quite so many years, but we enjoyed it all the same. Strawberry (me) and Grape (Sarah) went on adventures in the thorny patches of our front gardeny area. The storyline itself didn't go very far, but the name of the game was cute and somewhat Beatrix Potter-esque if you ask me.

Captain Wasabi
This was a "secret" game. The first times we played it we were outside our front door in the same-ish area as Thorny Prickles. We were Sarah and Hannah, on a boat with Captain Wasabi, who was usually played by Sarah but every now and then due to circumstance of the episode, I would portray his captain-ship. (Nice pun Hannah. Captain. Ship. You're so funny.) Captain Wasabi was the greatest captain, full of knowledge, technology (including little communicators that we used our Tomagotchis to stand in for them), and wisdom. He would commission us on special little quests and we would record things in a top secret log book. Sometimes we fished.
Captain Wasabi got his name from me and Sarah looking in the kitchen cabinet and seeing some wasabi snack and somehow that became his name. The first time our parents asked us about "Captain Wasabi", Sarah and I were devastated. How could they know about our secret missions? I guess our shouts calling for Captain Wasabi were indeed audible from inside the house.

The Ladies That Work There
This was actually the name of the game. Whenever our dad worked out in our living room Sarah and I would play TLTWT (sorry, it is too long of a name to write out over and over. I spend a lot of time on these blog posts... But to write all that out? Ain't nobody got time for that!) and we would write down what we was doing and how much and fetch him water and time his rests. This game soon developed into....

Exercise 
Once again when our dad would work out, we started a business doing everything that TLTWT did. Except we could charge... Like a nickel and pass out business cards. Our logo was the smiley face that automatically formed when you did :) on Microsoft Word. We must have just been introduced to it.

Happy Ville and Friendly Town
Sarah and I were very interested in the international relationship between Friendly Town (Sarah's place) and Happy Ville (mine. And the currency was Villes. Not bills. But Villes. Ah, so clever.) I am currently looking at the passports from Friendly Town and Happy Ville and our ID cards ( my ID#: 3808031922) and my Happy Ville Purse, filled with 6 Villes and another scrap of paper that says "Villians: 100". We traded items and set up our border by dividing the family room in half. We sold things like beads and rocks and string.

These of course are only some of the games we played together, not to mention others like Banker, Insurance, Artist's Challenge, Dress Up, Kitchen... Nor does this include the elaborate and long lasting games we developed with some of our friends. Those were good times. When I think of how much we loved playing those imaginary games, I think of (somewhat sadly) telling Sarah during an episode of Crystal and Violet:
"We'll play Crystal and Violet until we're 20, right?"
And being so sure of it. 

Hannah's Random Thoughts #19: Espionage

Sarah and I used to be quite the little spies when we were younger. We enjoyed it to its fullest, taking advantage of our tricky twinness (sort of stereotypical twin behavior... Mischievous yet playful... You know, Fred and George style) and useful smallness (to hide under the beds or in the shoe closet or behind the fake plant with the leaves that are fun to pull off. Heh heh heh) to furiously record conversations and then slip away to report back to headquarters with the observations.

I'll actually let you in on a little secret... In all honesty it has been revealed many a year ago, but not many know of this once-classified information. When Sarah and I wanted to spy after dinner we would say "Y-P-S" and then give a nod or something to show confirmation. This was a code, believe it or not, backwards for the word SPY, believe it or not. Our parents didn't catch on to it until one time our uncle came over and we divulged the meaning (the things you do for family...) of our little clever code.

Our natural gifts of swiftness, observation, and gumption came in handy whenever we ordered pizza. The pizza man, a creature morphing into a new form upon every ring of the doorbell, helped us tune our senses. Our ears sharpened, necessity often forcing us to make judgement calls based on voice alone! Our wits more acute when a stranger's presence showered us in jeopardy! Would the pizza man see us, hunkered down under the ferns, quietly reporting into the walkie-takie? Would we dare poke our heads above the foliage for a better glimpse of this stranger, soon to disappear from our lives forever?

Those were thrilling times, behind those ferns!

So, amidst old notepads warning the reader "DO NOT LOOK", "Looking is forbidden", and "I will roar if you read this" I find the reports of those brave souls on the field.

Spies
A1-Sarah A2- Hannah
.....
A2 is going out to the field. Superb opportunity for us to spy, but also for us to get caught. We are taking the necessary measures into consideration with every move we make.
.....
OBJECTIVE #1
Find out where people are. Go to street, yard, &/or lane to gather more info. 
A1, me, developed Objective 1 by the request of A2. Relaying info now. A2 has copied and will try to complete.
A2 returns to base.
A2 will go to b,room,
.....
end of mission
aborted mission

Know the lingo: 
PM- Pizza Man
S- Sarah
H- Hannah
BP- Backpack
M- Mama
restaurant- an area in our yard where we used to play like it was a restaurant

Pizza Man Spy Record {original spelling mistakes and scratch-outs included in report below. First paragraph is written by Sarah, the rest is by Hannah}

idea for PM: Becuase S is using a pen with bubbles, why not blow w bubbles?! H agrees. S will blow bubbles H is getting a pen so I can blow bubbles while she writes. Wind blows while H gone S is SCARED! It's been more than 30 sec. ons and H isn't HERE!!! How hard is it to find a pen? H is back. Leacage on BP!

Flimsy Bubbles. S says wimpy. Plan fails. S is sad. S puts BP in House. Airplane above. or is it something else? S is back. S is now recorder. Never mind! OK. :P I don't want to record. last PM was in a red truck. Maybe red truck or white. Probably. Found a snail shell. Empty? I think so. I hope. we hear noise from-- Whoa! H finds stick because S needs one. Heavy,must be heavy. goes over to restaurant. S uses stick to B ol hold ferns down so we can see. Slow car coming. This might be it. False Alarm. car goes up to neighbor's driveway. H and S must be quite for neighbor. IDEA! PM comes (he's Here) M says Yes, Blue-Black car. S growls a cougar growl!!

Yeah, we always tried to scare the pizza man... frankly I don't think Sarah's animal noises did the trick.
Anyway, spying was a blast.

Hannah's Random Thoughts #18: this was actually a random thought

So, I must confess, these "random thoughts" are not really super random. I usually think about something for a while and then when I have deemed it blog-worthy, I write a post. But this one really is a random thought.

Sarah's older than me.
But I am Sarah's oldest twin. I am also Sarah's youngest twin.
I am Sarah's only twin. I am also all of the twins that Sarah has.

A bit of a paradox if I do say so myself.

Hannah's Random Thoughts #17: The Past

Sometimes, when I read or watch something from another time period or a different place, I think about how awesome it would be to live in those times.

I read books or see scenes of farmlands and I think, gosh, seems so rewarding to be a farmer! Then I read a little bit more about the Dust Bowl and I feel the need to change my shirt of something because all I've been reading about is dust and dirt and grime and I suddenly feel like I'm just as covered in dust as the people in the story.

Then I watch good, lovely shows like Downton Abbey (Oh.... Downton Abbey....) and I think YES! I DO want to be in that time period! Such good clothes, so fashionable! What lovely accents and manners and ways of life! And, while the war certainly did change a lot of things around Downton, it still seems like such good place to live. It seems so fun. Wouldn't it be wonderful?

I wonder (and I'm sure it's true) that people, from whatever time period, feel like they'd rather be born in another time or place. I mean, think of how many people have thought about time travel. Not me. I don't want to time travel. Especially not in the future. But, yes, going to the past probably would be fun. I wouldn't really want to travel to the future. It would probably scare me. But the past! Now, that would be an adventure.

I bet probably lots of people for all sorts of time think they would rather live in the past.  But if you think about it, if we all lived in the past.... well I'm sure some time periods would be more populated than others. Like, not many people would want to go to the Middle Ages. At least I wouldn't, but maybe some Middle Ages historian can see past the bubonic plague. I think the Twenties would be fun (that's the Downton part of me talkin').

I guess nobody can go back into the past. But we can read books about it, or from it, or watch movies. Like it or not, I guess that's as close as we'll get. I sort of like it. All the comforts of home and still, able to sort of experience whole eras and places!

Hannah's Random Thoughts #16: In'erestin'

Sometimes I just think... Wow! Writers can create anything!

Othertimes I think.... Wow! I can think of anything!

Stillothertimes I think.... Wow! Why can't what I write capture everything I can think of!

Hannah's Random Thoughts #15: The Poem That Is Not A Poem

Isn't it funny
How this looks like a poem
But
It is not.
It is just normal
Writing
But I clicked
Enter
Every
Once in a while.

Because
If I write it like this:

Isn't it funny how this looks like a poem but it is not. It is is just normal writing but I clicked enter every once in a while.

Is doesn't look so poemy
Anymore.

What deep thoughts
I have
When I can't think
Of any
Random Thoughts.

That was
Sarcasm.

I'm so funny.
Oh dear,
I can't stop this
Poem thing.
It was supposed to
End
Three stanzas ago.

But it is kind of fun
To make you read this
Like a poem
Which I guess
It is
Now.

Hannah's Random Thoughts #14: Dreams

If you know me, you'd probably know that I love telling stories, and especially my dreams. I have a few (okay, many) old favorites that everyone's heard a million times and says the plot before I finish the beginning details.

(You: "Oh, yeah I know this one. The one about the bunny." Me: "Grwhasdf!LETMETELLIT")

Well, I also happen to sometimes write down my dreams. My family encourages it so that I don't ramble on for an hour about a little (very "important") detail and I can keep it nice and precise. So I will write out some personal favorites and maybe you'll scream or laugh or smile or cry at them like I do.

And I know this is like a super long post but hey. I find great joy in retelling my dreams.

THE OLDIE-BUT-GOODIES:
-Most of the dreams I retell fit under this net. But I was just looking through my old dream journal and I forgot some of these! But anyway... These are the tales. (Commentary in the [brackets])

The Macarena:
This was at my elementary school's "Luau" and we were dancing in the gym. Some lady that looked like Tonks from Harry Potter started doing the Macarena and Sarah saw her. Then Sarah started really jamin' and Sarah was twirling, skidding, Macaraning [what kinda word...], and she was the best dancer! Everyone applauded and she was star of the show!

The Blue Bunny:
This huge blue bunny hopped out of the black berries and I was scared. I told Sarah to get behind me and I was about to fly but I couldn't. [I had been able to earlier in the dream]. I couldn't yell either.  [So...frustrating.....] Then the blue bunny turned into a lady [she actually looked like Tonks too] and walked in the woods and said to follow her We did and she led us to a glacier and we had to slide down an ice slide and Sarah did it wrong and fell into shallow water and the lady asked if we were hungry and gave us crab. Then she showed us her world. It was all bright and cheery with toadstools for chairs. It was the best dream ever.

Voldemort and Sledding: [Not a dream I retell very often, but I just found it again in the journal and it's kind of funny... soo...]
Sarah and me were lying on the big chair [maybe in our living room] and Voldemort was planting flowers on the deck. [Yeah... about that...] Then we went to the Middle School Challenge Run but it was at Galbraith and you could use sleds. :) Eventually, I finished first on my sled and we changed to the Ski to Sea parade and all the graduates were there and we had to sign their feet. (Mama cleaned off someone's w/ a wipe) Then we went to the attic and a guy had to bring a motorcycle down. It was a great dream!

The Lady Who Stole Us: [If I've ever told you a dream, it was probably this one]
Sarah and I were at swimming lessons and we had just finished and so we got out of the pool and were about to go up to our parents but all of a sudden this lady -a dark brunette with a short bob with bright red lipstick- shuttled me and Sarah away. "Oh, no, these are my children." Sarah and I were scared and we got in her car and she gave us her cell phone but made us not use it to call anybody but we could play Bejeweled. [hehehe] and then she said, "Oh, I have to go get some bread". So we went to this rustic bread store and a 3rd grade teacher from my elementary school (that I didn't have) saw me and Sarah with her and asked us if we were okay and we said we weren't and he made our kidnapper sit in a time out chair. We were free!

SCARY DREAMS:
-Get ready.

Steve-Steve:
Ok, this was like my scariest dream ever. Sarah and I were sort of with the Cross Country team and we had to stay in this motel thing. It was all made of wood and it was out in the woods and it was dark. But we went in and asked for a room and this "nice" old lady came out and told us around and showed us our room. There was her son or something who was called Steve-Steve. [Menacing, I know]. The creepiest part at this point was that she kept saying, "If you hear anything, just let us know. If you hear the floor creak, or a ball bounce, or anything, just let us know." It was like she WANTED us to tell her of noises she and Steve-Steve were going to make to scare us.
So Sarah and I were kind of freaked out but we went down the hall to our room and Steve-Steve was still there and talking to us. But Sarah and I climbed into the bed and just sort of waited for him to leave, but then there was his coffee cup [Starbucks, good choice, Steve-Steve] in the crook of my arm and I so I reached back behind my head to give it to him. I didn't look back but I just reached my arm back. And then I saw Steve-Steve out of the corner of my eye at the side of the bed and instead of grabbing his coffee HE WAS STRANGLING ME! I woke up with a start, as if someone really had just strangled me and my heart was beating really fast and I was really, really scared.

Sarah's Neck:
My mom asked me for a piece of paper from the printer so I went and gave it to her and then I went over to Sarah who was lying on the couch and I touched her arm and she screamed and I was still holding onto her arm and as she was screaming her neck was getting longer and longer and her arm was getting longer and longer as I was holding onto it. I was afraid of what I had done.

MORE RECENT ODD DREAMS:
-These dreams came from a recent time when I wanted to lucid dream and so I recorded a bunch of my dreams to help with that. (Yes, I eventually was able to lucid dream. What fun!) But here are some notes from that:

Homecoming Kix:
I had a dream the homecoming assembly dance was being planned. We all pretended we were pieces of the cereal Kix, and we dressed up as that by putting flotation things around us. In practice we went to a swimming pool filled with milk and videoed (Not the assembly yet, though, just a practice. At the assembly there was no pool.) Some kids were getting Kix blasted in their face [so dramatic]. At the end we were all in this big room eating dinner and talking. [Next year, Juniors, next year this is happening...]

Hermione and the Bat:
I had a dream we were somewhere with Ron and Hermione and I traveled around a lot with them but Ron wasn't always there. The most memorable place was a field with a big group of people all around. One girl was nervous or something and asked Hermione to pray. When we opened our eyes a white dove flew across the night sky [The prayer was answered?] and landed on a tree. My dream-camera "zoomed in" and it turned out not to be a heavenly dove but an albino bat! [Nasty shock right there, I tell ya]. Once people figured out what it was there was a lot of panic. I had my big fluffy blanket on [in the dream and in real life too] and put that over my body. I felt what I thought was a small person step on my back. I froze and people around me gasped. No, it couldn't be. The bat was on my back! I then felt two sharp points between my shoulder blades that hurt a lot! I woke up with my body positioned like it was in that field.


Sweet dreams, folks, sweet dreams.

Hannah's Random Thoughts #13: Learning

I'm not sure when I thought of this idea, but I know I've thought about it for a while.
Sometimes I think what if something happened and I was on an island with a whole bunch of little children and just me and somehow we had to survive, and there was no contact with civilization. Basically it would be as if the "old world" (this current time etc. What I mean is everything before me and the lil' kids got on this island) was gone and I was the only one to have really experienced it.

Other than thinking about if there was a beast on this island, (heh heh might not want to tell *that* story to the kids...) I think when I am learning things NOW like chemistry and history and even everyday things like how to read and what I know of other languages and places and books I've read and famous people and everything I know I try to really learn it "just in case this happens". And I know it won't or anything but I feel like it makes me want to remember things about everything I'm learning. I mean I would have to educate this whole little tribe of kids! I would be like a living World Book Encyclopedia. And if I was to expect any advances in this society well wouldn't sort of have to come from me?

Think about it. I mean, I wouldn't have to reinvent the wheel, but it took a crazy long time just for us as humans to create sewage systems like we have now, or boats, like I don't even know how to make a boat, or trains or holy cow what about planes, and, oh gosh I don't even want to think about the Internet. Or even things that seem really simple but would probably be really hard to make in reality. Like matches or even paper or knives or hold on, I would be responsible for thousands and thousands of years of knowledge! I mean, I have absolutely no idea how to make a light bulb. So like all the ideas that Edison got and the ideas that inspired the people that inspired him and the people that those people were inspired by would be gone, and we'd have to start hundreds, maybe thousands of years until me and the little ones would ever invent a light bulb.

I don't know if I would say this idea makes me more inspired to learn.. well actually I think it does. I might not be in this hypothetical situation, but what if I was like, stuck in the woods somewhere? What memories of Man vs Wild would I be able to recall? But I do think that it sort of makes me value what I do know, and also makes me feel like there's so much more I could know.