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Is it really quite so necessary for anyone to be bringing out the Christmas decorations yet? My senses were assaulted by the appearance of a Christmas light display in the park.

Can someone explain why I watch things like Forensic Files in the middle of the night when my boyfriend is asleep? I could put on anything else that's not going to make me bloody paranoid, but no, instead I put on the show about murders. What is wrong with me?

What in the actual hell? Seriously? Someone tell me that there’s some weirdass tradition in California of pranking waitresses by accusing them of trying to hit on your boyfriend by asking what he’s ordering. Because if not? This girl I waited on today needs a serious reevaluation of her relationship. And possibly her sanity because she went OFF on me for asking what he wanted to order. I had a moment where I thought she was actually going to physically attack me with her coffee mug and no thank you. I don’t care if it has been sitting in front of you long enough that it’s not scalding anymore. I don’t want your coffee all over me.

Also if you are that damn concerned about your boyfriend cheating that you think he might hook up in the back of a diner with a waitress at noon? First - fuck you for thinking so little of someone you’ve never even met before. Second - why are you going to keep seeing someone you CLEARLY don’t trust? Have some damn self respect and ditch him. Or quit attacking waitresses and calling them sluts when they ask “And for you sir?” Because A)They’re just doing their JOB and B) no one wants spit in their food. I wouldn’t do that but I know some servers who would.

Sometimes while I'm taking a break from homework or studying, I'll watch those satisfying videos on youtube, you know of perfectly timed animations or of things perfectly fitting into other things? Just to reset my brain before I can continue with whatever else I was concentrating on. Sometimes I forget I have it on when I go back to studying, and I look up to see that youtube has just continued on showing the next few videos in autoplay.

....Whoever did this? I hope you mistake sugar and salt next time you make coffee.

Well I have finally figured out who gives the dirtiest looks in the world when they're annoyed with you - raptors. If you've never gotten a dirty look from a raptor you can't even begin to imagine it. Old Lace is pissed off at me because I told her no about going for a late night walk by herself. She's had enough adventures this month outside of our apartment.

My mom was born and spent the first 18 years of her life in Texas. My mom refuses to admit that she has an accent of any sort. Because Texan isn't one of the most noticeable dialects in the United States or anything like that. Have you ever watched someone who has, and doesn't admit they have, an accent try to talk to AI? Please Mom, please continue telling me how it's the cable company's fault that their system keeps sending you to the wrong department.

That being said, maybe they shouldn't have ever changed the old menu where you just pressed numbers.

Meet Juliet and Marc. Maman’s new puppies for breeding. Juliet was gotten from a breeder someone on here put me in touch with, and don’t let that picture fool you - she has more energy than her raccoon friends can handle.

Marc flew back with me from my brief stop in France this weekend on my way home from Japan. He is actually the son of one of the boys from the same litter as Antoinette, and he most definitely inherited his aunt and father’s cuddlyness. He doesn’t want to sit anywhere but in someone’s lap and actually seems to be perfectly happy to do nothing but that on some days. Regardless of who it is that he sees a lap on, so if you come over to visit - be prepared for a lapful of chubby puppy and clothes covered in dog hair.

I went to the campus early today because I was expecting trouble with my classes since I've missed the first two weeks but none of my teachers had any problem with me just starting to attend. They even told me not to worry about assignments I'd missed and my composition instructor isn't even going to take points off for being late with my summer assignment. I don't know what I did to get so lucky but it feels good to have things working out in my favor this way.

[Private to Haruhi]
And he’s taken to sleeping in my room with Antoinette and I. Sometimes in the bed if there’s a storm or a lot of traffic or noise outside. Unlike her, he doesn’t like to sleep at the foot of the bed, he likes the middle so that he’s right by you with his stuffed bird.

Has anyone ever lost family in their dreams that they don't have in real life? Because I'm... not really sure how to deal with this. In real life, I don't have any siblings. That I know of anyway. In my dreams, everyone in my cabin at camp is a child of Apollo. I have all the brothers and sisters I've always wanted here and never had. And the oldest of any god's children is the head of that cabin. And in my dreams that's Lee. Or, well. It was Lee. Until last night's dream.

How do you mourn a sibling you don't actually have?

I had wondered why a lot of you seemed to be so invested in your dreams, but I think I've figured it out. I'm generally pretty good at remembering my dreams, but this one felt more like a memory than anything else. It wasn't anything special, just a conversation with my mother which I'm sure I must have had here when I was a kid too, except we were living in Roswell, New Mexico (yes, that Roswell).

It was actually really nice. I miss having conversations like that with her.

You know, if this wasn't a satire? I could see Nico all over that.

So... we're buying a house. I mean, technically, Nico and Hazel's dad is buying a house, he's just putting it in Nico's name. But we're hopefully moving out of our apartment soon, to somewhere the dogs have room to run around and play. It's not ours yet, there's still details to be worked out. But... we've started the process. Which means we're also going to have to start the process of actually moving. Last move wasn't so bad, since we moved in from the dorms. And just gradually brought everything from our parents' houses in. This is going to be our first actually big move. And hopefully also our last, because we're actually going to have a house.

It still doesn't feel real yet.

If you don’t want to be asked for your ID everytime you hand your credit card to a clerk at a store maybe you shouldn’t write ‘SEE ID’ on the back in the signature portion. And if you you definitely shouldn’t scream at the clerk for daring to ask for your ID. We’re just following your written instructions and trying to make sure we’re not charging things on your card for other people. You should be pissed at all the people who didn’t ask for your ID after seeing that. Or maybe just be pissed off at yourself for causing this situation by not signing your damn card in the first place.

Okay I'm calling bullshit on my DuoLingo app. Because of a glitch in their network my 93 day streak gets wiped out and in order for me to restore it I have to buy into their premium app? No. Hell no. It's not the money because my parents don't care what I buy but I shouldn't have to pay for the company's fuckup.

I feel like this is something I would do if someone asked me to watch something like a plant or something. I might not get quite as creative, but I could do this.

Do you ever see things you wish you didn't while driving? Because we just passed a gas station with a fuel delivery truck in the parking lot, with some idiot smoking a cigar right beside it. I decided that the car didn't really need refilled that badly. I still have a fourth of a tank left.

I don’t care if they are the only store in the area that carries that brand of yarn. If your CEO is actively supporting legislation and ideology that hurts the LGBTQ community, I’m not going to shop there. My conscience won’t allow it. And I’m not going to do sponsored posts on my social media accounts for you or any of your associates no matter how much you offer to pay.

I want to avoid giving Hobby Lobby that shop any publicity so much that I spent half an hour rewriting this to make sure I didn’t mention their name anywhere in it.

I finally made my way to the grocery store this morning and I saw something I really wish I hadn't seen. Who brings their pet to the store and then leaves it locked in the car with no windows open?! No living creature deserves that.

Can someone please explain to me what it is about me that just radiates to complete strangers the desire to hear their unsolicited medical advice? I needed to get out of James' place for a bit, and thought grabbing lunch at my favorite bookstore and cafe would be a nice change of pace since I was hungry. Anyway, after I finished eating I decided to order another coffee and read for a bit since it was nice outside, and the next thing I know some asshole plops down in the chair opposite mine and proceeds to lecture me about how reading is bad for you and destroys the mind. And that there are studies proving this is true. I’ve never seen him before in my life and I’m doing my best to to just try and ignore him, thinking he’s just a harmless old man who thinks he knows everything. Nothing to worry about. Nothing out of the ordinary, happens everyday.

Or at least that’s what I was trying to convince myself of until he reached across the table to take my book and starts talking about how he hates seeing a pretty girl like me destroying her brain by reading things she clearly couldn’t even understand because ‘the female mind can’t grasp scientific topics properly in the first place’ and if I’m so set on ruining mine, because I’d tried to keep reading through his tirade after getting my book back, I should pick something I could actually understand. Like a romance novel.

Nothing against romance novels. They’re fun. I have some next to my bed to read when I can’t sleep. But don’t insult my intelligence by implying that they’re the only kind of books I’m capable of understanding because I’m a woman. And as for not being able to understand Science? I think my calm statement of fact regarding my graduating with honors with a Biology degree stunned him. Well either that or the way I explained not only the book I’d been reading but then was able to cite studies that prove reading actually helps brain strength because it helps to prevent atrophy by keeping the brain active.

These Dreams really need to learn that Saturdays are supposed to be relaxing. I definitely shouldn't have to be trying to process them while fixing dinner for Will and Hazel. But at least now I know that my stay at Camp Half-Blood while Bianca was off on that quest wasn't completely lonely for me - I talked with the goddess Hestia which probably not something a lot of people can say they've done. And even knowing how that quest ended for my sister - didn't really make it all that much easier when I dreamt it myself.

[Percy]
So um...sorry about the Skeleton Warriors that I accidentally summoned there when you told me? You didn't have any show up at your place today right?

There's an entire multiverse of spider-people like every universe has to have at least one spider-person (not actually spider-people but like superheroes with spider powers) and I'm now part of this spider-army and some kind of "totem" and there is this group that wants to eat my energy and all our energies so there's this multiversal war

Okay okay cool cool cool cool co

Maman has decided that she wants to start her breeding program now that we've been able to settle in for the most part. Her dog is too old for more healthy litters and Antoinette I had fixed because I never intended to breed her. All of our contacts for puppies are in France and she doesn't want to ship a new puppy. Or new puppies actually and I can't blame her for it. Antoinette did not do well on the flight and then in quarantine before we were able to bring her home. There's also the issue of who would even fly over to France to collect the puppies if we went with one of our old sources. As much as I would love to go visit our family and friends again I cannot because I have lessons lined up for this summer - adding a couple of other students to my client list and Maman can't travel by herself like that yet.

Does anyone on here know of a good reliable source for healthy purebred golden retrievers? Ideally two sources so that the puppies would be from different lines?

[Haruhi]
Want some good news? Isaac called last night with instructions that I tell you as soon as possible. You made quite an impression on him it seems.

I always wanted to call bullshit on that scene in Jurassic Park where the dinosaur turns the handle for that door because no way could they figure that out. Old Lace has proven me wrong on that. She's started opening the door to my bedroom when I'm not moving fast enough to get her breakfast in the morning and sticking her head in to just...I guess see what's taking me so long?

I'm torn between being proud of her for figuring it out and showing how smart she really is and being annoyed over it because not exactly the wake up I want sometimes. And makes it a little awkward when I've got friends over.

So I read an article earlier today that definitely falls into the "Mother Nature is stranger than fiction" category. AKA an extinct bird came back from the dead. Basically, this species of bird went extinct when the sea level rose over 100,000 years ago, but it re-evolved after the sea level fell and now lives on the same island it had lived on before it went extinct.

This isn't an anomaly, such things have happened before where a species has gone extinct only for it to re-evolve again from the same ancestor. The process is called iterative evolution, and this is just one other area of my line of work that endlessly fascinates me. I mean, what are the odds of a species going extinct, only to later on re-evolve from the same ancestor? It's kind of mind-blowing to think about how evolution can take the same exact steps, or relatively the same steps and come to the same result.

That damn porg in my hot tub better not have clogged anything.

I can’t believe how many cases of the measles have been popping up in the United States… in California… in the 21st century. We almost eradicated the disease, but now thanks to science disbelievers… here we are. If you wanted to take a gamble with your own health, that’s one thing. But these people who refuse to vaccinate their kids are saying they’d rather their kid risk death than risk the very much disproven theory that their kid be “different”. They’re also bringing down the herd immunity that those who CAN’T vaccinate for medical reason depend on.

And even if you survive the measles, one of the worst things about it is it rewrites your immune system back to factory default. Anything you have built up an immunity to, your system forgets. Making it easier for you to to succumb to other viruses. So a measles epidemic? Is only a start to other epidemics rising after it.

Antoinette and I are going to have to shorten our walks out back of the house and spend more time at the park in the next few weeks I think. Some of our raccoon friends have had babies! And we learned last year that they aren't the biggest fans of her sniffing around their nests for a month or so afterwards. But the babies will be adorable when they come into the yard to play! And school will be over for me soon so that I can spend lots of time earning their trust!

Recently my dog has started guarding Estelle when she's sleeping. Don't get me wrong, it's really sweet and everything, but when Mrs. O'Leary decides she's gonna guard Estelle's bedroom door, it can be dangerous if you get up in the middle of the night and almost trip over a huge mastiff.

Then there's the whole shadowtraveling into my mom and Paul's room if they don't get up right away when she cries. I'll be honest though, I think that's a little funny. Especially the first time it happened and they couldn't figure out how she'd gotten in with the door closed.

How are these people not getting arrested standing outside screaming about the end of the world? They're blocking the door to my apartment building so nobody can get in or out without having to walk right into one of them.

(ooc: trigger warning for animal death)


I know I should have expected it to come sometime, because she was getting older. I mean, I guess there never really is any expecting it, is there? She always seemed to have the energy to play with Cesare and Ziggy when Nico and I brought them over to Dad's. And we always took really, really good care of her. Checkups every year and brought her to the vet each time anything was slightly wrong.

Wednesday, Dad was texting me franticly from the vet's office. Sunny hadn't been herself, wasn't really wanting to eat and just seemed very lethargic. He thought maybe it was a bug at best or some sort of blockage at worst. And it wasn't. She had a lot of tumors and where they were ...they just weren't somewhere you could operate.

Nico and I spent the whole weekend there and just. The three of us tried to give her the best weekend that we could. We played as much as she would feel like, gave her her favorite foods, and just loved, petted, and spoiled her as much as we could. Took her to all of her favorite places. And then... we said goodbye at the vet's office yesterday.

I'm still processing it. I know we did the right thing for her, that she's not suffering now. But it just hurts that she's gone. And I'm not sure how to tell our kids the next time we bring them up there where she is. Will they understand? Because I know that they'll be looking for her. They were always so excited each time we went up there.

I love you, Sunny, and I'm going to miss you so much.

At least I already know how this quest they’re going on works itself out so I can’t worry too much about Bianca and the others going on it. That doesn’t really help much with how it felt hearing her planning on leaving the Camp, leaving me there. I really fucking hate the Hunters and Artemis there. It’s going to be fun visiting Will’s family next time

She gave me a ring with a skull on it before she left, and before I made Percy promise to keep her safe, and I woke up to find it on my nightstand right next to those stupid figures. I tried it on and it fits despite me being a lot younger in the dreams. Not sure if that’s good or bad for me here. That I can wear a child size ring.

[Percy]
You know I don’t blame you right? For what happened to her there? And I’m glad you told me before I got there. I still fucking hate the Hunters and Artemis. Sister stealers.

I found Nico in cat form.

I'm not sure if I disapprove more of them feeding the at nuggets, or them teasing the poor thing with nuggets.

So next stop on the world’s worst tour that I’m convinced my Dreams have turned into is my parents house. We don’t find anything inside but, just like here, they have a lab out back and in there is an entirely different story. They must be better scientists in the Dreams than they ever could be here because they had a working pair of x-ray goggles, hopefully the girls there never realize exactly how I figured out they worked, and a pair of gauntlets that look pretty steampunk. I’m not sure what they’re supposed to do but we’re taking them because it can’t possibly be anything good if left with our parents.

And maybe here I’ll be able to figure out what, if anything those gauntlets do, since I woke up to them and the goggles on the other side of my bed. Also if anybody is wondering what the inside of a raptor looks like? You really don’t want to know. Take my word for it.

Daylight Saving Time can kiss my ass. I want my hour of sleep back. I need it.

I don't care if it does mean that neither of them will ever trust me with their phones again - I have absolutely no regrets about downloading Duolingo on Will and Hazel's phones.

So, waking up to someone in your apartment that doesn't live there is always weird. Especially when your boyfriend can't go more than so far away from them. Luckily Nico's never been big on Valentines Day and our plans were basically horror movies and video games. So that didn't really change very much there.

The dogs are living for this. Ziggy loves everyone, so that's not really surprising. He's a golden retriever, it's what they do best. Cesare is very picky about his humans, though, and he's enjoying the hell out of this.

Alright this is weird but my boyfriend’s dad, who’s also my cousin because my uncle will screw anything with a pulse is his dad, which makes holidays a lot more interesting now that we know, just showed up in my Dreams. And he’s THE Apollo - the Greek sun god from mythology - and yeah he’s got a chariot that he drives across the sky each day to make the sun move. Which was a car when he first showed up but when he realized how many people Artemis was asking him to transport to Camp Half-Blood, he turned it into a bus and if I never have to see that thing again I’ll be happy.

[Private message to Bo]

So...that offer to help me out with learning to tell when people are actually seriously flirting with me and when they’re not - still good? I’ve got a class with someone who I’m not sure whether they are or not and I’ve had some pretty bad run-ins with them and their boyfriend before this over her flirting with me. Because clearly I’m going to turn straight for her if she keeps it up in one of their minds.

So Nico got us tickets to Beetlejuice the Musical next month. I didn't even know there was a stage version of Beetlejuice? But I guess if anyone would find out about it, it would be Nico. I think his Goth Senses started to tingle.

So two questions. 1. I've never been to NYC before (I mean, besides Dreams, since our camp's near there). Does anyone have any suggestions for other places we need to go and see while we're out there? and 2. Does anyone want to dog sit for us? They're both well behaved, if a little spoiled. And Ziggy loves to be loved while Cesare loves to be admired from afar.

I'm sure saying as much is only bad luck, but I do love the moments when the Orange County is relatively peaceful.

So I'm pretty sure I won't be so lucky in the future with getting Old Lace in and out of our apartment when there's something to fight but I'll worry about that when I have to. She had a great time attacking the zombies but a part of me feels a little bad because those things didn't even stand a chance against her.

We're two weeks into Jan... Why the fuck do people still have Christmas trees and lights up?

Okay I'm just going to go ahead and say it now - Die Hard is not a Christmas movie. It is a movie that takes place at Christmas and that is a completely different thing.

( Jason Grace grace has tagged you (Hazel, Nico, Percy, and Will) in a post )

Nico and I found these light switches online while taking a break from homework. Homework has now been temporarily paused while we're waiting for an email back from our landlord to find out if it would be okay if we change all the lightswitches in the apartment to these before we go ahead and order them. I know there's the "better to apologize than ask permission" option, I just don't want that apology to come out of our deposit.

If you don’t believe in vaccines, or in science in general, why are you in the pre-med program? There’s a guy in one of my classes that went off on a tangent today about vaccines are a hoax, don’t work, and were made by “big pharma and the government to control us”. One of his points being no one dies from measles or whooping cough anymore. ...Right, they don’t because PEOPLE VACCINATE AGAINST THEM. This doesn’t just affect you. Herd immunity is a thing. Some people are genuinely allergic to them. Or people with cancer or immunocompromising conditions. Being a carrier is going to put a lot of people at risk of dying from something that otherwise would have never reached them.

Just... why are you here? I don’t understand it at all.

So had the first casualty of my living out here finally - RIP coffeepot. You served me well over the years, kept me well caffeinated with my insane schedule and family. Now to find your successor before next week since I know I'll need one at my place on Halloween if I'm going to survive work. What's the best place to buy one out here? And if anyone suggests I go to a place that sells nothing but those damn Keurig machines I make no promises about resisting the urge to cuss your ass out.

Animatronic dragon skeletons have joined our posable skeleton on the balcony. Nico does Halloween the way most people do Christmas. He’s also named them, but I really can’t remember all four of them. I’m almost curious what kind of decorating he plans on doing when we’re both finished with school and get a house one day.

I think he’s already got our dogs’ costumes planned out this year, but I keep sending him pictures I’ve found online. I can’t believe that this got vetoed.

No offense to anyone in my dreams but, if everyone in them could just stop riding the jock of whoever Percy Jackson is, that'd be great. Just five minutes without casually dropping his name, bro. Five. Minutes.

I don’t know how many of you have ever played Animal Crossing. It’s become something Nico and I play as something when we just need a break from studying. It’s easy, the music is soothing, and there’s things to do and collect every day. One of the tasks is usually delivering mail from one villager to another. Either it was sent to them by mistake or they bought each other something and are too shy to deliver it themselves. Usually you get to find out what’s in it.

Today I had my dog villager asking me to deliver something to a sheep for him, and if I could keep it hush hush, he’d appreciate it. All I could think was ‘what needs to be kept secret? So I delivered it to her and she wouldn’t open it in front of me. Just thanked me for keeping it a secret.

I’m... pretty sure I just helped an in game drug deal go down. Right next to the police station, at that.

Are you ever too old to set up a slip'n'slide?

To paraphrase a great psychiatrist, ladies and gentlemen, take my advice, pull down your pants and slide down the slip'n'slide!

Okay so literally like yesterday I was saying I wasn't gonna buy Halloween stuff Because it's only August But I mean. it has begun, and I have no regrets. Cookies. Adorable, I can eat them, justified...right? And I mean if left alone in the store they'd just get gross and sad, nobody wants that.