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Okay, that was what? A two day break? One set of dreams ends, another begins. Not in the Underworld yet, but I just stabbed Kronos (hey dad - that'll probably cause issues later) with a crystal mega-weapon that looks like a dick. No, really, it does. The most phallic damn thing I've ever seen.

Anyway, point is - book your calendars for November 11th, because that's when my new flick, Inferno, appears in theaters. If I like you a lot, I'll even get you passes for the red carpet premiere which of course I'll be attending and looking very dapper at.

With a glamour on. Sigh.

Haven't had any dreams in awhile, so I knew I was due soon. First, Katniss and a few others started doing these Propos to tell the Capitol that Katniss was the Mockingjay. They retaliated by bombing District 13. Luckily, District 13 was underground, so we were all safe. After that, they finally figured out how to get into the Capitol to rescue Annie, Peeta and Johanna so we did another Propo to distract the Captiol. I told them everything Snow made me do as a Victor and how he'd do it to other Victors who were desirable and that he could use. In the end, the distraction worked and they rescued them. It was pretty nerve wracking for awhile, not knowing if they were going to get caught too, but it worked and Annie and I were reunited.

I only wish that Katniss and Peeta had been able to be as lucky. Yeah, they rescued Peeta too, but it was obvious, even before he was rescued, that Snow had really messed him up. I can only hope that we figure out a way to fix him.

[Filtered away from Rick and Alexis Castle]
So, let's say that you've been having dreams. Dreams that involve people who you know in your actual life. That's all fine and well, if a bit odd, except these people in question have no idea about any of this, nor do they seem to be having dreams of their own.

Do you tell them about your dreams?

Hi, I'm Emily. I found this link randomly and for whatever reason I decided to check it out. I guess with everything going on, I needed some place to escape to. Which leads to my question, when you're under extreme stress, what do you usually do to escape it?

After watching Katie Ledecky beat her own world record at the 400m freestyle, I suddenly feel like I should get back in the pool instead of just swimming in the ocean.

So, these dreams, have they ever....given anyone anything? Abilities, I mean. Not actual objects.

I almost don't want to know. It seems a much better use of my time cooking dinner and watching the Mets play the Yankees on the home coast with my kid but, you know, three days after my last dream and I'm still dwelling on it. Might as well bite the bullet and ask.

I never thought I could actually hate a day of the year and loathe it coming around. My dreams, however, have proven me wrong on that. July fourteenth is a day that I wish did not exist. At least my wife and daughter seem to put up with my neurosis well enough.


[OOC: Talk of murder of a child possible in the comments.]

My kid's response to my request for her to take a bath after dinner tonight: "Okay, but I should just take one in the ocean to save water."

Been in California for almost three weeks, and she's already focused on water conservation. So either she's adjusting just fine, or she's been watching way too much television.

Some of the staff told me this forum was a great place to meet people and make friends. Now that's time to say hello, all I can think to say is a simple question:

Who can recommend the best farmer's market in the area? I woke up today with a terrible craving for fresh pears.

Is someone missing a very life-like doll? And I mean this doll might have some voodoo magic in it because it came into my shop and ordered muffins and coffee.

It might be one of the creepiest things I have ever seen.

It is with great reluctance that I post here in this community. Message boards and the like bear very little use to me, but a little suggests a lingering and potentially quantifiable amount.

To what frequency does this county experience this godforsaken 'rain' of a gory nature?

Tell me that I'm not the only one who doesn't care about the Super Bowl. I can't wait till it's over so I can stop hearing about it. Practically every store I've gone in to this week, the cashier has asked who I'm rooting for. Some people seem so surprised when you tell them that you don't watch football.

Huh. So winning the Hunger Games got me money and fame. Who wouldn't want that, right? Turns out, winning didn't get me all the perks I was expecting.

If one cool thing has come out of these dreams, other than the people I've met through them, it's the trident I woke up to the other morning. It was like my signature weapon in the games and it's pretty cool. I might have to learn how to use it like I did in the dreams just cause.

Well that was a strange dream.

I can't keep going like th

How do people deal with neighbors who are constantly loud and make jokes of it when requested to not be so loud because the walls are thin?

I thought you all should know I'm resigning from the Force.

Finally feeling human again!

The chief is insisting that I take a modified schedule though, not sure what to think of that. I guess it'd give me time to figure out a vacation of sorts.

[filter to Damian]
Still wanna go with?

Hello there lovely people of the internets.

My name is Rapunzel, which is a really weird long name, but I have a handful of nicknames you can choose from if you want. I moved down here from Oregon a few months ago and some guy in a coffee shop told me about this network. I am going to Laguna College of Art and Design and still debating between fine arts or illustration as my path.

I will probably be looking for a job later and perhaps a roommate in the future, so maybe this place can help me out with that. Otherwise, I like to just be creative and am always interested in new ways to do so. Can only re-create crafts from Pinterest for so long before you need something new to do!

I probably should feel some sort of satisfaction that the guy who shot me a while back is a blithering mess, and yet somehow it doesn't really provide me any comfort. Only more questions, headaches and paperwork. I don't want to do the processing work. I just want to sleep, my Nyquil haze was interrupted for this? I may have moved on but that doesn't mean I'm ready to see this clown again.

Is it weird to be excited about finding a new bead store? Because I'm definitely excited about finding a new bead store.


[Finnick]
How are you settling in? No strange dreams? Have you decided to save your sanity and lea

Nothing better than some nice dream repeats to put you in a good mood. Oh and a day full of meetings. Deep. Joy.

My name is Finnick Odair and I own Odair Scuba Diving in Huntington Beach. I was doing some advertising on various social media outlets and I happened across this place. Looks pretty interesting, from what I've read. I think I might stick around for a little while.

Well that's a dream I certainly wouldn't mind having again.

Apparently there's a thing called Nitro Coffee. To get this coffee you need to sign a waiver. I could use this about now, but I can't leave the station so I've settled on the sludge in the five day old pot. I'm not sure this stuff isn't alive, but at this point I've reached beyond caring.

I'm still under the mindset of holidays suck. Spent yesterday at home, watching Netflix. It was pretty pathetic.

Right, I forgot about the fireworks part. I just put a bullet in my ceiling on reflex. There goes my deposit, but at least I'm moving in a week.

Paris was incredible. I obviously can't show any pictures of the costumes but I did manage to fit a little sightseeing in :)

( Pictures under the cut )

Just a friendly reminder that my Food Network competition will be airing on Saturday evening. I'm not allowed to tell you who wins right now, so hopefully you all will watch it. It's going to be a lot of fun to watch it on tv and see how they edited everything. I'm just glad my family and Alyssa were able to be in the audience for it.

My dreams have finally started to move on a little bit and I can't help but be amused that my form of therapy in the dreams is working on a wedding cake. But of course I'm a little shit right now and I start picking fights with people. And whoever decided that it would be a good idea to train me in combat really needs to rethink this one. I'm a little nervous about how this will go, but surprise!

[Annie]
Why didn't you mention that you and Finnick got married in the dreams? I can't believe I made your cake.

The Dreams have finally decided that enough torture was enough and I am finally past them. God, it feels so good to be somewhat functioning now. My memories of the Dreams are a little jacked up still, but I'm working on that one.

[Filtered to friends of Peeta and Alyssa - if you think this is your char, go for it - OOC also pretend this was posted earlier today]
Alyssa's birthday is tomorrow and I would love for her to have an actual birthday party. So, please come over to her place tomorrow around 6pm for shenanigans and amazing birthday cake. If you need the address, please let me know.

I miss Finnick
I don't want him to go through these and yet
This is

I woke up to a wedding dress from the Dreams. It's very pretty but I really don't know why I'd wear it or have a reason to. I'm not sure what to make of it.

[Peeta]
They get us out. I'm not sure what's to come, but we get out. They save us.... I mean there's recovery that has to happen, but we get out and get help.

Are you doing okay?

Oh well that was fun and by fun, I mean not at all. Blood rain. Felt like Carrie a little bit except without the psychic powers which I would have used to kill Snow. And just my luck, it drove Wiress crazy; not that she wasn't a little crazy already anyway. Ugh, these dreams. Honestly, I'm not even going to ask if they can get any worse cause I already know they can.

This Arena is the absolute worst. It's basically a giant clock and divided into twelve sections. At the top of each hour a section locks down and horrible things happen. We've had poisonous fog, homicidal monkeys, blood rain, and birds that imitate the screams of our loved ones. Poor Mags sacrificed herself so that we could live. What a brave woman she was. I just really hope that the right person makes it out alive so she didn't die in vain.

And the Dreams didn't stop when I woke up because I went to my closet and found all my outfits from the Dreams, which include my training, interview, and arena outfits. This is not cool at all. Shoving them to the back of the closet.

But, in good news, I'm going to be in another Food Network baking competition soon. That's really all I can say about that one for now. But I'll make sure to let you know when it's actually airing.

I was just sitting on the roof of my apartment building tonight, minding my own business when this guy decides I need rescuing. He bolted up to my side and got all dramatic going on about how it must be a cry for help, but really I just like the height.

Well, the 75th Hunger Games have begun. Not only that, but I got my ax. In real life. It was leaning against my coffee table when I got up this morning. I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to do with an ax, but it's find of cool. It's heavier than I thought it'd be, but I actually didn't have that much trouble lifting it.

Not really looking forward to what's going to happen in the Games.

Oh yay more Dreams. I've made it through all the proceedings of the Games and up to the start of the next Hunger Games.

I must say that meeting all these past Victors doesn't make this an easy Game to go into. Everyone is pretty much amazing, so the idea of having to kill anyone is terrible. And I think everyone agrees with that because we managed to piss off the Capitol by holding hands and showing solidarity against something we think is truly horrible. And, I announced that Katniss and I had a secret wedding and that she is pregnant. Seriously, Dream!Me, Seriously?

I do have to say the best part of the Dreams was going in for my evaluation with the Gamemakers and flipping a giant middle finger to them by painting a beautiful picture of a girl named Rue that lost her life in the last Hunger Games.

Oh, and I also received some of the paintings of the last Games that I had been doing in the Dreams. I'm tempted to burn them, but they're really quite interesting. I'm not sure what I will end up doing with them.

[Johanna]
Oh heyyyy, finally saw what you texted me about. You've got some balls, girl.

So, in my dreams I'm from District 7 where the main resource is lumber and because of that, during the Hunger Games our stylists always seem to want to dress us like trees. This morning, I woke up to find my outfit from the Quarter Quell hanging on the back of my closet.

( Visible to All )

I think I have to say that as much as being in another body is the strangest thing that's ever happened to me at least I'm not having any dreams right now.

So, yes, I'm currently occupying the body of one of my female friends. As if it couldn't be any more awkward to be in a strange body in the first place. I've also discovered that putting on a bra may be just as complicated as taking one off when I'm a regular guy. I think I've almost got it figured out now.

And I can't complain about having two legs right now, but I feel really bad for Rose because learning how to put a prosthesis on can be incredibly confusing.

Also, I will not be at Mellarky until this clears up, so let me know if you needed to request any kind of baked goods and I'd be happy to meet up with you somewhere else. My brothers would never understand if they saw me now.

Jesus, if I thought my dreams sucked before, they just took a turn into even suckierville.

I learned today that you really shouldn't take a nap while at work.

I fell asleep for maybe 20 minutes at a max, but it felt like forever because I dreamt about my interview with Caesar Flickerman and divulving my secret crush on the girl that I am enemies with. It didn't go over well with her, but apparently my mentor thought it was a great tactic.

I ran off and decided I was done training with them and just steeled myself for the inivitable and having to figure out how to kill people and still manage to be me. I wasn't going to let the Capitol take control of me and use me as one of their pawns.

And then things moved faster to me being sent up a tube onto my starting block for the Games. And the moment I woke up was when the horns sounded.

Let the games begin.

And now I've been all twitchy all day. Great.

I honestly just have one question about my dreams, but who lets a 14 year old lead an army?!

And I think I have a crush on this green girl but we're not allowed to have feelings, apparently.

A trident. Was in my home. Where I live with my son.

They all drowned
I shouldn't have
I can't
Why would they
Oh god

Has anyone figured out a way to survive without sleeping?


[There will be talk of Hunger Games in the comments! So yes. Be warned.]

I knew I sensed a pattern with these dreams. This is going to be oh so very bad. If only the human body could go longer periods without sleep.

( Filtered to Counselors/Therapists/Psychologists/Etc )

( Filtered to Annie, Finnick, Johanna )

You know you're in for a strange day when you wake up from dreams about living in a whole new world. I wasn't around to see how the US got to the point it's at, but if living in "Districts" with fences and "peace keepers" is what's in store for us then I have a new fear.

It wasn't all horrible, I still have my family and we own a bakery. And that's about it.... okay, maybe it's all horrible. I watched my entire childhood and things started to slow down once I got to about 16, which kind of scares me. But now I know the whole history of a country called Panem and the terrible things they do to their citizens. I can't really see how this is ever going to improve.

Right then, with all the chaos I finally got a moment to myself here and uh. Is anyone missing a purple cloaked goth girl? I've found her. In my apartment. Not that I don't appreciate the welcome wagon but kiiiiinda awkward timing considering I was only in a towel and she's like 16.

Well that was a really weird dream.

And now I remember why I hate Legos.

Even though the snow kept me from selling, it did give me a chance to stockpile my inventory, so that was a good thing.

Are there any sort of street fairs or farmer markets here that would be good for selling jewelry at? I've looked up some but if there are people here who know of any, I'd appreciate any suggestions.

I don't normally spend any real time concerned about any TV in general, let alone anything reality based and so scripted as something like "Pawn Stars". However, a student in class had mentioned to me that on one episode, the 'Pawn Shop' managed to come across a First American Edition copy of Jules Verne's classic 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

I of course became more than a bit curious, most editions were lost in 1872 during the Boston fire. It's widely known that about only 50 - 60 exist in the world, so yes I decided to research the authenticity of this. I went to Vegas myself to see the book and study it closely; the expert they had is actually an expert, and one who I'd take my own books to. Still, when you're an expert yourself you feel the need to look with your own eyes.

I did, that's where I've been since my holiday began, and I must say I was taken back to find that it was, in fact, Jules Verne's First US Edition of Twenty Thousand Leagues. I don't carry the kind of money on me that would be necessary, but after working out some deals... well, I just spent far more money than I really should have on this book, but $10,000+ later, I am now the proud owner of this magnificent find. I don't spend money on much, and as a collector and lover of great literature it was almost a necessity. I think the price tag is worth, and understandable.

I suppose now I'll be eating TV dinners for the next year to make up for it.

This recent blizzard, wow that's weird to type considering I'm in California, has given me plenty of time to paint my living room. So now I'm almost done unpacking and setting up that room and was even able to do a little bit of Christmas decorating. Nothing too big. No tree or anything since it's just me, but a few strings of lights and garland. Despite the fact that I'm not really looking forward to Christmas this year.

So, speaking of snow, anyone know exactly why it's been snowing in only one part of California?