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Had the most vivid and disturbing dream this morning. Decided to take it easy today.

I'd like the dreams to stop now.

They seemed to be going so well and then...

( Cut for triggers of sudden loss of family member/spouse )

Business is a tad slow at Ciao Bella recently. Hoping this is a temporary lull in business. We do have the best pasta around, after all. Back me up, Damon.

[Katherine]

Care to come over tonight, kitten?

I'm starting to notice some things about my dreams. Number one, I'm a twelve year old boy. Two, I have an older brother that's a yellow talking dog. Three, there's a princess that keeps popping up. I shit you not, her name is Princess Bubblegum. Four, apparently I'm a hero there, because I was sent to get some weird book for heroes.

Crazy stuff, next thing you know I'll probably be dreaming about dancing spaghetti.

I've heard the most interesting stories about this network.

I suppose we're meant to introduce ourselves.

Adam Pierson. Scholar, collector, professor of religious studies. Now, what about all of you?

As far as evil plans go, an Inebriation Ray isn't ... awful, I guess? You tried, AIM. You tried.

Also, why do I keep teaming up with Wade? And why do I miss him?

Thank you to whatever coworker rearranged things on my desk.

You're hilarious. Really. No one has ever done the "move the blind guy's stuff around" trick. My god you're so creative.

It would seem my efforts at vaguely offering an introduction are thwarted by an overhanging and impending sense of doom. I am afraid I do not quite understand why, but extend my curiosities in the hopes of being afforded clarification. This is proving to be an interesting place already, indeed, of which I held little doubt it would.

Greetings and salutations all, I am Vision. You may poke fun at my name as you like, but I assure you: I have already heard them all.

I've lost track of how many times I've seen Avengers Age of Ultron.

I think it's twelve.

Also, Tony totally has the best lines.

I need all my friends who want me to make wedding attire for them to come by Shoegasm so I can measure you. This means you: Ruby, Neal, Pepper, Tony. Am I missing anyone? Are there more engaged folk on here who want a custom bridal gown or tuxedo?

I do shoes, too. Boy, do I do shoes.

For all of you comic book geeks, why not come on down and check out free comic book day? Available at Gray's books for tomorrow only! Limited supply, so don't hang about!
( Read more... )

So uh...this happened today. My best friend Simon would totally geek out over this, so I thought I'd share. I mean...it's an X-Wing in space. Literally!

So, for anyone who doesn't know, I am now a vampire. Have been for about two weeks now. No, I do not talk with a Transylvanian accent all of a sudden and no, I do not turn into a bat or mist or anything like that. Yes, I can go out in the sun because of a certain wizard who generously made me daylight jewelry a few months ago. And no, I'm not going around nomming on people at random. I've been working on my self control, which given who made me in the dreams, is pretty good, if I do say so myself.

So yeah. There it is. Been expecting this for awhile and now it's finally happened.

I hope everyone had an enjoyable Easter.

Mine was wonderful.

Hey, have the dreams given anyone else presents?

Hi, I'm supposed to be Kevin Flynn and apparently I'm a vampire today. Complete with eastern European accent.

at least I don't sparkle

I might have spoiled myself a little today.

It was kind of a stress purchase but I don't really regret it.

I'm a dad.

I'M A DAD.

In my dreams, I mean. I'm a dad, and a husband and OHMYGODHOWDOIEXPLAINTHISTOMYWIFE.

A big "THANK YOU" to everyone who's been helping me pack up the Old Man's house. I bought hundreds of cardboard boxes (okay, not literally) and they've all been filled. Most of them donated. Some stored. Others went straight to the dump. And my own apartment is almost empty now, too, with me taking several trips a day after work in my brother's mini-van. (Yes, my brother drives a mini-van. Yes, he's been mocked for it.)

The point of the story is that I'm exhausted. Not sure I can do much more of this.

Oh, and I need a new vacuum.

So Rach and I are married. Again. Actually this time around it was the 'official' church-y wedding, not the spur-of-the-moment Vegas one we had last year. So all the parents and relations were in attendance and it was awesome. My wife looked gorgeous in her wedding dress, and we had a helluva reception! Yeah we had to cut the honeymoon short due to an emergency but hey, at least we had a honeymoon this time.

Also, my dad gave the most amazing wedding present ever:

He gave me the reigns to ENCOM, officially. He's stepping down, retiring, and passing the torch on to me. I'm now CEO of ENCOM!

Expect a hiring spree, people. As of...now.



I'm serious. Impress me and you got yourself a job at one of the country's biggest and best tech companies.

All right, things have gotten increasingly complicated, both in real life and in my dreams, since I last posted.

First of all, I seem to have been let go. Or 'downsized', is the term they used. Either way I'm once again unemployed, so if anyone needs a good accountant? (Is Stark hiring?)

Secondly, these dreams are getting dangerous. Not for me, fortunately, but for those in my dreams. If you remember, where last we left off, my cousin the Reverend Lord Ezekial D'Ysquith had refused to help me in my mission to join the family, and then insisted on taking me on a tour of the bell tower.

Well it was quite windy up there and the good Reverend found himself off balance, and I found myself in an interesting position. As he reached desperately for my hand, I thought to myself: ... Why not let him fall?

If I chose not to help him back up onto the tour, he could very easily fall to his death. After all, what had this family ever done for me, other than deny my mother her rightful place, and now me mine? And besides, with Ezekial out of the way, there would be only seven heirs between myself and Earldome.

So I simply... took a step back, and let him fall. Easiest thing in the world.

(Please keep in mind that this was myself in my dreams, and the self typing this does not condone such behaviours. Please do not nudge relatives off bell towers, it's in poor taste.)

When I awoke, I found a box containing letters to and from the D'Ysquith family, which seem to have belonged to my mother. Using these letters and my dreams, I've tried to put together something of a family tree.

I learned from last year's mistakes and ordered about a thousand dollars worth of Girl Scout Cookies. You should have seen the look on the troop leader's face.

Now they're using a mini-van to deliver my cookies into the loading bay at Stark Tower.

Waiting for my plane to come home from the Bridal Expo. I need info. Someone tell me what's going on down there??

[Private Message to Kevin]
What was the explosion? That's all I've heard. Was it someone we know? I hate being stuck in Sacramento waiting for a plane when all I want is to be home!

This is quite possibly the strangest thing I've seen Jeff Bridges do. The commercial's okay, but wow, man. That album. Tape. Thing.

Jeff Bridges Sleeping Tapes

I'm still wondering when I'm going to get these dreams. Though from what I hear I don't really want them. But everyone keeps talking about them. I guess I'll either get them or I won't.

[Jer; readable by jessica moore and myrcella b.]
Do you and Myrcella feel like catching a movie with Jess and me?

I woke up to dream gifts!

Tink. It's awesome!

So guess what showed up in the garage today.

( Cut for pic of a sweet ride )

Gotta love it. She showed up after I had a bunch of dreams, new ones (finally!), although they were about the Grid, not this lovely motorcycle but I'm not complaining. I finally got to learn HOW I got out of the damn place! Note to self: base jumping into the head of an AI is CRAZY. So is sticking your hand into an energy beam just to redirect it so the bad guys don't derezz you.

Being a User is kinda badass, gotta admit. I even saved the girl. Heck, TRON and I saved an entire world when you really think about it. Not too shabby for a computer programmer from Paramus, New Jersey.

Man, after this past week, work is so boring and...normal. It's what one gets after seeing what the world inside a computer is like, I guess.

I miss the Grid like crazy. I still keep gesturing in the air expecting code to pop up out of objects.

( So my wife bought this sign and set it up in the house, right?  )

Ugh. I never want turkey again. Ever. Big Thanksgiving means endless leftovers.It was good stuff but I'm done with the trips to tryptophan land.

Also snow day for ENCOM. Because I need an excuse for a lazy post-family day.

I can't seem to stop eating potato chips today. Maybe it's because they're delicious?

I got into a huge fight with my dream!sister last night. In my dreams. When I woke up this morning I called her, but she was already in school. I hung up the phone after talking with my mother, and realized how silly that phone call was.

Definitely the most fun Halloween I've had in a while, and it was all just movies and junk food. But good, (and by good I mean hilariously bad) Horror/Halloween flicks. And it's always fun with friends. Not sure which was more entertaining: Tony's running commentary on the movies or the films themselves.

Weekends definitely aren't long enough. Are we sure we can't just chop the work week by a day or two? No?

Well, enjoy it while you got it.

[Private: Avengers/Friends]
Jarvis 2.0 is up and running.

Going for a fly today.

Wave if you see me overhead.

We're out of controllers for the XBox. They're kinda all in pieces.

Titanfall is paused until this is resolved.

Parker, field trip to Gamestop. Or Walmart. Or whatever's open.

Well there go my anniversary plans for however long this lasts.

So these dreams...

Okay I honestly don't know what's going on but I was out for the count for a little there. (Sorry Tony for drooling on your keyboard).

Had the WORST nightmares ever. Swarms and swarms of Grid Bugs coming after me, and then they'd just start crawling all over and derezzing me slowly. It was horrible. I'm not sure it was painful so much as just...terrifying having pieces of you disappear bit by bit in little digital cubes.

I'm not going near any tech for a week. After this post, I mean.

So...this and this kinda showed up in the house today.

That's in addition to this sucker that arrived in the living room a couple weeks back:


Seems I'm acquiring quite the collection from my dreams.

Speaking of which, let me just tell you, racing digital motorcycles inside a computer is actually way more badass and amazing than in real life. The sheer speed those babies have, and the literal 90 degree turns are intense! Also, pretty deadly. The whole Grid is. Just about anything can derezz you.

So far my dreams have me busting out of the Game Grid and escaping with TRON and RAM. We were on our way to the I/O tower (Input/Output for the uninitiated) to communicate with Alan when RAM died after some tank programs which I programmed from the outside and were used against us! created an avalanche. Poor guy. I don't really know where programs go when they derez, makes for a fascinating philosophical discussion though.

Also, in these dreams I'm now CEO of ENCOM, Lora is leaving the company for bigger and better things, and get this - I created a new Grid with a newer shinier version of C.L.U. and a copied and pasted TRON. Now if my dreams would just tell me how I got out of the first Grid and suddenly became the hero that'd be great.

I'm just gonna say this all here now, before everyone wakes up tomorrow and sees the news plastered everywhere.

Norman Osborn's condition has taken a substantial turn for the worst. OsCorp is continuing research into any possible cures, but, I'm going to be honest here, we all know the old man isn't going to last long enough. As of this Friday, I've officially been named CEO and owner of OsCorp, its acquired assets, and our patents. I plan on remaining here in Orange County, with the new branch, and running the company from here.

[Private to Peter Parker]

Hey, I had more dreams and you're in them. Apparently we're old friends in my dreams.

Wow. Dreams, man. Gotta love 'em.

[Private: Pepper]
You and me, kissing on a rooftop? Possibly the sexiest thing ever. Possibly.

[Private: Steve Rogers, Nick Fury]
It's not all that often that I want to be involved in something, and am turned down. I gotta admit, you stick to your guns, Fury.

That being said, thanks for keeping me in the loop in this world. Anything I can do to help? Suit's had a tune-up and I'm itching for a test run.

What. Is. Up, Orange County? Frequent visitor, first time resident. The name's Peter (not Petey, not Pete, not P-dizzle, it's Peter), I'm from a little town down south y'all probably have never even heard of. So I'll spare you all the Googling.

PS. I own this place called Star-Lord Collectibles, a place where you can get all your hard-to-find collectible needs. Or where you can sell them. And if we don't have what you're looking for, chances are I know how to get it for you. Grand opening is this Saturday, so until then I'll be enjoying the beaches and the babes.

Peter, out.

More dreams last night. They seem to come in long, cluttered batches now. More than before.

But I got to dream about a Phoenix. That's pretty cool, right? Does anyone else dream about those?

So me and the wife went to go see Guardians of the Galaxy at the L.A. red carpet premiere last night. They had a special premiere that apparently coincided with NYC's.

All I can say is AMAZING MOVIE. I plan on seeing it at least a half dozen more times. Totally blew my expectations out of the water. Well done, Marvel, well done.

[OOC: This actually happened, my friend had won tickets, and there was Guardians swag, and I was set to go to the movie, but in NYC it premiered at 11pm. With all the RL stuff going on I couldn't stay. Boo. Oh well, I got free stuff and I have tix for the 31st anyways :D]

More dreams. I have my cat in the dreams at least. Isn't it weird when you wake from a dream, and you miss your friends there? Even though you don't know them in this world?

I had several last night.

I don't think my husband would approve, but I think this may blend our interests perfectly.

So it turns out that my dreams take place in the 80s. I'm talking about the early 80s man. The big hair, the crazy clothes, the music (okay a bunch of music from the 80s is still good stuff). Seems I'm the same age there as I am here, and I own an arcade, just like I have in Vegas. Same name too, "Flynn's". Only this one's crammed with purely 80s stuff.

Seems I'd just gotten fired from the most prestigious tech company around and it's called, (drumroll please): ENCOM. Except my family didn't start it or own it. Some d-bag half bit fellow programmer stole a bunch of games I was creating on the side at my terminal at work, then presents them to ENCOM as HIS creations, and he gets promoted while I get a boot to the ass.

And of course it gets weirder. Me, Lora my ex-girlfriend (from college here and apparently the dreams) and her new boyfriend Alan all decide to break into ENCOM so I can hack the system directly and prove that this Dillinger guy stole my work so I can get my job back. Or reputation. Or both. All seems cool until apparently the computer starts talking to me - like HAL 3000 only with a British accent. It gets pissed off when I enter some halt and catch fire type code and zaps me with something and suddenly I'm somewhere else. A world that's dark with a lot of glowy lines and guards in funky clothes calling everyone "program". I had a feeling I was trapped inside a computer and now I know I was.

I get corralled with a bunch of other programs and trained for "The Games". Whatever that is. Apparently some of these programs have very puntastic names, like RAM. Oh and I meet Alan's program TRON that we were trying to use on the other side of the screen to find my missing data. TRON looks EXACTLY like Alan. I wonder if my CLU program hadn't been destroyed if he'd looked like me if I met him. It. Ugh. I need an aspirin.

So, at the pool today, I found out that I can control water now. In the dreams I've summoned it to help me, like when this one girl was bullying me on a field trip, before I even knew I was a demigod, I summoned water from a nearby fountain and doused her. Then when I started camp and Clarisse was trying to stick my head in the toilet, I caused it to backfire on her. Anyway, it was after the pool closed and I was the only one near the pool and I don't even know why I tried it, but I just stuck my hand out towards the water and all of a sudden, it rose up out of the pool. It was only for a moment or two, but it was pretty freakin' cool. I was gonna try it again, but one of the other lifeguards came out to check if everything was ready to be locked up.

So now, other than being able to breath underwater, I can control it. Do I dare cut myself to see if water will heal me like in the dreams yet?

I dreamt about the summer solstice on the summer solstice. Annabeth, Grover and I ended up succeeding in our quest, but first we almost got killed a few more times, I got a ride from a hammerhead shark, found the Underworld, the winged shoes that Luke gave me tried to pull Grover into Tartarus, we confronted Hades who thought I stole his Helm of Darkness and I realized that Ares tricked me then we had to leave the Underworld without my mother. I wound up fighting Ares and he gave me the Helm, which I sent back to Hades then we went back to New York to Olympus and I gave Zeus the Master Bolt, which had been hidden in my backpack for half the quest.

We went back to camp and I found out my mother was still alive, but I ran into Luke who told me that he'd stolen the Master Bolt and Helm for Kronos. He called up a poisonous scorpion that stung me and would have killed me, but Chiron healed me. We talked about Luke's betrayal then camp ended and Annabeth and I each went home.

I can only imagine what else is gonna happen after this.

I also found my camp necklace next to my bed this morning. It's got a couple of beads on it, but I only recognize the Trident, which signifies me coming to camp. The others must be future beads that I figure I'll find out what they mean as I have more dreams.

In real life, I've now got a job as a lifeguard at a nearby pool and an internship at ENCOM! To say that I'm really excited is an understatement. And then I'm somehow going with Annabeth to Scotland at the end of the month. Should be a lot of fun.

Father's Day: a day spent honoring fathers and all they've done for their families. Get dad some fun gifts he'll probably not use, chill out, maybe barbecue for him, or play golf or whatever.

Flynn Version of Father's Day: Dad firing the nurse that's been taking care of him at home and demanding I take him out to dinner at the most expensive restaurant in town, only to hear him chew my ear off - in front of my mother and my wife about why the hell did I get married in Vegas instead of doing it 'properly' and why weren't he and my mom invited.

At least he waited until dessert to say it. Made it easier for me and Rachel to peace out.

E3 was pretty amazing this year. Not looking forward to getting back to work on Monday, but I am looking forward to getting a good night's sleep after the conference.