Survival

I had a dream last night, and I'll try to relay it in a way that makes sense. I'll also be a little descriptive because it would make a decent story.

Travis and I against the world. Our goal is the ship. It was beautiful to behold with lights all around. We packed all the food we could, along with fishing supplies. Hope, the promise of something better than what was coming. Fear was so real you could almost grasp it. The ships were doomed to fail, at least ours was. I'm not sure what happened, but suddenly everything was wrong. We followed the prompting to leave the ship and seek a new place. We found an abandoned grocery store, the shelves were cleared, the food was gone. Yet, a glimmer of hope, we find an abundance of seeds to grow because society does not find them useful. Seeds would mean the hope of living on. Apparently the world is full of idiots. We headed north to familiar land, one we knew well. We followed the ships along the shore as best we could. They were beautiful in the distance, and they were the only lights in the darkness. We watch them pass out of sight, never to be heard from again.

Unsure of how the days passed or how we made it, we miraculously found the place full of love and memories. My in-law's home. We decided to move in and provided them with all the seeds we had. The world made us comfortable, we knew little more than what we know now. The neighboring lot was empty, so we tore down the fence for more land. Soon the neighbors were willing to knock down their fences, their barriers, their only protection from the cruelty of the world, just so they could live. We create a village of sorts, with barbaric measures to keep out the evil. We make promises, we make rules. We do not tolerate crime. It is a world of fear, but we have a haven in living hell. Grocery stores are locked down and guarded by armed criminals. Many times we fight off unwanted thieves that threaten the only hope we have. We prevail. Our family offers games to forget that we are struggling to simply survive. It's impressive how happy we all can be. We invite those in our colony/village/community, which is about three other families, to pray with us. Soon, peace is felt by all. We are making plans for the future, about how to expand our land as our families grow....

I woke up.

-Heather

Oh dream spaces....

What do cute young Cockatiels, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and zombies have in common? Apparently my mind was trying to figure that out before it decided to wake me this morning at a ripe hour of five. Usually my dreams are a source of happiness or inspirations. I love my dreams...but last night I had a nightmare. As with all nightmares it was gripping and suspenseful, but what I hate most about my nightmares is the nagging fear behind everything. I would die of a coronary if I lived in a world that you could never relax in. It's almost beside the point that zombies freak me out more than any other dumb idea people have come up with. Whether it be "Night of the Living Dead" or African tribes that invented the idea of living dead flesh eaters, but whoever it was needs a swift kick in the face! The last rated R movie I watched, which was still in theaters at the time, was Zombieland. Even though the crowd I was with, I won't mention any names, thought the spoof and overkill of gore was hilarious I was thoroughly scared. I think it's the idea that the Plan of Salvation somehow goes awry or God contradicts himself, which is completely ridiculous. It's not just the fact that someone wants to eat me. It's the dead part that gets me.

It all started when my parents entrusted Bradley to take me to a movie with him and his loser friends. I use the term loser semi-kindly in this circumstance. Since he doesn't hang out with them much anymore I'm sure I could officially deem them losers, but I won't do so out of the kindness of my heart. Back to the story, if I recall (details are kinda hazy), the parents I belong to wanted to see a movie that I would find boring or inappropriate. Bradley and his troupe were put in charge of me to take me to see Scooby-Doo. Instead of doing the nice thing though, like LOSERS, they decided to take me to see Dawn of the Dead. Most of the movie was spent with my head burrowed in the seat. I remember the beginning, a few parts in the middle, and the end. Not much of an ending in my opinion. Bradley was a nice brother and I knew he'd get in trouble if I said anything. I didn't offer up any details about Scooby and his latest adventure, and my parents didn't ask I suppose. I had nightmares for about three months(it was probably only a week or so), and I would cry at the thought of my mom turning off my bedroom lamp. My parents were baffled as to why I was having nightmares every single night consistently. At some point my mom pressured me into revealing that Bradley took me to see a bad movie. I begged her not to punish him. I remember her lecturing him and making him apologize, I think she even dragged him out of bed to make him see how upset this movie made me. It took a while to get over it and I usually laugh at the thought, but in my dreams they're the worst concept ever.

My zombie craze has subsided thus far, but I want to punch the staff at the local library. I was looking for Hunger Games because it was a big deal and I wanted to see what it was all about. When I went to the Loveland library to find it, I learned it was out and I would become part of a long waiting list. Never again will I ask for advice on books from strangers. I wanted an appropriate, clean, good book. She thought I was looking for a post-apocalyptic book. Needless to say "The Forest of Hands and Teeth" is not about a scary forest. That's right my dear friends, idiots write about zombies. WRITE! It's bad enough they plague movies. If the book had a happy ending of some kind I'd still not recommend it, but it did not. I skipped a lot, and I hated the main character. It's one thing for a character to not know what they want, but this girl seriously had no earthly idea what she wanted out of her pointless zombie fearing life. First she wanted this, then for a brief second was happy with what she had, then she started wanting something else. It was ridiculous. And they made a sequel! With the main characters indecisive daughter. Go figure. I only read the end of that one. I was in Sterling, Colorado for two days with Travis so I had nothing better to do than kinda read two 800+ page zombie lore. He used to work for Hostess as a relief driver so he would sometimes have to travel. It was fun though, and I learned how to entertain myself in a hotel. First you wake up too early for the free breakfast, watch the Today show, take nap. By the time I was an hour into reading Travis would show up, so it wasn't too difficult to amuse myself. Million dollar advice I tell you.

Hope you were amused dear friend,
-You know who

I Need Glasses

No offense to all my wonderful beautiful friends who wear glasses, but I've always enjoyed perfect vision. A few months ago I began using my eyes more to focus on closeup things. I got back into drawing, blogging, and one of my favorite things, reading news articles. Apparently I'm farsighted. Normally this isn't a issue because my eyes are able to focus on everything they need to. The only issue I have now is I can see everything, it just hurts my eyes to see it. My eyes are straining so hard they are in pain, which sucks. I know the difference between a migraine and eye pain. Yesterday I went to the doctor about it and described what I was feeling. He said I'm probably far sighted, and when we began testing I'm sure he was thinking to himself "I am soo smart".

Which is better, one or two, two or three, three or four, five or six? I felt like I was going to go crazy if that lasted any longer. Getting lenses is no fun. On the bright side my eye pains are going to go away. The doctor said my prescription is so mild that it won't seem like a big deal, but it'll make "your quality of life better". Buwahahaha. I laughed out loud when he said that, and I told him that sounded like an infomercial. Luckily he was very nice about the fact that I almost started crying while informing him I misread a road sign.

I don't know I guess I always associated glasses with...negative feelings? And once again an unexpected blessing. I once had prescription reading glasses, what a coincidence headaches from reading, and I loved the frames. So now I don't have to shop around or worry about paying for cool looking frames. They only charge you ten bucks to use frames you bring in yourself. I'll post pictures when I get them, but for now I'm gonna post pictures of frames that make fashion statements. Mine are thick black rimmed, and totally scene. Love this haircut below too. 

This is Michelle Phan, and I love her makeup tutorials. This is one of her makeup looks specifically for girls who wear glasses. Don't be surprised if you see me sporting this look with purple instead of blue and with slightly smaller frames. I recommend her if you want a new look to dress up for a date.

I am making a promise to myself that I will appreciate my eyes even if they are slightly hidden by glasses. It's all for the better anyways. I would love to not have my eyes hurt anymore. AND if all else fails, at least Travis and most of my wonderful friends will think I'm cute. Which is a comfort on my "I got a hit by a truck" days.

Thanks for the love

-Heather Rand.

Resolutions are...

Dumb. To be honest, I don't make resolutions because if I can't change an issue in the middle of the year I won't fix it ever. Although, I completely agree with making spiritual resolutions. I did however make one single resolution. And that is...*drum roll please....to stay happy.

I want to be happy, so I have no doubt that I can convince myself to stay happy.

To start out the New Year, I have done many fun things. I enjoyed time with family and bonded over Wii Bowling. I even almost cut off Cody's hair wrong (I'm good with stuff so I blended it so you can't even tell). I even went to Barnes and Noble to enjoy the $31 dollars left on a gift card. A customer at the dairy kindly gave it to us as a gift. I got an art book, and a sketchbook. Now I can draw more. I'm pretty excited about it all. I got plenty of cool things for Christmas to play with. I feel like I have a billion mediums for my artistic endeavors. My eyes are a palate for makeup, my hair can be it's own canvas, not to mention the obvious artsy gifts of yarn and canvas. This is year of the art for me.

I would love to make some spiritual fixes, but a new year isn't my motivation. And I'm sure I could easily make a giant list of things to improve upon, but I won't bore you with my flaws. They are many. But one I will share, I plan to study the Sunday school lesson prior to Sunday whether or not we're going to be in primary.