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I had a relaxing and enjoyable Independence Day weekend. With all that’s been going on it was good to have a weekend with no stress and no traveling. I kept Bailey this weekend and having him around kept me from sitting around all day. I took him walking and took him outside from time to time…when it wasn’t raining that is.

What else did I do? I finished reading a book and started on a new one. I watched some good DVDs. I beat a video game. I cleaned up. I did whole bunch of other miscellaneous stuff that I’ve been putting off.

Weekends can be fun and productive at the same time. I didn’t even want to come back to work today. I’ve been away from work more than I’ve been at work lately. Back to work

My grandmother passed away this past Sunday. We called her Ma’dea. She was 88 years old. Her funeral was Thursday in Bolton, MS.

I lived with my grandparents from the time I was 6 weeks old until I was 14, though I spent weekends and holidays with my mother. My grandmother played a part in raising a lot of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren (currently numbering 21 and 24 respectively). She was a very kind woman and was always willing to help people out. She had a great sense of humor. She joked a lot and played pranks on us grandchildren. I can’t remember ever having anything negative to say about her. She is greatly missed.

Well, not brand new but new to me. I finally got a new car yesterday.

My mom’s car was stolen recently and when she got it back it was in pretty bad shape. Since I had planned on getting a new car in the near future, I let her have the old car that I had been driving since 1999 until she’s ready to get something else. I just had to get a new car earlier than I had planned, but oh well.

My new car is a gray Nissan Altima. I realized today that a lot of people around here drive Altimas, probably because MSU employees get discounts on Nissan cars. It had 29000 miles on it. It drives well. It has a lot of room. It’s great for me. The previous owner left his Sirius satellite radio receiver in the car and it’s still activated. It’s not something I would have bought on my own, but since it’s there I’m going to use it. When it gets deactivated, I’ll start up my own account.

Anyway, I’m happy and I’m itching to go on a road trip.

Bailey is my former roommates’ dog. Yes, he was named after the drink. We got him last September when he was about 2 months old. I always took care of him when everybody else was gone. He is a cool dog and the best dog I’ve ever known. This past weekend it was time for Bailey to move away too. I hope I’ll get to see him from time to time. Unfortunately, most of these pictures were taken with my phone, which doesn’t take good pictures.

Dream time again.

In this dream I was driving to Brandon to visit John. Somehow I made a wrong turn and drove my car into a body of water. I escaped from the car and got out of the water. I soon realized that I had ended up in Vicksburg and that I had driven into the Mississippi River. It was pouring down rain and the river was flooding. I walked down a road trying to find a place where I could call for help. I finally came to a McDonald’s out in the middle of nowhere and surrounded by trees. It was small, cramped little place on the inside. There were many freaky-looking people there. I placed an order and then sat down at an empty table to wait for them to fix my food. Everybody was looking at me funny for some reason. Then I woke up.

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I bought a set of CUTCO knives last summer and I’m so glad that I did. I’ve never had good cutlery like this. They are so sharp. I get a little nervous about hurting myself sometimes because of how sharp they are. If I did accidentally cut something off, I’m sure it would be such a clean cut that it could easily be reattached. Just having the knives around makes me want to cook more. Hopefully in the near future I’ll get back in the habit of cooking on a regular basis (I’ve been saying that since last summer). Maybe I’ll get some forks and spoons next.

Today, my roommate and friend John is leaving Starkville. He got a new job in Jackson and will be living in Brandon. His first day is on Monday. I’m glad that he’s starting on a career and that he’ll be getting out of Starkville, but I’m going to miss having him around. The good thing is that he’s not that far away and we’ll probably be able to meet up from time to time. Just reminiscing right now.

I had some more weird dreams the night before last.

In one dream I was at Northpark Mall in Ridgeland with my sister and brother-in-law. When it was time to go, I left them to return to my car, which was in a parking garage even though in reality there are no parking garages at the mall. I discovered that a gang had taken over the parking garage and they were all pointing guns at me. I asked some of them if I could go to my car and they directed me which way to go. They were sending me through door after door and it became obvious that they weren’t taking me to my car. When I tried to get away somebody pulled out a knife and stabbed me. That’s when I woke up.

The next dream had me in some kind of scavenger hunt/contest where each clue would send my team to our next destination where we would find another clue and so on…. It reminds me of that show Drive, which not many people saw. My team was trying to figure out where we needed to go next. I thought I was begin clever in the way that I interpreted the clue we were working on, but it turns out that I led my team into a trap. The bad guy that was holding us said that one of us had to die. He drew a random number and that was the number 6. Guess what? The number 6 was my number. I was taken into a room with a toilet. A tablet dropped into the toilet from the ceiling and the room began to fill with gas. That’s when I woke up.

Weird, huh? It makes me think of that song “Mad World”:
And I find it kind of funny
I find it kind of sad
The dreams in which I’m dying
Are the best I’ve ever had

I wouldn’t say they are the best, but they are interesting. I also had a dream about playing Lost Odyssey that night. I bought it a couple of weeks ago, but still haven’t played it.

Bad things seem to happen in 3s.

In early January my roommate John and I were going to check out the sushi place in the recently reopened Student Union on campus. A guy driving the other way turned in front of us and the cars collided. The collision was pretty scary. At one point I thought that the car was flipping over, but afterwards I knew that it didn’t happen. It was totally the other guy’s fault. John was driving and his car was totaled. His toe was broken and I came out of it a little sore. The other guy and his passenger were okay as far as I know.

At the end of February, guy broke into my mom’s house and attacked her. She fought him the whole time. She wasn’t seriously hurt but she was really shaken up by the whole thing. The guy who did it lived only a few blocks away. Mom recognized him as someone who she had seen walking down the street one day when she went to check the mail. The police knew that this guy had been going around committing lewd acts like flashing to elderly women. He’s in jail now and hopefully he’ll be there for a long time.

At the end of March my grandmother fell and broke her hip. They were going to perform a hip replacement surgery and they discovered that she had suffered a heart attack. She suffered another heart attack while they were testing her. She went into a “risky” surgery and they removed a blockage that was causing the heart attacks. She’s doing better now. She had the hip replacement surgery last week and is now undergoing rehab.

I’m hoping that this month will continue to be pretty stress-free.

Today is Tax Day. I started on my return online a couple on months ago. I realized that I was going to owe the IRS for the first time, so of course I’m waited until the last day to pay them. I just finished my return.

I’m going to celebrate Tax Day by buying a PS3. I’m not buying any games. I just want to use it to watch movies. I’m not sure that I’ll buy any Blu-ray DVDs anytime soon, but I’ll rent some.