Dreamtime- March 22, 2004- Party in Maine

Mom and I were at a party at a nice beach house in Maine. Fictional friends of the family were the hosts. Aunt Ann and her four kids, Missy, Kevin, Donna, and Fran were there. A few of our other friends, Kathy, Helen and Maureen were too.

   We all looked younger, as we did in about 1986. It was a little disappointing that my brother wasn’t part of this storyline. I guess that he was unable to make it to this get-together. I wondered why.

   I was talking to a guy who looked like the actor who plays Jamie on “EastEnders”. I wasn’t even feeling that nervous. We chatted for about 15 minutes before he went outside to play horseshoes with three of the other guests.

    My cousin Kevin accidentally called me Sara instead of Lara; he apologized for this. He told me that my mother and aunt went for a walk.

   I saw Missy but it was so strange that she looked about only 10 years old. In reality, she is only 3 years younger than me so she should be 13 here. Time and other things are often different in the holodeck. She was playing a board game, Parcheesi, with 2 other kids around her age.

   While a boy was taking his turn, she gave me a picture of a dog that she had drawn. I thanked her for this. I folded it in half and put it in my sweater pocket.

   I suddenly felt tired, but it didn’t feel natural. It was almost as if the mean aliens were making me feel this way. I fell asleep on the couch in the rec room. I had put my glasses on the coffee table before doing so. When I woke up about 25 minutes later, I could not find my glasses which made me feel panicky.

   I looked around for about 30 seconds and spotted a pair but these were not mine. Then, in other spots throughout this room there were five more pairs, none of them mine either. I was very upset about this. I went out into the hallway and finally found mine on a table next to a vase of flowers. I was so relieved.

   I guess that this was yet another terrible thing that had been done to me by the aliens who sometimes hack into Sam’s programs. It is twisted that they seem to like upsetting me.

   I went into the living room. Fran and a few others were watching “Magnum P. I.” on a big screen television. I watched it a little while with them and talked to Fran for a bit during the commercials.

   I decided to go outside. On the deck, I saw Helen, Kathy, and a few other people sitting around a picnic table. I talked to them for a little while before taking a walk.

   Only about 10 minutes away from this house was a small restaurant. I wanted to see what it was like so I went inside. I saw Mom and Aunt Ann sitting at one of the tables. That was odd; why would they want to eat here and not at the party?

   I didn’t go over to them right away. I was looking at the photos on the wall. There were some of famous people that had signatures on them. They must have been customers at this place.

     I saw Hall & Oates and Jon Bon Jovi, who looked as he did in the early 1990s. He was wearing a leather jacket, sunglasses, and was sitting on a motorcycle. I couldn’t help thinking “Oh brother”. Even in a family storyline, that guy has to show up in it somehow.

   When I went back towards the table that my aunt and mother were at, they were no longer there. Maybe they had walked back to the house. I started doing so too but could not find it. Had I been going the wrong way and gotten lost? How could I have done that though? Maybe the aliens messed with my sense of direction.

    I turned around and headed the opposite way. I was certain that I was now near the spot in which this home was located, only it was not there anymore. I was feeling both angry and upset. This holodeck program had been kind of cool except for when it was being interfered with by the bullies.

   They had made the house and my friends and family disappear. I was feeling so scared and alone, as I have been in real life. I wasn’t sure what to do next. I checked my sweater pocket; the doggie picture was still in there.

   I sat down on a bench outside of the diner. I was feeling sleepy again so I closed my eyes. When I opened them up a few minutes later, I saw that I was now back in my bedroom on Earth. I noticed a piece of paper on my dresser that hadn’t been there before; it was the drawing that my cousin had made for me.

   I was glad that Sam had let me keep this. I heard his voice in my head telling me that he was sorry that he was unable to prevent the program from being corrupted. He said that he would try to find a way to stop this from happening in the future, but it would be hard because the mean aliens were extremely sneaky and highly intelligent.

"Magnum PI"

Jamie- "EastEnders"

Note- The 2nd photo is from the internet

    

    

Magazines and Papers  

Mike and I would read the Highlights magazines at the dentist’s office; Dad had such a good dental and eye plan at GM. Aunt Ann and Uncle Joe got Mike and me a two year subscription to Ranger Rick as a Christmas gift.

   We got the TV Guide in the 1980s but I can’t remember for how long. I had subscriptions to Seventeen and Young Miss for a couple of years. 

   Mom received Biography for 2 or 3 years. That was a very nice mag. That was sometime in the 90s as was the Walford Gazette, the paper that I got for being in the “EastEnders” fan club for a few years. 

   Dad used to buy the Star and Enquirer. Sometimes, he and grandma would complain about the celebrities in them, as they did when watching “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous”. Mike and I used to read them too.  

   Mike and I delivered a local paper called the Atom Tabloid for a year or two. I think that was in the early 80s.

                                              

                                                                          My Photo

 

 

Below- all are internet photos

 

EastEnders/My VCR Screw-up

My brother and I have been watching this British soap opera off and on since the mid 80s. I do regret giving up on it a few times. I didn't see it when I was living with my aunt for a year and in Pittsburgh for a few months either. It was on a PBS station at midnight and I probably could've tried figuring out how to use my aunt's VCR . It was foolish not to do so.

The episodes here are so far behind, like 7 years. It wasn't always this way. In the beginning it was only 3 - 6 months. They increased the amount of episodes each week over there - I'm pretty sure it went from 2 to 3 then 4. That's only part of the reason it fell behind. PBS pledging and the fact that it went off the one PBS station and wasn't picked up by another for a while.

I would be watching my tape of it right now. It used to be on at 10:oo pm but then it went to midnight which is too late for me to stay up for so I tape it. I put the tape on at 8:30 this morning only to find shows from other stations on it. Unfortunately my VCR capabilities aren't what they used to be before our stupid cable company made it so you had to get the digital converter box. I can no longer tape one thing while watching another so if I forget to change the channel it will tape what's on that. We can't afford DVR so I'm stuck with this system. I am usually very careful to check that the right channel is on. It's unforgivable that I screwed up not just one week but 2 weeks in a row.

I don't even see much of a difference between the picture quality of digital and the way that it used to be - is that called analog. I can't do the multiple channel tapings either. I used to be so good at taping stuff which is what makes my many screw ups of the past few years even more upsetting. I can't remember how long ago we had to get that darn box. Without it we'd only be getting the basic channels. The rip off cable company first made it so you'd need the box for certain cable channels then kept increasing the amount of those channels until finally you need it for all. I could go on and on about this subject but wasn't this post supposed to be mainly about my show?

I have screwed up taping it in the past, like by setting up the wrong times or days like with other shows. I really hate missing any of it especially when there's a storyline that we are really interested in on. The death of the kind of cute Jamie got cut off because I didn't set it for the right ending time. I got to see part of it on You Tube. We like the Kat and Alfie storyline. My brother thinks that I have a crush on Alfie but I don't. Just because he thinks that Kat is hot doesn't mean that I like any of the guys on there. There have been a few kind of cute ones.

I have some books about the show and was also in a fan club based out of NYC for a few years. I would get the Walford Gazette fan newspaper 4 times a year. It wasn't in the budget anymore but I wish that it could've been. I really don't watch American soaps anymore. I used to in the late 70s, the 80s and a couple of different times in the 90s. ABC ones - All My Children, One Life to Live, Ryans Hope and General Hospital - just in the 90s for the latter. I just can't get into the American soaps anymore, not even when James Franco was on GH. I did try watching it again mainly because of him. We do enjoy EastEnders. I just hope that I don't mess up the taping of it again next week.