Dream, Blue's Clues, and Memory: Harry Potter Party 2007

This blog entry has a very long title, I know; but there are many things that I have to say.
First of all, last night was eventful for two things: my lack of sleep, and the dream that I had in the bit of sleep that I did get. I was up quite late, working on the previous night's blog, while my dad and Heather were watching the news in the next room; I don't know if it was local or national news, but I heard the phrase "escaped from prison. . .two rapists and a killer on the loose" and was immediately (and possibly unnecessarily) concerned. That night, when I finally went upstairs to bed, I spent a few minutes taking stuff from around my bedroom to put in the bag I'd be taking to my mom's the next day. I came across this Bible that I have in my room, and because I didn't feel all that tired, I opened it to some random page in the Old Testament and read this depressing story from the book of Samuel about one of David's sons (Amnon) raping one of David's daughters (Tarram), and later being killed by his brother (Absalom). So, you can gather from the summary that it wasn't the sunniest story to go to sleep to. I lay in bed after I had turned off the lights, listening to the thunder and trying to remember if I had locked the front and back door. However, I was too stubborn to get out of bed, go back downstairs, and check. And, this is a selfish thought, but if someone were to break in, my bedroom is the first one you come to once you go up our front stairs; Hope's bedroom is next, and the master bedroom that my dad and Heather share is at the very end of the hall, and all the dogs sleep with them, so I wouldn't even be able to rely on one of them for defense right away.
Anyways, I finally did go to sleep, and I had the weirdest dream; in the first part, Alexis, Shannon, Elizabeth, and I were standing at the front of Mr. Holbrook's class, about to present our decade project again. Shannon was the only one who was dressed for it, and she was wearing some male outfit that I don't even think was from the thirties; I didn't have any 1930's clothes, so I asked Mr. Holbrook if we would be counted off for not dressing up. He said, "No, since I put you on the spot." and we proceeded to begin our presentation (this time without any technical difficulties).
In the next dream, Heather was picking me up from the side of First Street near Five Points. I climbed into the passenger seat of her car, and noticed that there was an unfamiliar lady in the backseat with a dog sitting in her purse; Heather saw me looking at her and said, "Oh, Robyn; this is Britney Spears; she and her dog needed a ride." and I was like, "Oh." I looked at her fluffy dog, sitting in the purse, and to make conversation, I asked, "What kind of dog is that?" to which she responded, "She's a shih tzoodle (pronounced shizoodle), a mix between a shih tzu and a poodle." and I said, "Wow." Now that I'm awake, I don't even know if there's such a thing as a shih tzoodle, but I might become famous some day for suggesting that name for the new breed.
Today, when my mom picked me up, she delivered bad news: my great grandma was recently hospitalized, and though she's out now, her condition was worse than she had thought it would be, and the effects take away from her overall independence that's always defined her. We wrote her a letter, as we can't go down to Florida to see her now, and we're going to send her some pictures from our vacation.
Beyond this, we went out to eat at La Caretta today, where I suspect our waiter was trying to flirt with us; my mom didn't believe me until he lingered at our table before taking our plates away, and asked us where we lived and other odd things. After this, she looked at me and said, "Yeah, now's a good time to leave."
Then, we went to the hot guy movie store in an attempt to rent Coraline, which we did eventually. We will be watching it tonight.

Somehow, Steve Burns came up in conversation today (the "Blue's Clues" host who is so much cooler than Joe) and my mom and I wanted to figure out what really happened to him (after he left "Blue's Clues," there were all these different rumors that he died from a heroin overdose and that he killed himself). We looked him up on wikipedia and found out that he merely shaved his head, started a band, and has been in an indie vampire movie called "Netherbeast Incorporated" since his departure from the show. After reading this, there was a collective sigh of relief, "Whew."

Now for the memory: I spent the entirety of the summer of 2007 in Florida, as my mom had to move there temporarily for reasons concerning complications with our old apartment. We stayed with my grandmother in her house, which happens to be right next door to my great grandmother's house; I spent a lot of that summer over at my great grandma's house while my mom was at work, learning how to knit and hanging out with her and my great Uncle Bud as they watched "Reba" and other television shows. I spent many nights in the bookstore Books-A-Million with my mom, uncle, cousins, and grandma, the latter reading and taking hours to drink one cup of coffee, my uncle and mom conversing, and my cousins and I taking the quizzes in girly magazines like "Tiger Beat" and "Seventeen." My mother, that summer, became reunited with one of her old high school friends, Ralph, and his daughter Gabby and I became friends. The four of us would walk on the beach occasionally at night, and would go to the end of the pier as a group, where in the darkness of evening the horizon couldn't even be made out; it was though you were looking into a breathing, black chasm, an eternity of churning black water.
Well, one night, in July, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows made its first appearance in bookstores, and my grandma had reserved a copy for me. There would be a party that night at Books-A-Million, which would last until midnight, when the books would finally be distributed; if I'm correct, this party took place on July 30, and of course, when the clock struck midnight, it was the 31, or Harry Potter's birthday. Gabby would be getting a book as well, so that night, my mom and Ralph took Gabby, another two friends of her's, and I to the bookstore, which was decorated lavishly for the occasion. There was a large television in the cafe where they were playing all of the Harry Potter movies chronologically. Almost everyone had dressed up (which Gabby and I had neglected to do; I was wearing red plaid shorts and a Misfits skeleton t-shirt) and we soon found out that there was to be a costume contest later on.
Gabby ran off to find her friend, and in her absence, I found this super-pretty guy walking around in what looked like a fur cape; he was tall-ish, black-haired, skinny, and pale. He wore black eye make-up and pale powder (I think) as part of his costume. Under the cape he wore a black-and-white striped ripped t-shirt and black pants. I had no clue what he was supposed to be dressed up as at first.
Later, when Gabby came back, I pointed him out to her, and she nearly squealed. "We should go talk to him." she said, and we spent the next few minutes plotting how we might do this. Then, someone announced over the speakers that it was time for the costume contest, and people began to flock towards the back of the bookstore. Gabby saw the pale boy at the back of the line, said, "I'm dressed up as J. K. Rowling," and made a beeline for the place behind him. I followed her, assuming the same identity, and stood beside her. He turned, noticed a key chain that Gabby had hanging around her neck, and said something about it. Then he noticed me, and said something like, "Your hair's freaking awesome." and I was taken aback. "Thanks." I said. He then proceeded to tell me that he had once had his hair cut like mine, but that it didn't look as cool. We asked him what he was dressed up as, to which he responded, "A Death Eater."
Then, as the contest began, Gabby and I fled from the line, and did not see him again until they announced the winners, who would be the first to receive their books. In the meantime, we walked around the bookstore, observing all of the Harry Potter nerds that had met there besides ourselves; there was this little station there for smaller children where they could decorate felt wands. Then, we were taken by surprise when a girl we had seen earlier that was about our age ran up, brandishing a wand at us; she shouted, "Expelliarmus!" and stood there blankly as if she expected us to do something. In response to our lack of response, she said, exasperated, "You're supposed to fall down." Gabby, who seemed to be lost for words, said, "Well yeah, but I blocked it. Protego!" Then we ran off and laughed really hard about the whole thing.
Then some of the bookstore workers began to announce the winners of the costume contest. Hearing the names, we headed to the front of the line to see if the mysterious boy had been one of the winners, and as we thought, he was the second in line. "So, you're Steve?" I asked, remembering that that was one of the names announced. "Nope." he shook his head, "I'm Kadie (I don't know if this is how he spelled it)." and I was once again taken aback, as I had heard the name Kadie announced, though I didn't think it was his name.
After receiving our books, Gabby and I left. I stayed up until about 2:00 a.m. reading mine.