Tom is snoring like a ship’s horn right now. He gave up salt and he thinks it’s helping the swelling in his feet to go down but is going to go back to having meat. He said that hasn’t helped him as much as he thought it would. I still say he’s having too much bread. Having bread on a diet is almost as bad as sugar.

I did the things I usually do. No cleaning today, but I did some laundry, went running, then rearranged the bedroom window coverings. I don’t like to prepare food or cook and so I seldom do. I’m more of a buy-it-ready-made-and-zap-it kinda person. I’m 30% through IT 201 with a score of 86%. Yeah, I dropped out of the 90s. The last lesson I did was tougher.

The dogs have been getting better at barking less often and for shorter periods of time. If they go off this morning (if Jesse goes to work) I’m going to just put music on or something and not sweat it. I know I could stop them anytime I wanted to. I just kind of get a kick out of the idea of him possibly getting hit with another complaint. I swear I hear something running right now and it’s not the train. So maybe he’s getting ready to leave. He did work at the end of last week. Thought I heard the faint thump of a car door, too.

I also swear a helicopter or some other flying thing woke me up this afternoon, but Tom insisted it had to be a dream because there wasn’t a sound. The day before yesterday it was some vibration that woke me up. I miss being on concrete with brick walls! But then again, my sleep is cursed no matter what. Isn’t that part of the idea besides to restrict us financially?

I just worry God’s going to sic a new noise problem on me now that I know how to quiet the dogs.

I only remember dreaming about Jessie and Stacey. Something about playfully demanding Jessie email me. Then something about writing on a post-it that she was to pick up who knew or where. That dream is easy enough to explain, though. Obviously, it stems from the fact that I haven’t heard from her in a while. I hope everything’s ok. I think she did respond to the friend invite I sent from Twitter and that she got signed up there even though she’s not leaving updates herself, but that was after I sent my weight-loss pics. I know she’s busy, I just hope nothing’s wrong.

The Stacey dream was about a letter I got from her which I haven’t a clue as to what it said. I just thought it strange that she only wrote on the bottom half of each page. Then we were talking in person at one point. We sat across from each other at a long table and she told me in a very business-like voice that she had some things of Bob’s to give to me. And even though he’s been dead for nearly 5 years and they never met when he was alive on the other side of the country, spending his last decade in prison.

My teeth have been better the last two days. I think it’s just when I eat sweets that they really flare up. Sweets or overly crunchy foods. Oddly enough, though, and after doing so much better for the longest time in ages, my ear is acting up.

There was so much more I wanted to write about, but then I got sidetracked by some YouTube videos, so I’ll just say that a friend has motivated me to reintroduce myself in my journal, but I don’t know when I’ll do it. I’ve actually been thinking about revamping my bio as it is poorly written. At least the beginning is, in my opinion. I spent so much time learning other languages when I was younger that I kind of neglected my own. I know we’re our own worst critics and if I rewrote it, I’d be saying the same thing 10 years from now. As my writing improves, my past work becomes “poor” in my mind.

Yet I don’t want to relive a lot of shit that’s happened to me, so I may just include bits and pieces of whatever in my regular entries, as opposed to writing a whole separate bio like the first time around.

As for laws on using names, this is what I’ve learned: If someone’s name has already been published elsewhere, the right to privacy is automatically waived and their name can be used in full. The laws also differ when it comes to where you’re publishing your writing and whether or not you’re profiting from it. Although I would never write any threats in my journal (because if someone else harmed the person you threatened, you will at least be hit with the hassles of an investigation), threatening one in a journal, even if it’s made public, is different than threatening someone directly. Also, if I wrote something someone perceived to be untrue, they cannot sue me because 1. it is a journal, and 2. I am not making money from what I’ve said. Yet despite the fact that I can say whatever I please about whoever and use full names, I have opted to get into the habit of using first names only from here on out (or bogus last names) as a courtesy to those I care about. Slipping up and using the last name of someone I dislike or haven’t seen in ages is one thing, but I don’t want to get into any habits that could cause me to accidentally slip up and print the last name of someone I care about. I personally don’t care if my full name is printed – and it has been – because most names have been in phonebooks long before the internet. Initially, I changed my name here, then said what the hell?

I also don’t mind what people have to say about me, be it true or false. As I always said, it isn’t what people say, think, feel, believe or write. It’s what they do. I just don’t have the sensitivity in that department like most people do which is something I could never understand. I can see feeling hurt or anger as a child by what others may think or say about us as we are more insecure when we’re younger. But as adults, does it really matter? I guess everyone’s different and we can’t help what we feel. I just know that for me, the only one whose thoughts and feelings I care about are Tom’s.