Cassie's Journal - October 30, 2013

My plans for an early bedtime didn’t exactly work out today, but that’s alright; because I traded that off for spending the night at Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne’s while taking care of Zack for them.

While they have lots of willing volunteers to help them, I don’t feel as if I’m doing enough; and I really haven’t spent enough time with Zack.  I know, he’s only two and a half weeks old, but he’ll be too cool for cuddling or hanging out with his girl cousins way too soon; so I need to enjoy moments like tonight while I can – even though Aunt Leanne is teasing me about putting her baby in imminent danger from cuddling with me.

I don’t think you have to worry about Zack dating anytime in the immediate future, Aunt Leanne; so don’t book the church for his wedding.

There isn’t really much to write about from the rest of my day.  The rain has continued pretty much all day with little breaks now and then; and every kid in town is hoping the weather will cooperate for going trick-or-treating tomorrow night.  A second indoor day in a row at school kept the enthusiasm level lower than normal for the day before a big fun day or holiday; and Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I spent most of our lunch break in the music room.  Our after-school study session was at Tim’s house instead of in the conference room at Landry’s Auto; mostly because we didn’t have much to get done, and Tim wanted to play video games with the bit of extra time we had before Michael, Rowen, and I needed to get to our part-time jobs.

I worked in the office after getting home until it was time for dinner; and Ethan and Ehlana did some homework while giving me their birthday party and sleepover reports.  They needed to give those reports to Dad again while we had dinner; and then I helped with the clean-up before going up to my room to pack an overnight bag for my own impending sleepover.  Mom did a short Magi lesson with me and gave me some bonus archive homework before it was time for me to go over to Aunt Leanne and Uncle Adam’s house for the night.

Grandma and Grandpa were there and had been helping out with the early evening shift.  That may seem like too much family for some people reading this, but even with two doctors in town now, Uncle Adam puts in a lot of long days with his work; and we’re going to make sure that he and Aunt Leanne don’t burn out from too little sleep – especially since Zack likes to party off and on all night.  I wonder if he gets that from the same place Chris and Martin get their night owl gene from.

Aunt Leanne stayed up until after the nine o’clock feeding, and then went to bed when Grandma and Grandpa went home for the night.  Uncle Adam stayed up a bit later than that to do some work in their office, but he was out for the count before Zack woke up for his next feeding; and I was able to take care of that without waking either of them thanks to using some shielding that I kept around Zack and me while moving around the house.  He stayed awake for about an hour and a half before going to sleep again; and I’ve been working on my computer since then.  All of my studying and archive research is finished, and I worked on a family business project for a while too before moving on to this update.  I haven’t done my final computer checks yet, but wanted to get this out of the way; since I expect Zack will be awake again soon for his next feeding.

I’ll need to wake Aunt Leanne for that, but then we should all be able to sleep until morning once we get Zack back to sleep again – as long as he doesn’t want to talk and cuddle for another hour or two.  If he does do that, though, I may just take both of us into a time-phase until he falls asleep.  I wonder if any other Magi Masters have used time-phasing for that before?  Maybe I’d better wait and check that out with Mom first before experimenting on the effects that might have on babies.  Aunt Leanne might not like it if she wakes up in the morning with a toddler-aged kid where her baby was when she went to sleep!

Just kidding – I know that wouldn’t happen; but the idea is Halloween scary-funny.

That’s a fun thought to wrap this up with, so I’m going to move on now; and hopefully be sleeping soon.

Live long and prosper, fellow Magi of the Light!

Cassie's Journal - October 29, 2013

Happy 2^nd Birthday, Aiden!

I haven’t even seen Aiden today, but Michael and I sent a gift for him with Ethan and Ehlana; and Ethan is spending the night there while Ehlana is doing a sleepover at Naomi’s house.

While my brother and sister have been in birthday party mode with their best friends; I’ve had a busy day too.  Tai Chi first thing this morning was about the only real quiet time I had through until I climbed into bed with Mandy tonight and started my nightly computing and studies.  It had started raining sometime during my nap last night, and that meant taking a little extra time to be ready for a very wet walk to school.  Yes, getting a ride would have been an option, but I don’t melt in the rain; and Mom and Dad both had enough on the go without adding more to their schedule – no matter how un-cool raincoats are for teens.

While we’re on that subject, I should mention that even Michael is not immune to making the bad decision to play it cool instead of staying dry – though he did at least have an umbrella; and had his computer, bookbag, and saxophone case protected from the rain.  I’ll pick being dry and getting teased about being nerdy over spending half the morning cold and damp every time.  Oh yeah, and they’re called boots, guys.  Learn to love them instead of being stuck wearing soaked trainers all day – especially since you’re not the only one who doesn’t appreciate that wet-sweaty-shoe smell in confined spaces.

Moving along, even with Halloween now just two days away, the rain dampened the mood around school a bit, and I don’t really have much of particular interest to report; though we were kept busy during all of our classes.  Nothing we did was quite as exciting as Zombie Dodge Ball was yesterday afternoon, but music class and band were fun; and so was the noon play time that Michael and I had with his cousin, Jessica, and a few of her friends after we’d all eaten our lunches.  Tim and Rowen had stayed with the couples club for the rest of that break, but Michael and I had planned on another music practice and had gone to do that before being diverted – and drafted – by Jessica.

It was still raining when we were finished our band practice, though it wasn’t coming down all that hard; and we didn’t need to go full-nerd for the walk to the computer store – not that Michael and Tim would have done that anyway.  We didn’t have a lot of homework to do, and since Tim didn’t have any football opportunities today; he’d already done about half of his while waiting for us and watching the football team practice in the rain from the safety and warmth of the cafeteria.  That worked out for all of us, because Michael and I didn’t have all that much time left between band practice and when we needed to be at his house for dinner.

Rebecca had invited Jason, so we had six for dinner; and I’m not quite sure how I feel about how everything went tonight.  We had a lot of fun tonight, and nothing weird or bad happened at all; but I can’t shake the sense that Jason doesn’t feel the way I do about spending time with Rebecca’s family.  He loved the food – especially since Jacob had cooked up his personal favorite – and loved talking football with Jacob and Michael while we ate.  Being on the clean-up crew didn’t impress him at all, and I honestly wouldn’t be surprised to find out that he never did dishes at home unless he was totally faking his lack of skill and basic kitchen knowledge.  Michael didn’t like getting razzed about being highly trained, but he laughed along with Jason jokes anyway.  I’ll take a wild guess that Jason won’t be stopping by to help Rebecca at the Inn just to spend extra time with her anytime soon – or ever.

Michael and I went up to his room after we’d finished in the kitchen and spent more than an hour playing music.  We had a guitar lesson first, and then played our saxophones for a while.  We followed that up with a short, non-verbal sort of chat; and then went downstairs to hang out in the living room with his parents, Rebecca, and Jason.  Miranda still teased us that we shouldn’t save up all of the rests for the end of our music practices; but we mostly spent the rest of our evening talking sports again while half-watching television.

I haven’t mentioned this before, but Miranda and Jacob are cuddlers – just as my parents are – so they always snuggle together when relaxing in the living room.  The reason I bring that up is because Jason kept looking at them like they were aliens, and while I know that lots of parents don’t do that, and my friends think that my parents are an exception because they’re practically still newlyweds; I don’t get why most kids and teens wouldn’t look at that and hope they get to be so lucky when they’re ‘old and married with kids’.

I sure hope that I will be!

Jason certainly thought that I was an alien – or at least a Stepford kid – when I got ready to head home way earlier than his weekday curfew required, but my night wasn’t over, and even if I could stay later; I don’t like getting in the way of the early bedtimes that Jacob and Miranda need to have when they need to be up so early and get to the Inn.  Michael may have gotten razzed about walking me out to the front porch after he went inside again too; but the goodnight kiss was worth it – at least from my perspective.

I ran home through the rain, and since Ethan and Ehlana were out for the night; I was able to do my Magi lesson with Mom right away.  We did that in the office, and then Mom and Dad went up to bed when I came up to my room.  Let’s not think about what they’ve been doing since then with their two-thirds kid-free night – or before I got home – but I’m glad that they’ve had a good night too.

If you’re currently thinking that I’m being inconsistent, considering my comments about cuddling parents; I’m not.  Let’s just say that my personal comfort line with this is that I don’t want to see my parents – or Michael’s – doing anything around us that we wouldn’t want them seeing us doing.  I don’t need to know the intimate details either; but that doesn’t mean I don’t still want to have that kind of a relationship with my future husband – because I definitely do want that a lot.  I’m fairly sure that happily ever after isn’t supposed to mean ‘or until you get old and have kids’.

Okay, that’s enough of that – let’s move along.

While my parents were, um, busy; I started out by having a soak in my Jacuzzi while multi-tasking my language studies.  I had chats with Michael and Rowen too, but only via text messages – no matter how much Michael would have loved a video chat while I was in the tub.  He was having a hard enough time dealing with just knowing that I was naked while sending text messages back and forth.  Rowen thought that was hilarious, and I’m glad that the two chats were separate; since she needed to entertain me with a litany of jokes that almost all had at least something to do with a play on the words ‘hard time’.

Those chats have a lot to do with why my thoughts keep drifting back to Michael and me – and the lack of play time for us.  That isn’t going to change over the next three days for sure; but I’m seriously thinking about kidnapping him for a few hours sometime this weekend – even if that’s on his Sunday afternoon break.  Now that’s a fun thought to drift off to sleep with, and I don’t have anything else so exciting to write about that I can’t wrap this up and move on into some very happy dreams, so...

...Live long and prosper, fellow Magi of the Light!

Cassie's Journal - October 28, 2013

I expected to have a lull in the Halloween fun for the next couple of days, but that didn’t really happen – either at school or here at home.

While we had something Halloween-related going on in every class today; Phys-Ed won unanimously for most entertaining part of the day.  Zombie Dodge Ball takes the classic game to a whole new level, and is the only version of the game I’ve ever seen where the guys wanted to get hit so they could become one of the zombies – and mostly chase the girls around.  Of course they had to do that in the ‘slow zombie’ mode, but playing the game in half of the gymnasium made it tough to dodge the ball and the zombies by the time we got to the end of the game.

If you’re wondering who won, all you need to remember is that I really like to win; and have wicked-cool math skills.  Rowen did pretty well too until Tim started munching on her ‘brains’.  Michael came in second place, and I felt a little twinge of regret for being the one to turn him into a zombie, but he’d never want me to hold back or let him win; and I think he only regretted not being able to play zombie longer.

Halloween was the top chat topic at school all day, but football was a close second for the guys.  The last regular season game in on Friday, and though our team is in the playoffs regardless of what happens; everyone knows that Kyle doesn’t want to lose the chance for an unbeaten season in the last game – especially since it could also make a difference for how long we’d get to be the home team during the post-season.  Michael and Tim will be going to that game with Tim’s father, uncle, and aunt; but Rowen and I are not going with them.

While we’re not going to be doing football with them this Friday night, they came home with us after school; and we did our homework in the lounge before taking Ethan and Ehlana over to the park so the boys could play football; and we could all have some playground fun time after that.  We only had about an hour before Michael and I needed to have Ethan and Ehlana home again because Mom and Dad had invited the Stone family over for dinner and a pumpkin-carving adventure.

Rowen and Tim only came back with us long enough to grab their computers and book bags before heading out again; and Michael and I pitched in to help Mom with making dinner and setting the dining room table while the twins supervised and entertained us.  The fun level kicked up several notches when Jacob, Miranda, and Rebecca joined us shortly before Dad got home from the office.  We really don’t get to spend time with both of our families very often; and I know that Michael loved getting to spend a few hours together with everyone tonight as much as I did.

I also love getting to hang out with Rebecca when we can just have fun and be the good friends that we are without the social baggage that gets in the way too often – especially over the past few years.  Ethan and Ehlana really love her a lot too; and Ehlana spent a lot of time with Rebecca tonight – sitting beside her at dinner; and having Rebecca help her with carving her pumpkin while Ethan had Michael helping him.

Mom doesn’t even attempt to compete with Jacob with her cooking, but he makes sure that his side dish and appetizer contributions match up very nicely with her entrees when we do have these meals together; and we all get to enjoy the food.  The conversation is always lively when we’re all together too; and Miranda especially had fun telling us some favorite stories from the Haunted Halloween Walk – though Michael, Rebecca, and I had heard most of them on Sunday while we were at the Inn.

Pumpkin carving was the main event of the evening; and we did most of that at the kitchen table – though we scooped the pumpkin guts out of our jack-o-lanterns on the back porch before moving indoors to do the carving.  Michael and I weren’t part of that ‘we’, since our first post-dinner job was to wash the dishes and clean up the kitchen with some help from our Moms while the Dads were in charge of the pumpkin preparations with help from Rebecca and the twins.  We created six jack-o-lantern masterpieces in about an hour – three for each of our houses; with the one that Michael and I made together going home with him.

Dad needed to get some work done in the office after that, so the parents moved into the office for a chat and coffee time while he got started on his homework; and Rebecca, Michael, and I took Ethan and Ehlana up to my room for a little play time that included some music fun and a little video gaming action.  While music isn’t Rebecca’s thing – or at least playing it isn’t; she had fun playing my keyboard with Ethan and Ehlana while Michael and I practiced for music class and band.  Michael and Ethan were up against Rebecca and Ehlana for the video game mini-competition, and though we promised not to ruin the guys’ reputations by telling anyone who won, by the time anyone reads this; I don’t think they’ll mind the news getting out that the girls crushed them tonight at Dora the Explorer.

Yes, I’m sure that you would have done better playing Mario Kart, Lego Star Wars, or something else, guys; but it was girls’ choice, so be glad that you weren’t playing a Barbie game tonight!

We really had a great time tonight, and though Michael and I didn’t have any alone time; we didn’t really mind that one little downside to spending the evening with our families.  The Stones went home when it was time for Ethan and Ehlana to go to bed, though they talked Miranda into doing their bedtime story in the office before letting her leave; so we had one last little blast of fun as we all got to enjoy a toddler-rated spooky story.  Michael and I had a short-lived moment on the front porch that we weren’t really alone for; and goodnight kisses are very tough to take seriously when the Mom of one of the participants is whistling at you and offering a running commentary as if she was calling the plays at a football game.  I’m glad that she thinks our technique is pretty good ‘for a couple of rookies’; but what little skill we may or may not have developed so far went out the window when we both started laughing.

I was back inside in time for the goodnight kisses with Ethan and Ehlana as they were tucked in.  Mom did my Magi lesson after that while Dad finished his work; and then they went to bed while I came up to my room and got to work.  I’ve managed to fill up another three hours with language studies, archive work, some family business projects, and a short music intermission playing my keyboard.  With Halloween on Thursday, I expect to lose a work night; so I need to put in the extra time between now and Wednesday night to make up for that.  I’m okay tonight, but don’t be surprised if I end up making an exception and using a time-phase at least once so I don’t end up with just a few hours of sleep every night.  Three hours of nap time is about all I’m going to get tonight if I get started on that right now; so that’s it, and I’m outta here for the night.

Live long and prosper, fellow Magi of the Light!

Cassie's Journal - October 27, 2013

I’ve done all of my work tonight like a good little girl, but I’m totally exhausted too; so this is going to be one of those micro-updates.

Tai Chi, breakfast, and a wild morning getting ten people ready to go to church was an amazing blast of fun.  I’m not booking the weddings or anything yet; but Rowen and I could get used to mornings with Tim and Michael very easily.  Going on little side-trips like that won’t make this a short report, so let’s get this done so I can get some sleep.

The Thanksgiving and harvest theme continued at church, and while I wasn’t directly involved in anything; the teen plans for the Thanksgiving weekend service were being worked on for the first time today.  After walking to the Inn with Michael, I went home to meet up with Rowen and Tim so they could get their overnight bags before they moved on; and I met up with Mom and Dad to have lunch at Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne’s with most of our family.  Dad needed to hide in the office after that, so while he and Mom worked; I took Ethan and Ehlana to the park for some play time.  Michael, Tim, and Rowen all spent at least a little time with us there, including some football action that the three boys got involved with, but I took Ethan and Ehlana home when Michael needed to get back to the Inn after his break was over; and Mom took over watching the twins while I got cleaned up and ready to help out at the Inn too.

That was a three-hour long blast of fun, entertainment, and work; and Michael and I followed that up with a bit of cuddle time at his house while Rebecca ‘chaperoned’ us until his parents were finished at the Inn and it was time for me to go home for the night.  I was back in time to do the bedtime story and snack with Ethan and Ehlana; Mom did a Magi lesson with me after they were tucked in for the night; and I’ve been working on my computer since coming up to my room at a bit after ten o’clock.  It’s heading toward one-thirty, but as I mentioned; I’ve hit the wall and need to crash for a while, so until next time...

...Live long and prosper, fellow Magi of the Light!

Cassie's Journal - October 26, 2013

The Haunted Halloween Walk, football, fall clean-ups, and the Halloween party at Sheldon’s Pub may be the top stories for everyone else in town tonight, but for Rowen and me; having a sleepover with Michael and Tim is at the number one spot on our list!  Okay, we were all babysitting while Mom and Dad were at the pub party, and Michael and Tim are now in guest rooms on the second floor – directly below us – but we’ve had another really awesome day; and watching Halloween movies in the lounge tonight with Michael and Tim was at least as much fun as the Haunted Walk was earlier.

I should cover the news from the rest of the day too, but writing about another fall clean-up day around the yard and house doesn’t interest me in the slightest right now.  We had a standard start to our Saturday morning; and then we worked our butts off until stopping at a bit after four o’clock to hit the showers, get ready for our play evening, and have dinner.  That’ll do for the boring part of the update, so let’s move on to the good stuff!

We had enough people with us tonight to fill an entire group for the walk; an early time slot because of the toddlers in our group; and Miranda as our guide, thanks in part to having Michael with us.  There’s more going on around the Haunted Halloween Walk every year, and the charity booths now fill up nearly every space on both sides of Witch Falls Road from Quarry Road to about half-way between Blossom Ave and Station Street.  The games, treats, souvenirs, and food are all themed; and if there was a midway, it would practically be a one-night, spooky version of the fall festival.

Michael, Tim, and Rowen had met up with us at our house so that they could drop off overnight bags.  The news of the babysitting ‘job’ and overnight stay had been announced to us by our parents earlier in the day, and while a kid-free night for a handful of Mom and Dad’s friends was the reason we have five kid and teen guests tonight; I’m sure that most of our parents know that four of us really loved that surprise announcement.  Aunt Leanne and Uncle Adam met us here too, and while I would have loved to babysit Zack too; Grandma and Grandpa tag-teamed that job with Uncle Adam’s parents tonight.  They had the first shift while Christine and Andrew were busy with the Haunted Halloween Walk; and Zack’s Grandma and Grandpa Carrington took over after Aunt Leanne nursed him between our play time and going to the party at the pub with Mom, Dad, and the rest of their friends.

Since I’ve been thinking about writing my journals for distant future readers, I’m going to take a minute to mention some of the details of the Haunted Walk.  The Marianne Palmer story always has top billing for obvious reasons; but the other skits are part of our town heritage too – even though all of the details of those incidents are not included in the skits because the ‘magic’ history of Witch Falls has been intentionally hidden.

There are a total of four main skits and stories told during the walk.  The first, acted out on Palmer Street between Witch Falls Road and the river, tells the story of the River Raiders bank robbery attempt of 1882.  Miranda will always be my favorite guide for the walk; and she does a masterful job of setting her groups up for each scene.  While parts of bank robbery story are fictional to cover up some of the things that happened that would have normally been impossible; the skit is very realistic, and you can’t help but cheer for the ‘townsfolk’ when they repel the band of despicable thieves.

The Old Mill Murders of 1790 is the second story and stop along the walk.  This dark little tale is toned down for family viewing, and while the murders did in fact actually happen; only the adult Magi in town know that those deaths were actually at the hands of a Dark Magi who had found our town after sensing a particularly strong Magi birth.  Though it cost the lives of those men and women, the Dark Magi was eventually subdued and taken prisoner.  The Magi back then kept him imprisoned, and constantly shielded from using his power on anyone until he caused his own death in a power overload while trying to escape from those shields around him.

Another Dark Magi confrontation happened in 1864, and is the basis for the Stagecoach Shoot-out skit that is the last stop on the walk before the Marianne Palmer grand finale.  The story told on the walk is about a stagecoach that is chased into town by a group of outlaws; and how the townsfolk helped to save the passengers, mail, and money; drive off the outlaw gang; and mortally wound their leader.  There was a stagecoach, and a gang of men chasing it on horseback; but they were all bad guys led by a Dark Magi who had stumbled across them somehow.  The Magi records of that incident don’t mention how he found them, so they either never found out how; or didn’t write down that detail.  In the real story, we know that the Dark Magi was fatally wounded – just as the outlaw leader was in the ‘official’ story.  We also know that there were a significant number of non-Magi living in Witch Falls by then; and that shoot-out was very real too – even though Magi powers were being brought to bear too.

The Dark Magi died of his gunshot wound, and while there were differing reports about the incident; I tend to agree with one Magi who suggested that the Dark Magi may have been accidentally shot by one of his own men or a ricochet because he’d been shielding himself and some of his men from the bullets being shot at them from the men attempting to defend Witch Falls.  For those of you who might be wondering why the Magi of the Light didn’t heal him; remember that there were no Magi Masters left in Witch Falls after 1707, and since there was no record of an attempt being made to do that; there probably weren’t any Magi there with the Healing gift at the time.  Uncle Adam’s gift, after all, was extremely rare among the Witch Falls Magi.

Returning to the present, I love the Haunted Halloween Walk, and this year was the best so far thanks to sharing it with Michael.  I highly recommend going on the walk with someone you can cuddle with while sharing the spooky fun!  Playing games after the walk; winning some prizes for Ethan, Ehlana, Naomi, and Aiden; and picking up some favorite Halloween treats was great too.  We spent nearly two hours playing with our family and friends before heading home again.  Mom and Dad were set free to get ready for their date while their babysitters took the four toddlers up to the lounge after stopping on the second floor to get them changed into their pajamas.

We were settled in on the sectional sofa and watching Garfield’s Halloween Adventure by the time Mom and Dad stopped in for some goodnight hugs and kisses before heading out.  Ethan, Ehlana, and their best friends had a specific bedtime that we dutifully let them stay up past like any really good babysitters do, but Naomi and the twins were happy to let us take them to bed and tuck them in after Aiden fell asleep and we’d finished watching the end of ‘It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.’

That still left Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I with lots of time to watch two more movies while cuddling in the lounge before Mom and Dad got home again.  As usual, it took Tim and Rowen and while to settle in for some quality cuddling, and they didn’t share any kisses while Michael and I were in the room with them; but we gave them several alone time opportunities that Rowen assured me they took full advantage of while Michael and I went to check on the kids, go for washroom breaks, or make a trip to the kitchen or pantry to get something we didn’t actually need since my cupboards and fridge in the lounge were fully stocked.

Rowen and I let the boys pick both movies, and we honestly didn’t really care what we watched.  It was the cuddles, kisses, and quiet chat time that we loved the most; so the entertainment was mostly just noise.  Tim also needed to check college football scores a couple of times too, but at least he didn’t make the mistake of choosing to do that any of the times while he and Rowen were alone.

Speaking of that, he and Michael have been pretty good about college football around Rowen and me so far.  They keep up with it as much as any other football fanatics in town, and will probably get more into it once we get to the championship and bowl games; but Rowen thinks they might just be trying to ease us into that part of their lives.  I don’t think that Michael’s worried that I’ll be scared off, but I’m okay with less football whatever the motivation might be for not watching games all day and night on the weekends.

Dad had volunteered to be one of the designated drivers tonight – part of the service for the couples who were getting kid-free nights – so he and Mom didn’t get home until one-thirty.  They came upstairs to say goodnight to us and suggest that we head to bed too; but didn’t stay to enforce the recommendation.  Michael and I gave Rowen and Tim their last alone time opportunity then while we took the snack dishes and our glasses downstairs to wash them up – and take care of our own goodnight kisses.

Michael and Tim were in their rooms on the second floor by two o’clock; and Rowen and I were changed and tucked into bed with Mandy by a quarter-past after taking turns in the bathroom.  We’ve needed some girl chat time that included some joking about sneaking down to the boys’ rooms that neither of us would really do no matter how much we might each wish we could.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that we’d never ever do that – we’re just not ready for anything like that yet; and I seriously doubt any first attempt will happen on a night when there are four toddlers across the hall from Michael’s and Tim’s rooms and my parents are in the room next to my boyfriend’s.

When you read this some day in the future, Dad, let me know whether you had Michael in that room on purpose.  I have no intention of asking that question; since I’m very happy that we got to babysit tonight instead of having Alicia and Erin here; and I don’t think that you’re really worried about Michael and me at all – whether we’re alone in the middle of an afternoon or sleeping in the same house in the middle of the night.

Getting to sleep may take a while longer, but that’s about all I have for tonight – even though I feel like there should be so much more to write about to record all of these happy feelings for posterity.  We’re only going to have time for a lengthy nap at this point before needing to get up again, though; so it’s past-time that we at least started making the attempt to sleep.  Just helping Mom and Dad with getting four toddlers through breakfast and ready for church is going to make for a busy morning, and while we don’t have anything specific planned for tomorrow; I don’t want to be too tired to help out at the Inn during the buffets – or for any play time that Michael and I might manage to have during his afternoon break or after we’re done at the Inn for the night.

Live long and prosper, fellow Magi of the Light!

Cassie's Journal - October 25, 2013

Before I get started on the news from today, I need to begin this report by recording for posterity that I did not go to the Halloween dance tonight dressed as ‘Jabba the Hutt’ Princess Leia!  Also for the record, yes, Michael would have loved it if I had done that; but it was never going to happen, and getting teased about it was fairly annoying by the end of the night.

Rowen and I were dressed up as the fighter versions of Padme Amidala and Leia Skywalker; just as Michael and Tim were dressed as teen versions of Jedi Knights Luke and Anakin Skywalker.  They got teased about being ‘father and son’; but had more fun with that than I did with the jokes about when I was going to change into my slinky little slave costume – and why I hadn’t gone with the cinnamon bun hairstyle.

Okay, I’m done with that, so let’s get on with the rest of the story.

The temperature briefly dropped below freezing this morning, but I was having warm and happy thoughts pretty much all day; starting with my good morning hugs and kisses with Michael before Tai Chi.  He didn’t stay for breakfast, but we were both ready early enough to meet up with Rowen at her house while Rebecca went on to school without us.  Beginning our school day with playing spooky songs in music class kept the fun going for me; though most of the teens and tweens at school were fired up about the dance.

I don’t have anything else that’s particularly newsworthy from the rest of our day at school, but we had fun back at my house after being set free for the weekend.  Okay, Tim probably wouldn’t classify doing our homework as fun, but we have a busy weekend ahead; and it didn’t really take that long to get most of that work out of the way for the weekend – except for one report that will need to wait until after we’ve been on the Haunted Halloween walk tomorrow night.  Ethan and Ehlana came upstairs to the lounge with us; kept us entertained while we worked; and then happily played some video games with Michael and Tim while Rowen and I started getting ready for our football and dance night out.

Dinner and a movie was at our house this week, but Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I couldn’t wait to eat until everyone was done work and could get here; so Mom had recruited Grandpa to grill up some burgers for us; added some cold salads and snacks; and we had our little meal at the table in the lounge too before we needed to clean up and go to the football game.  Rowen and I took most of our costumes with us, and we needed to make a stop at Michael’s house to get his things too before dropping all of that off at Tim’s house – since his place was closest for retrieving them again once the game was over.

The football game was good, bad, and very, very chilly.  We won by a score of fifty-five to twenty-seven, which was great; but the cold was definitely a factor, and both teams made a lot of mistakes tonight – or at least both offenses did.  This week we played against another division rival, Brookbridge, and thanks to the mistakes our offense made; the game was fairly close until Kyle took the game in hand in the second half and practically carried our team on his shoulders to earn the win.

I know that it was cold, and the receivers in particular had problems hanging on to the football; but our offense seemed to switch back and forth between good and bad all night, and that could be a problem in the playoffs once we’re up against some of the best teams.  Kyle may not be able to save them every week – no matter how badly he wants to finish his high school football career with a championship – especially after getting so close last season.

Before changing the subject, while I’m not going to go into the details; the bad parts of the football action for our team included giving up two defensive touchdowns along with handing over great field position another half-dozen times – though Brookbridge could only manage two other touchdowns, and missed one of those extra-point tries.  Fortunately for us, Brookbridge gave up four touchdowns to our defense, along with three more turnovers that led to one more touchdown and two field goals.  Kyle made all of those mistakes happen; along with some fairly intense sacks and tackles that the Brookbridge players won’t likely forget anytime soon.

There was a lot of action going on off the field with the teens, as usual, but the only things I want to mention involve Rebecca and Jenny.  For Rebecca, that’s simply to note that she chose helping out with getting the gym ready for the Halloween dance instead of freezing her butt off watching the game.  I can assure you that Rowen and I wished we’d volunteered too by the time the game was over – no matter how much we also loved spending the time with Michael and Tim.  I mostly wanted to mention that detail about Rebecca because we overheard some comments made by a group of ‘girlfriends of the football players’; Rowen and I heard Rebecca taking some flack at the dance for not being out at the game to support her new ‘boyfriend’; and because I’m proud of my friend for doing what she wanted and not really caring what anyone else thinks about it.

Jenny, on the other hand, continues to baffle and scare me.  Okay, I’m not actually scared for her, but I continue to find her views on boys, boyfriends, and dating to be Halloween-scary.  While she seems to be very happy with Garth Green, Jenny was also quite happily – if subtly – flirting with some Brookbridge players and other guys from their school while working the sidelines with the cheerleaders.  I get that she loves the attention and popularity, but I must have a very deeply rooted need for monogamy; because the idea of ever flirting with any other boys while dating Michael is a total turn-off for me.

Yes, I’m sure he’ll be happy to read that some day in our future; though he already knows that anyway.

Moving along, when the game was over, Michael, Rowen, and I went home with Tim, and we ended up getting into our costumes at his house.  Don’t go there – we had appropriate parental supervision; and Tracey took pictures of us once we were in our Jedi and fighter-princess costumes.  That’ll be even better when we have our two little Ewoks along next week; but I think we made a great-looking quartet tonight too.

I’d like to begin the Halloween dance report with a Grade Eight singles update.  That won’t take long, since we’re down to just two – Karla and Marcie. (I’m not counting Rowen and Tim.)  Lisa and Roger were ‘officially’ at the dance on a date, and while they’ve kept things nearly as quiet as Rowen and Tim; I’m sure we’ll have another couple joining the club on Monday.  Since Rowen and I have been the odd girls out until now, I can appreciate the position Karla and Marcie are in; but being single tonight didn’t seem to be bothering them in the least.  That might have something to do with having most of the Brookbridge players and quite a few of their teen fans at the dance too.  They certainly weren’t lacking for invitations to go dancing.

While I’m thinking about Lisa, I’m really glad that she’s finally giving Roger a chance.  The fact that Michael and I have been dating for about four months now may have a lot to do with that, but anyone reading this in the future will know why I’m happy for them tonight.  Michael and I can both tell that Lisa is still a little crushed over him, but she doesn’t seem to be mad at me anymore; and I’m hoping that we can be better friends again eventually.

Okay, let’s talk about Halloween dances!

First up, I have to say that going to school dances with a boyfriend is way, way better than being single – no offense, Rowen.  We had fun at the dances last year too, and yes, you were technically still single tonight; but you loved dancing with Tim as much as I loved being with Michael – even if you didn’t share any kisses, hold hands, or cuddle together whenever we weren’t out dancing.  I’m glad that Rowen and Tim had as much fun tonight as we did, but if Tim doesn’t figure out that Rowen needs him to make the first move to get over being so shy with him in public; Michael and I are going to be setting up an intervention for our best friends to help them out with that.

There are a few things that I haven’t mentioned before about our dances, and though none of it will be news for anyone reading this in the not-to-distant future; these comments are meant more for far-future readers.  I should think about that more often than I do – especially since I learn so much from the archive journals and research written by Magi millennia ago.

Our gymnasium looked great with the Halloween decorations, and I should probably volunteer now and then to help out with that work.  It’s amazing how the dance committee manages to get so much done in just a few hours after school!  I don’t want to forget the lighting and sound team either; since they manage to take what we have for concert and stage lighting and apply it to the themed dances.  Yes, we have a very well-equipped school; but there’s still a lot involved in moving the lighting around and setting up the sound system for a dance instead of a show, film, or presentation.

I also want to give a big thank-you to the Olde Bakery.  Hannah and Nathan always come up with really great snacks for our dances, and while there are some perennial favorites; they also make something special and different for each dance too.  That might even explain why we have so many teens from other schools come to our dances – word has probably gotten around over the years.  The specialty snacks tonight were awesome cupcakes that looked like pumpkins – including having an orange-colored, creamy pastry filling inside.  I’ll have to get Hannah to show me the pans for them; since they must be really cool looking.

There is one thing that I didn’t really consider when we chose our costumes that I probably should have – Rowen and I were going to the dance with two thirteen-year old boys dressed up as Jedi knights, complete with lightsabers.  Add in a large, dark room, and friends egging them on; and even Michael couldn’t resist some play time.

Okay, Rowen and I played too – even though Rowen didn’t technically have ‘the force’ with her as Padme Amidala while Leia Skywalker does.  That reminds me that I didn’t mention that the teasing Michael and I got from our friends and other guys included pointing out that our ‘brother and sister’ characters shouldn’t be kissing; holding hands; or cuddling together.  As with the rest of the Leia jokes, that was funny up to a point; and then it just became annoying.  I really hope the guys grow out of that kind of humor sooner than later – or at least get to the point where they realize that less can be more sometimes.

That ‘less is more’ thing doesn’t apply to alone time for Michael and me, and though we’d both like more of those; this was a really special night that I’m going to remember forever.  Yes, I’ll remember everything I ever experience forever; but you know what I mean.  Whether we were dancing close to favorite ballads; bopping around with groups of our friends during the up-tempo sets; sitting around and chatting; or having some lightsaber play time, this was definitely the best dance of my life so far.  Because of the football game, we were given a slight extension on the usual end-time for school dances; and our parents had given us the extra time on our curfews too; so we were able to stay nearly until the dance ended at twelve-thirty before heading for our homes.

Michael, Rowen, and I needed to stop at Tim’s house to get our bags, and that worked out for him and Rowen; because they were able to take a couple of moments for a goodnight kiss while Michael and I waited for Rowen outside while they were busy.  We walked her home next; and then Michael came inside with me long enough to share a fairly serious goodnight kiss or five of our own before we went back outside so I could watch him walk over to his house and we could share that last exchange of waves and smiles that still sets off butterflies in my stomach every time.

Mom and Dad were sleeping by then, but Ehlana woke up and came downstairs to get a drink and have a chat with me while I tucked her back into bed on the way up to my room.  That gave me a chance to get the dinner and a movie night update; and give Ehlana a condensed football and dance report.  It sounds like they had fun around here tonight, and they even had some Halloween Olde Bakery treats to go along with the movie.  I feel like I missed out on that, and especially getting to spend that time with Aunt Leanne, Uncle Adam, and Zack; but that’s going to happen a lot from now on, so I’d better just get used to it.

We have another long day ahead tomorrow, but it’s taken a while for me to wind down since climbing into bed with Mandy; so I’ve done a bit of extra language and archive studying.  There isn’t anything else to cover from today, and I’m pretty much ready to sleep now; so it’s time to put my computer away and get started on my nap – and some happy dreams that will hopefully have Michael in a starring role.  Until next time...

...Live long and prosper, fellow Magi of the Light!

Cassie's Journal - October 24, 2013

Happy 14^th Birthday, Jenny!

I’m sure that she’s had a good day, and was thrilled to have some of the older cheerleaders and their boyfriends at her party tonight.  My only momentary involvement in celebrating her special day came when we gave her a gift this morning at school before she and Rebecca left with Garth and Jason.  Rowen and I had Michael do the honors for that just because we knew it would be entertaining – and it really was.  Garth teased him about giving presents to his girlfriend; Jenny kissed him; and we had a few laughs that felt almost like ‘old’ times for Rebecca, Jenny, Rowen, and me.  Maybe we can have that kind of friendship back again when we hit high school next year.  For today, though, the great academic divide closed in; and we returned to our normal place in the social hierarchy like good little kids.

The only other effect that Jenny’s birthday had on my day was Rebecca’s absence at the Inn for the dinner rush and game night.  I have no idea why Jenny wouldn’t want to have her birthday party at the Inn so her guests and ‘cool’ friends could be entertained while competing for the junior championship with us, but she didn’t want to do that; so Rebecca was at her house for the night instead.

That wasn’t a big deal for the work side of our evening, since it was a fairly quiet night at the Inn; but Miranda and Jacob were still happy to have me stay and help out with Michael; and we had even more fun than usual since we didn’t need to rush around to keep up with the dinner orders.  Game night was good too, but let’s back up and do the rest of the report before getting to that part of the recap.

Other than that birthday gift moment with Jenny, the rest of the morning between waking up and then had been fairly normal.  Michael came over for Tai Chi, and then we split up until it was time to head for school while we each got ready for the day and had breakfast.  The music testing that we started the school day with didn’t thrill everyone in our class, but Michael, Rowen, and I aced ours as usual; and Tim was happy with his better-than-usual mark too.  I’d suggest that we could try having Rowen motivate his music ambitions with a little alone time in the music room; but that probably wouldn’t get his mind onto honing his trumpet-playing skills.  Rowen would be too nervous about getting caught anyway – even if she would also love the idea and wish she had the nerve to try it.

We had another test and a quiz to write today, so there was some stress for some of our friends; but I was having a much better day.  To be blunt, that’s mostly because I was pretty much done with the most unpleasant part for this round of my menstrual cycle; so even the cold fall weather was easier to take – though we didn’t spend much time outdoors today.  Michael and Tim went out at lunchtime to play some football, and Rowen and I watched the first few minutes of their scrimmage game before going for a walk and playing with some younger kids; but we went back inside and warmed up with cups of hot chocolate for the last fifteen or twenty minutes before we needed to get to our computer class.

Our after-school studying was at the Inn, but we didn’t have much homework – mostly because we have a Day Two schedule Friday this week; so we’ll get our weekend assignments for those classes tomorrow.  That left Michael and I with lots of time to help in the kitchen after Rowen and Tim left; and we ended up with extra time to have our own meal too before joining in to help with the clean-up.

Jenny’s party had a big effect on the junior championship competition; and we had less than half of the usual kids and teens – hardly any teens at all.  That’s the main reason why Michael and I won tonight – and Rowen and Tim were second – though having Ethan and Ehlana with us most of the evening could have given us some good luck too.  They definitely helped out a lot with the fun level!

With the smaller-than-usual group of players, our play time at the Inn ended earlier than usual too; so Michael came home with us and he and I took care of getting Ethan and Ehlana bathed and ready for bed before meeting up with Mom and Dad in the office.  Michael couldn’t stay late, but since he was here with us; Mom substituted a Magi lesson with him, Ethan, Ehlana, and me for the usual story time.  That was awesome, and while I really, really, really want to have more alone time with him; extra Magi lessons would be great too.  We didn’t have much alone time tonight, but I did spend some quality time saying goodnight to him in a non-verbal sort of way between the time we tucked Ethan and Ehlana in for the night and when he left for home – ten minutes or so later.

I still needed to do my regular Magi lesson with Mom after he left, and deal with a little teasing from her and Dad about why it took Michael and me so long to get the twins into their beds; so it was eleven-thirty before we all went upstairs, and I got changed and started on my last bedtime study and work session of the week.

Three hours and change later, and I’m pretty much cooked now; and need to get what sleep I can to be ready for a long, busy day of classes, football, and Halloween dance fun.  I’m not at all enthusiastic about the football game, but this should be a best-ever-so-far school dance for me – and hopefully for Michael, Rowen, and Tim too.  The answer to whether that ends up being true or not is just a digital page flip away for everyone reading this in my future or beyond, but it’s still a half-day of action away for me; so I really need to get started on my nap now.

Live long and prosper, fellow Magi of the Light!