Cassie's Journal - January 24, 2013

Happy 12^th Birthday, Lisa!

I hope she’s had a good day, but it was occasionally a bit weird for me.

This was probably the most awkward time I’ve had so far with giving someone a gift, and the only thing that made it even a little easier was that it was a joint gift from Rowen and me; and Rowen gave it to Lisa before first class this morning.  I’m sure that Lisa liked what we gave her, but wasn’t any more comfortable about it than I was.

Giving Lisa her gift early was Rowen’s suggestion, and that was as much for my benefit as it was to avoid any potential bonus awkwardness that might have come if we’d done it later – closer to when Lisa, and most of our classmates, would be going to her birthday party after school.  If I’d had a little luck, giving Lisa a birthday present would have been the only weird moment of the day; but luck wasn’t with me today.

Instead of being able to stay out of Lisa’s way, as I wanted, there was a series of moments that annoyed her; and led to more than a few dark looks directed my way.  While it wasn’t actually unusual, having not one, but two test results returned to us with the opening line – “Congratulations to Cassie, Michael, and Rowen for perfect scores plus bonus points.”  I’m fairly sure that our teachers are not in on Aunt Leanne’s matchmaking conspiracy, but I’d really appreciate it a lot if they’d think outside of alphabetical order once in a while.  Michael didn’t try to do something dumb like join us for music practice at lunchtime on his girlfriend’s birthday, but Rowen and I heard later that there were some jokes directed his way about that; and Lisa was not amused.  Add in an art class supply share, and Michael rolling his chair over next to Rowen and me to work out a problem with our assignment in computer class; and by the time we were set free for the day; Lisa was definitely ready to not see me around for a while.

By the time I got home, I was ready for a few hours of full-immersion family business work; and even left my homework for later so I didn’t have to think about anything school-related.  I even stayed away from working on anything that even remotely involved tweens or teens; going over financial reports and new project proposals.  I managed to get all the way from the end of the school day through until we went to the Inn for game night without any more weird, and though I thought that I’d be safe there with all of my classmates that would usually be at the Inn too away at Lisa’s party; I was wrong, and wish I’d just stayed at home.

To be fair, nothing that happened, and none of the comments or jokes, was meant to be anything more than good-natured fun; but sometimes those little moments add up to make things very weird and uncomfortable.  Explaining why we weren’t at our classmate’s birthday party – a handful of times – was a pain for both Rowen and me; and being Magi of the Light does not mean that we don’t still need to deal with the little social lies that keep the real world spinning.  No, we weren’t the only two kids not going to Lisa’s party, but we were in a very small minority.  Some jokes and one-liners from Aunt Leanne and Miranda added to my growing frustration, and if that wasn’t enough; there was some Michael and Lisa gossip making the rounds with the junior championship competitors that I didn’t want or need to hear.

Eventually escaping all of that didn’t end the weird for me tonight – there was more of it waiting for me when I got around to my nightly computing after Ethan and Ehlana were tucked into bed.  Usually, I’m happy to keep up with my ‘friends and classmates’ email and chats, but the party recaps that even included some pictures and videos had a fair bit of weird to go along with the entertainment.  A chat with Rowen assured me that I wasn’t the only one glad that we’d missed the party – while also wishing we hadn’t been sent the pictures, links, and videos.  There were quite a few things that we each wish we were still blissfully unaware of, including anything to do with ‘Tommy’ and his girlfriend for her, and some scenes with Michael and Lisa for me.

No, you shouldn’t infer that I’m crossing over – I’m not.

My discomfort was from the visuals, and accompanying comments about Michael’s reluctance every time the group prodded him and Lisa together for birthday kisses – which they apparently did as if they were at a wedding reception instead of a birthday party.  If that’s going to be a regular part of future boy-girl parties; I’m going to be sick for every one of them that I get invited to from now until that little trend passes.  Michael apparently did well-enough to earn bonus points in the girlfriend birthday gift category, but lost one or two when he couldn’t be talked into playing guitar and singing a birthday love song for Lisa – despite the fact that he might never live something like that down with the guys if he had done it.

Not being there didn’t save me from getting into trouble anyway – at least with Lisa.  I managed to do that a few times, starting with a joke about Michael playing love songs with me during our lunchtime practices when they were trying to get him to play and sing for Lisa.  There were other comments or jokes, but the last straw, so to speak, was probably the conversation about when the next classmate birthday was.  The fact that Michael came up with that answer first, and he knew the date, didn’t go over well with Lisa; and neither did the follow-up comments about my birthday being on the same night as the school Valentine’s dance – or the jokes about how I might get a Valentine for my birthday.

I am so glad that I don’t plan on going to the dance or have a ‘friends’ birthday party!

All of this has managed to throw me off tonight, and it’s taken me longer to get less done than I wanted to do tonight.  I finished my homework, but only managed to read one foreign language book; and barely covered a thousand pages in the archives.  It’s after two, and I’m going to finish this up now despite the urge to write an expose on the benefits of a time phase for all tweens that would jump us through these awkward years.  Even if it was possible for me to do that with all of my classmates, I’m sure that suddenly having a Grade Seven class full of fourteen or fifteen-year old teens would be noticed; and Mom – and the Magi council – would have a problem with it too.

Instead of doing that, I’m going to once again try not to think of soft, cuddly bunnies; and get some sleep.

Until next time, this is Magi Master Cassie Proctor; logging out!

Cassie's Journal - January 23, 2013

Happy 29^th Birthday, Liz!

It seems a bit strange to be starting so many journal entries with best birthday wishes, since there was only one a year before Mom and I moved here; but I love it too.  Adding all of the Seagers to my ‘friends’ birthday list is happening mostly because Naomi’s friendship with Ehlana and Ethan is bringing our families closer together.  Getting Liz for my favorite hair stylist ever is just a great added bonus!

Mid-week dinners at the Inn are a bonus too; and that’s where we were tonight to help Liz celebrate her big day.  I was at the kids’ table, as usual now, but since we had Naomi with us too; we were at the table next to her parents, so I didn’t need to get a post-party report to find out what had been going on with the parents tonight.  Roasting Liz was a top priority for her friends, but talking babies was a close second; and a pregnancy update is probably in order.

Since it’s Liz’s birthday, I’ll start with her.  She’s ‘officially’ only known for a bit over a week, and isn’t due until September, so other than some fairly unpleasant morning sickness; there isn’t much else to report.  Hannah Draper has started her third trimester, and both she and the baby are doing great.  Her repertoire of baby and bakery jokes has expanded faster than her waistline, and she easily wins the comedy award in the pregnant women category this year.  Aunt Deborah is next on the due date calendar, and her continuing claim to local fame is the almost total absence of the usual pregnancy problems.  She’s near the end of her second trimester, and looks amazing even after putting in a long day at the clinic.  I noticed a couple of smiles and looks between her and Uncle Adam that has me suspecting that he’s helping her out with a little more Magi Healing than they’ve told Mom and me about.

While there weren’t any other expecting moms having dinner with us, but Aunt Deborah, Liz, and Hannah have quite a bit of company in their little club this year; and there’s a good chance that their new babies are going to have a few more classmates than usual once they are old enough to start school.  Amy Spencer and her sister-in-law, Natalie, are among a young group of friends who will all be having their first children this year.  Since they’re all around ten years younger than Mom and Dad, except for getting school day updates from Amy, I get the rest of my pregnancy information from Uncle Adam’s reports in our Magi project archive.  One thing that he is very interested in is that he’s already confirmed as many Magi babies as there would normally be in an entire year; so there’s a possibility that we could have even more new Magi born this year than two years ago when Ethan and Ehlana helped set a new record – at least for recent history.

While I caught most of the conversation at the parents’ table, the toddler action going on around me was entertaining too.  Chicken strips and fries was the most popular meal choice, and I’m sure that was mostly because they have a low mess quotient compared to something like spaghetti.  Staying mostly clean ended when the birthday cake and ice cream was delivered; and that little mess event also gave Aunt Leanne a too-easy opportunity to play matchmaker with her current favorite targets.

It was near the end of the evening; there weren’t very many customers left in the dining room by then; and Miranda sent Michael over to help with the clean-up.  He and I made the mistake of actually having fun while we did our best to get four toddlers – and the table, chairs, and floor around them cleaned.  Aunt Leanne started things off with a comment about how cute we were, doing such a great job with the kids; and predicting that we were going to make great parents some day.  Things went downhill from there, though that was just my perspective – and Michael’s – since the adults around us all thought that all of the jokes and teasing that followed was a lot of fun.  I’m just hoping that their collective little Kodak moment of entertainment at our expense doesn’t make it to the school grapevine tomorrow.

I don’t really want to write or think about that anymore, so let’s skip the details.  Once Aunt Leanne, Hannah, and Miranda decided that they’d had enough fun with Michael and me, all that was left to do before heading home was have Liz open her gifts; and follow that up with a long round of goodnight hugs and kisses.  After getting home, Dad needed to get to work in the office, so I helped Mom with Ethan and Ehlana’s bedtime routine; including doing a short Magi lessons in the elements with them that we multi-tasked while they were in the bathtub.

Once the twins were in bed, Mom did another Magi lesson with me, and then I came up to my room to start my own bedtime routine with a long soak in my Jacuzzi.  Working in normal time doesn’t keep me from multi-tasking too, and I finished my language studies while in the tub; did my usual nightly email, entertainment, news, and sports checks while dealing with my hair; and wrapped up my night with an hour and a half of archive study while cuddling with Mandy in bed.

I guess that’s about all for today.  There wasn’t really anything exciting to report from school today; and though Rowen and I had fun with our after school play time, all we really did was wander around downtown, and hang out by the falls for the hour or so that I had between when we finished our homework and when I needed to be home to get ready for Liz’s birthday party.  We have another classmate birthday tomorrow, but Lisa didn’t invite Rowen and me; and there’s one more reason why I hope the jokes about Michael and me from tonight don’t get passed around at school tomorrow.  That’s not the kind of story any girl wants to hear on her birthday when it involves her boyfriend and another girl.  It’s definitely not something I even want to be thinking about right now either, but it’s not easy to turn off the photographic memory.

Time to not dream about soft, cuddly bunnies; and get some sleep.

I will not dream of bunnies; I will not dream of bunnies; I will not dream of bunnies.

Until next time, this is Magi Master Cassie Proctor; logging out!

Cassie's Journal - January 22, 2013

Today marks the start of eight long weeks until our next holiday – March Break.

I guess that kids and teens shouldn’t complain about that, since most adults have to wait until Easter for their next holiday, but Easter is early this year, so they won’t have to wait too much longer than we do.

Our teachers must think that this is a perfect time to get some extra work done, so piling on the homework and starting new projects was the theme for today; and probably will be tomorrow too.  That brought on the expected grumbling and groaning from the usual groups of kids and teens, but the work isn’t a problem for Rowen and me; and our lunchtime music practice helped us to miss out on the main gripe session.

It also helped us to miss out on a lot of the football talk going on with the guys, though Rowen and I did spend all of about ninety seconds talking about it with Michael while we got our flute and saxophones ready to play.  I probably should have mentioned the NFL conference championship games that were played on Sunday, if for no other reason than because Sunday marked the two-week countdown to the end of football season for another year.  I don’t actually care that the Baltimore Ravens beat the New England Patriots, or that the San Francisco Forty-Niners will play the Ravens in the Super Bowl after winning their game over the Atlanta Falcons; but both games were a big deal for a lot of the guys even though most were disappointed with the results from one or both games.  Michael’s into football as much as Tim is, but seems to mostly be amused by the total indifference Rowen and I have toward the game while showing that we know as much or more than most of the guys do about the sport whenever we do get pushed into those conversations.

While music practice at noon works great for Rowen and me, Michael is definitely taking some heat for hanging out with us.  For some reason, the guys think it’s a problem for him to pick practicing Disney songs with us over talking football, showing off for the girls, and hanging out with the couples club.  That last part is especially annoying to Lisa, and though she isn’t razzing Michael too, the looks and obvious disappointment probably have more of an effect on him than the jokes and jabs do from Tim and the other guys.

Again, I have to ask why anyone would want to rush to cross over and deal with all of that tween angst.  I’m only a spectator, and find myself regularly wishing for the good old days when I first moved here when the guys wouldn’t hang out with girls for fear of girl germs, and the girls all thought that guys were gross and obnoxious.

Somehow, I’ve managed to completely go off the rails for today’s recap, so let’s get back on track.

Rowen and I were working after school, so we were each on our own for most of our homework, but we got together at her house after dinner so we could do some work on one of our new projects.  For my work on the family business, I spent most of my time dealing with Easter-related business issues.  I don’t think it’ll ever stop feeling strange to be working on holidays that are still months away, but since my work today included a lot of spring fashion reviews; I had fun playing with all of the plans that were being finalized.  The downside of that is knowing that I won’t be able to go shopping for those cool new clothes until after they hit the stores – and even then it’s not like we get to go to the Mall once or twice a week.  Maybe Rowen and I should stop in to see Abby after school tomorrow – just to see how she’s doing, of course!

We had a quiet dinner at home, and after spending about an hour and a half working on our project at Rowen’s house, I got home in time to do the bedtime routine with Ethan and Ehlana; followed that up with a Healing lesson with Mom; and then came up to my room to cuddle in bed with Mandy while doing my usual nightly computing and studying.

I haven’t done a family update in a while, so let’s do that next.

Violet wasn’t here for the long weekend, but she and Dillon did get together in Woodvale; and she’ll be here for the weekend before Valentine’s Day so she can go to the school dance with Dillon on Friday night.  Aunt Grace and Mark are doing a getaway at a ski resort in Colorado too, but probably won’t see each other again until Easter.  There isn’t much news from the rest of the Proctor and Rice families, and the Johnson family seems to almost be in waiting for the arrival of Kevin and Elaine’s second child now that they’re down to just weeks to go.  Nicole is certainly wishing her new baby brother or sister will get here sooner than later; mostly because “Mommy can’t do any fun stuff anymore until after the baby comes.”

I spent an hour reading in the archives; a half hour on our Magi project; and another hour and a half reading books in two different languages while having a little online chat in Javanese.  Since I didn’t get an early start, and my time-phasing sessions are over for at least the next few years, it’s now heading toward one-thirty; and time for me to wrap this up and get some sleep.  I may miss those extra hours of down time, but my first night back in normal mode was okay; and I’m actually not as tired as I have been each night after my high-speed nights.  I’ll keep track of that for a while, but there probably isn’t much real difference between my actual sleep needs whether I’m working in normal or hyper-time.

Until next time, this is Magi Master Cassie Proctor; logging out!

Cassie's Journal - January 21, 2013

Today was one for the history books; at least in America.  The second-term inauguration of our first black president on Martin Luther King Day was both historic and meaningful for tens of millions of people here; and probably around the world too.

From a kid’s perspective, though, let’s be honest and admit that this was really just a bonus day off from school.

Rowen and I spent the day hanging out together, and since it didn’t really warm up much today; we stayed indoors, and only went out once for a chilly little tour around town on our bikes shortly after lunch.  We played with Ethan and Ehlana; had a couple of music practices; played on our computers; watched a movie; and had a Magi lesson with Mom.

The law and real estate office wasn’t officially open today, but Dad and Aunt Leanne both spent some time there anyway.  Other than having three days off in a row, it didn’t really even feel like a holiday weekend.  There weren’t any special holiday meals or big family events; and with most of the stores closed, and almost no visitors or tourists around; it was very quiet on Main Street.  The cold kept most of the kids indoors too, though that would have been a lot different if we had snow to play in.

We still had a fun day off, and having nothing special going on this evening allowed me to get an early start on my nightly computing and studies; so I’ll still be sleeping before midnight even without using a time-phase.

That’s it for tonight, so...

...until next time, this is Magi Master Cassie Proctor; logging out!

Cassie's Journal - January 20, 2013

We’ve returned to winter-like temperatures overnight, though there still isn’t any snow play anywhere in the current weather forecasts.

There was a bit of a circus going on around the Emerson’s house while Rowen’s parents were kept busy trying to get everyone fed and ready for church in time to actually get there in time for the service.  I managed to get through my Tai Chi with only a couple of spectators before the barely-controlled chaos took over; and then Rowen and I were running non-stop until we hopped into the car with Uncle Adam, Aunt Leanne, and Emma Norton.  Rowen’s parents had the boys in the van with them, and Jessica and Lindsay got a ride with Geraldine and her parents.

While we didn’t have to deal with most of our usual little brother and buddy sleepover annoyances, but this afternoon, Rowen and I were ready to just spend a few quiet hours hanging out in my room and lounge.  We practiced our music; worked on a project for school; played with Ethan and Ehlana; and watched a movie in the time we had between lunch and when Rowen needed to be home for her family dinner plans.

It’s been a quiet evening here too, and we all opted for an early night after staying up late on Friday and Saturday.  I was in on the play time and Magi lesson after dinner, but came upstairs to spend some quality time in my Jacuzzi when Mom and Dad were ready to give Ethan and Ehlana their baths.  I did the full, time-phased nightly computing and study session after my bath too, though we don’t have school tomorrow; and that’s when I learned something that was instantly my number one top news story of the day.

Time phasing affects your biological age!

For the Magi of the future, that may not seem like a huge revelation, but you won’t find anything in the archives older than this journal entry – and the report I’ll be writing for Mom after I finish this – that even really considers the possibility, let alone quantifies it.  The measurement of the effect is actually very simple – you age by the amount of time that passes while you’re phased; regardless of how much time passes in the ‘real’ world.

That doesn’t sound like a big deal, and under normal circumstances, it isn’t.  If you time-phase to get somewhere fast, or are only trying to do something in seconds instead of minutes; aging by an extra few minutes isn’t even noticeable unless you’re keeping track of it.  Using a time phase to slow everything down has the opposite effect – you age more slowly than real time.

How cool would that be?  Maybe I should experiment with that some day and see if it would be possible to do a ‘slow’ time phase at night while I sleep.  Imagine if you could cut seven or eight hours of aging off of every day of your life!  Would that make it possible to live an extra thirty or forty years if you could sleep and be able to hold the power flows?

The reason I say that I’d need to study that sometime in the future is the same reason why I need to stop doing these big, nightly time phases – extensive use of time-phasing and puberty do not mix.  In the two weeks that I’ve been experimenting with time-phase studying, I’ve aged by nearly two days more than everyone else.  Extrapolating that out, I’d catch up to Rowen in a bit over a year; and add an extra year to my true age about once every six or seven years.  I definitely don’t want to shorten my life by one-seventh!

Now, for those of you who have read all of my journals, you’re probably thinking right now that I’ve stumbled onto the perfect solution to my ‘crossing over’ problem; but you’d be wrong.  Yes, if I could slow myself down for that seven or eight hours a day; I could slow my aging down by a couple of days every week.  Most adults would love that idea, and in some ways, it’s even tempting for me, but there would be some parts of that decision I wouldn’t like at all.

Having the body of an eleven-year old girl when I’m fourteen or fifteen wouldn’t be good, and I seriously doubt that I’d find dragging out puberty for two or three extra years much fun.  Then there would eventually be all of those little biological issues that would be very noticeable and unexplainable – like having menstrual cycles that were a third longer than any other girls.  I also didn’t always enjoy always being one of the pixies in my grade so much that I’d like to go back to being the shortest person again while dragging out reaching my eventual adult size over several extra years.

Like I said, that will be a cool experiment, and maybe Mom would like to try it herself, but even if it means I’ll end up crossing over sooner than I’d like; this really is not a good time for me to be messing with my biological clock.

While this does mean the end to my time-phase study experiment for physical reasons, it’s only temporary; doesn’t mean that I can’t still use time-phasing a little bit now and then; and I didn’t really answer the question of whether the power demands are a net benefit or not compared to doing my studying at normal speed.

For now, though, this will be my last early study night for a while, so I’m going to wrap this up; write the report for Mom; and then get a little extra sleep while I can.

Until next time, this is Magi Master Cassie Proctor; logging out!