Waiting for Lara Croft.....

Sorry I haven't been posting this week.  Hey!  Winter break.  And, in spite of all the little "vacations" I took from school this year, I needed this time off.

Farrell (who recently scored points by getting me NON raspberry chocolates and a new cord for my mic for Valentine's day), has been hanging out with me all week.  Dad had a LITTLE change of heart when he saw how Farrell treated me in the hospital this past fall.  That, plus the fact that Farrell did not have me arrested for robbery, led Dad to believe that MAYBE Farrell had some redeeming qualities and a modicum of concern for my best interests.  

Of course, Dad still watches us like a hawk and, from what I can tell, he's put all four of my brothers on notice to play sentry when he's not around.  Sigh.  I'd be pissed if I wasn't so happy that we're all healthy and back to normal after what went down this year.

So, with all the watchdogs on duty, Farrell and I couldn't even get in any belated Valentine's kisses; we've spent most of this week playing Skyrim.  Farrell wanted Halo.  Dylan got Ni No Kuni and my vote.  Skyrim was the compromise between alien blood and guts or Japanese sugar served with a side of poignancy.  (Secret:  I wanted Skyrim to begin with). 

But what I REALLY want is the new Tomb Raider coming out in a couple of weeks.  My recent trip to Ireland got me into art history  and archaeology but, for the time being, I'm pretty happy to have my adventures on a PS3 with a limited edition wireless red controller.

Throwing LOTS of hints Farrell's way. 

Happy Freaking Valentine's Day....

I woke up a little excited this morning because Farrell told me had some kind of special surprise planned for me at school.  Unfortunately, I also woke up with a rash.

Last night when Celeste came over for popcorn and psychology, she brought some Valentine's candy.  Raspberry chocolates to be exact.  I'm on again/off again allergic to raspberries.  Sometimes I can eat them with no effect.  Other times I break out in huge, red welts like I've been bitten all over by giant, sci-fi mosquitoes.  It's really itchy.  And ugly.  

And that's how I woke up this morning. WAY too ugly to go to school.

So it was another day of popcorn and bad TV.  The monotony only broken by video games.

Then Dad came home with a box of candy to cheer up his only daughter.

You guessed it.

Happy Freaking Valentine's Day.

The Crazy Underneath the Crazy.....

Yesterday, Celeste came over after school to hang out and I confronted her about Mr. Zullo.  She got all Intro to Psyche on me and gave me that "worried about you" stuff.   She kinda got to me.

I've been thinking she's been going all counselor on me the past couple of months because of her own experiences with the White Castle incident when she ran away freshman year.  Or that she was pissed because I wouldn't tell her anything more than I told everyone else, which was: "My brothers and my dad are/were in the hospital.  I'm really worried and off my game."

The teachers bought it.  Mr. Zullo bought it (I think).

But Celeste is still bugging me.  And she really did seem worried.

So, unless Celeste is a really good actress (judging from the pass she got on a bit part for the school play, I'd guess not), maybe she's an even better friend than I thought.  Maybe she picked up on all the crazy underneath all the crazy.  Maybe she really IS worried.

So I gave her a mini-flash drive with a copy of my book on it.  I tried to prep her for the psycho stuff she was going to read.  And I swore her to secrecy.

I hope she doesn't talk to Mr. Zullo again.

Hoping for green....

There's been too much white in my world this year.  

The name of my band is White Noise.  The banshees were white.  The hospitals were white...  

Right now a heavy pillow of snow called Nemo is pressing down on the entire north east and smothering us all.  (Really?  Give a storm a name that spells "omen" backwards and what do you expect?).

The popcorn we're eating at the Connor household tonight is white.  

Hmmmm.......

It's not that I hate popcorn (or my band for that matter), but I guess I'm hungry for something with more color.  Like spring.  Or even the wearing 'o the green for the upcoming St. Patrick's Day.  

Or the green I'm hoping to make when I get my book published.  Listen, it isn't that I'm not into it for the storytelling (kinda take after Dad that way, I think), or the art of it, or so I can prove that I'm not crazy.  It's just that I still have to pay my brother Mike back for that little "incident" with the credit card.  He said it's my Christmas present (for several years to come) but I don't feel right about it.  

Maybe if I shovel really well tomorrow I'll find a four leaf clover under the snow.

High School Sucks.......

Not a good day at old DHS.  And I’m pretty sure it’s because of Celeste.

Celeste is one of the few girls at school I can relate to.  And I count on her sometimes to watch my back.  Well, I think she’s been watching it a little TOO much lately because, today, I got called into the drug counselor’s office.  Okay, Mr. Zullo doesn’t only work with kids who are on drugs but, when you get called into his office you might as well be because everyone is going to think you’re messed up one way or another.

He started the visit with the usual come-sit-in-the-bean-bag-chair-I’m-cool-you-are-in-a-safe-space sort of bullcrap.

“Some of your friends are worried about you,” he says in his quasi-fatherly, tight-ass tone.  The super-calm before he aggravates you into a storm with his presumptuousness.

SOME of my friends?  I’m so busy with my family, and my band, and school, and Farrell, I don’t have “some friends”, I tell him. (Especially this year since I’ve spent a lot of it chasing after supernatural beings and running off to foreign countries searching for long lost relatives – but I DON’T tell him this part.) So, who are SOME of my friends?  And what have I done that’s so worrying?  Gone down half a grade in Honors English?

It seems SOMEONE I know is concerned because this “person” says I’ve been acting a little out of character lately.  Doing things I wouldn’t normally do.  I have, he points out, cut classes a few times this year.  Not like me at all.  And she…um…this “person” suspects that I might even have been pretending to have the flu to get out of school.

Celeste.

You see, my brothers, and the guys in the band, and Farrell are the only ones who would know me well enough to suspect that something might have been going on this past fall.  But they KNOW about the banshees and the trip to Ireland and all the rest.  No explaining necessary there.

But then there’s Celeste.  I never told her what was going on because I knew she’d run right to Mr. Zullo.  Which, I guess, she did anyway.  But they’ve got nothing to go on.  And if they want to know, they’re going to have to read my book.  If the world thinks I’m crazy after it’s published, so be it.  But I’m not talking to anyone before that.  Not to Celeste, and CERTAINLY not to Mr. Zullo.

It takes more than a comfy bean bag chair to get Brandy Connor to spill her guts.

Work in progress.....

Still working on getting my story ready for you.  Getting it on the net is more time consuming than I thought!

For those of you who've asked....my ribs are all healed up now.  But I still stay clear of Lisa's crew.  No sense in tempting fate. I don't think the NY Giants would stand a chance against Latricia. 

My friend, Meggs, is still working on the cover for my book.  I didn't mention her in it because she goes to a different high school and doesn't figure in the story but, besides Celeste, she's one of the few females my age I can tolerate.  She's super cool, has a lot of respect for herself, and she is one KICK ASS artist.  I really hope she has the time to do it for me.  I'll keep you posted.

Brandy