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I dreamed about being a goo monster under the floor of LN's school while a masquillion human kids danced to Halloween music, and it was really nice. They played lots of Bird of Ill Omen and Eldritch Elephants and other spooky music that I wiggled around to, and then I felt lonely so I stuck some pseudopods up to wiggle with people. Some kids shrieked, but lots danced with my pseudopods and gave me candy to absorb and it was fun until I felt SHY and slurped all my pseudopods back down.
Hebichi got to DREAM about being a Big Dragon and they could dance with a bunch of kids at the same time and some kids danced on their BACK until they fell off and got caught. The teachers didn't like that, though.
Lots of the kids tried to do flirts, because they're ALMOST teenagers, and some of them are 13, but they weren't very good at it and got embarrassed a lot. One boy got so embarrassed about being laughed at that he crawled into a vent and tried to disappear, but that's where I was, so I cuddled him until he felt OK again. I couldn't talk, but I made bubbly noises for him and gave him an origami FLOWER with lots of nice things written on it. I felt like I could make MORE things with my goo and not just fold paper and write notes, but the party was ending, so I had to sneak to follow everybody to ICE CREAM. I hid under the floor and absorbed all the spilled ice cream and listened to people talk and felt happy because my friends were happy.
When people left the ice cream shop, I thought that was going to be end of the dream, but I was WRONG. An AURORA pulled everybody into the SKY and I just barely got out of the sewer to get shooped with them!
It seemed it took a long time, and it was really scary because goo monsters don't like being out in the open and space is the OPENEST it gets, but then we plopped down on MARS and it was lots better. A bunch of Martian kids used an ANCIENT ARTIFACT to summon us all from different planets to a ruined Martian city and they had ancient Martian MUSIC MACHINES so everybody could have a DANCE PARTY. I hid under the party, but I could see everybody was having lots of FUN after they were done squacking. I think there were 6 or 8 Martian kids besides Binzi, and maybe that was ALL the kids on Mars, so they had to get more kids from different planets to have a REAL party. They had MODERN Martian snacks and I got to absorb all the ones that got dropped and I wiggled with the music and it was all nice until a Picklina went out by the edge of the ruins and a SLIME MOLD tried to eat her.
All the Shaboops yelled "Don't eat my mommy" and ran to clobber the slime mold with their Boobops, and all their friends ran to help them, and all the bigger kids, and Big Dragon to yell FIRE at it, but it was a HUGE slime mold.
Goo monsters aren't good at biting or punching, so I went under the sand and stuck the grains together to make SPIKES and then I slurped the sand away so the slime mold had to sit on the spikes to attack people. It's really hard to fight when you have spikes in all your pseudopods, so the kids chased it away and nobody got hurt too much.
I was feeling really PROUD of myself for helping SECRETLY, but then a little pink bunny tried to look at the spikes and fell off and I had to gloop up really QUICK to keep him from getting hurt. Then everybody remembered that I was being a goo monster and cheered for me and it was really EMBARRASSING. They threw lots of snacks over the side for me while they were partying, but they didn't try to come down and look at me, so it was OK. I was glad nobody got too hurt!
When I woke up, I asked Humboldt why he and Binzi turned opposite to each other and went backwards so their LEAVES went under each other and he got REALLY embarrassed, so I think that's how black-pointed Martians do SNOGS. Humboldt, don't be a teenager like Pixie!
Simoun asked why I'm so AMORPHOUS, that means not having a solid shape, but I don't know. Being a goo monster was fun, and being liquid is fun, but having bones is really nice too.
Being a goo monster made my feelings WEIRD. I don't know if I did a good job writing about it.
When everybody woke up, we had to do some party CLEANUP but then we had to go to school. I was really SLEEPY so I had to take a nap after lunch and I was almost late to Magic Singing class. I only made it because Number-teacher and VV-teacher were sleepy too. It was CLOSE!
During my nap, I dreamed about being a goo monster again and crawling all over under the Martian city finding ancient artifacts and absorbing yummy fungus. I left all the artifacts by the aurora machine, because nobody was watching. I found the secret SUBWAY that the kids use to get to that city from all over Mars, but I was afraid to ride on it because somebody might get on and LOOK at me. We talked about TRANSFORMATION magic in class, but that's really ADVANCED. Simone said they want to be able to sing the I'm A Boy Song or the I'm A Girl Song every day, but Morgan thought that was dumb. Simone said somebody needed to sing the I'm Not A Terrible Person Song every day and then Number-teacher made them sit in different corners like when young kids fight at play group.
After dinner I went to Hebichi and Toka's house and we talked about the Halloween party and the Halloween dream and how Toka zapped the slime mold with a laser because they were ISAAC MEWTON. They said I was a REALLY GOOD goo monster and that made me feel LESS weird. They were really great TOO.
I wanted to write less, but I wrote a lot today and some of it seems WEIRD because I was a goo monster. Maybe it seems weird because my brain is still SLEEPY. I'm going to go to bed EARLY.
I thought a lot about the Mars Halloween dream before bed, but I had an expedition dream. We stopped at Hollow Mountain Island to get more water, and the Checkerlanders wanted to look at the ruins. I went with them, and now that I've seen Martian ruins, these ones looked familiar! Maybe Martians came to Dream Earth a long time ago. The Exploration Club and all the pocket foxies wanted to look for ancient artifacts, but we don't have time. The wind is stronger and scarier every day that we aren't safe in port. We'll have to come back in the spring.
When we were back on the ocean, Podge and their minions found something that made them come back and yell really loud, so VULTURE QUEEN JILL and Broccoli-captain's ship went to look, and there was a huge white ocean lizard with lots of legs and 1 eye and a long purple tongue, and it had a teenager. That was Nessie's monster friend Shubbie, and Nessie's kitten Zora! We were really glad to see Zora, because that means she hasn't died at soldier training. Lots of people squacked at Shubbie, because he's really a monster, but Nico and Rei jumped right into the cold water to hug Zora. We signaled to DAPPY CAPYBARA and they came right over so Nessie-auncle and Big Sam could get everybody up onto the deck and give Zora a masquillion hugs. I felt bad for not jumping in the water, so I jumped all the way over to the other ship to hug her. I got scolded, because if I missed I might get squished between the ships, but I had lots of cousin hugs and a monster slurp. Zora said she's doing really good, but she doesn't get very much sleep, so after giving her family a bunch of kisses, she and Shubbie jumped right back in the water and sank all the way to the Awake World.
I was sad we only got to see her for a little bit, but I'm glad she's OK. You'll be a great anticorporatist fighter, Zora!
I'm trying to not use so many CAPITALS, but it's really hard. The only way I can do it is to not use any, except for ship names and like that.
Today there was a pretty cold wind, so I wore a real coat to school. All the ultra-modern people were OK, but they're all really nice, so they gave me lots of snuggles and I wasn't cold at all. I still feel kind of bad because I'm not as tough as them and I have to sleep a lot and like that, but it's not their fault and I still love them because they're wonderful.
I thought about being amorphous and what it was like being a goo monster. It was cool being able to build things like that, I think it was nanoconstruction like inside printer machines. Maybe the goo monsters are ancient Martian artifacts too. If turning into a goo monster is my special technique, I'll be really powerful!
Number-dad had his special jumping technique when he was Humboldt's age, but Humboldt doesn't have a special technique yet. None of us do. Simoun and Dmitri think it's because we have a family technique of standing up and lots of techniques we learned like Magic Singing and Venomous Magic Biting. I wish I had a special technique like Number-dad and Shoe-auncle and VV-gram, but magic singing is really good too.
The pocket foxies are still working on the elevator for Gooey-Bob, so all the rest of us went with Binzi to see the singing fish again and have a nice picnic and tell the Martians about Halloween. We didn't tell the grownups about the aurora party or having to fight a slime mold or anything that might make them shriek. Grownups get worried really easy.
Solara-captain didn't come with us. She went back to the beanstalk city because she felt too bad about not helping the people there. I hope she'll be OK. When I woke up, I told Dragon-mom, and she said she'd look out for Solara-captain. That made me feel LOTS better.
It rained today. It wasn't a lot, but it was a good day for snuggling up with people I love in cozy blankets and drawing rainy pictures. Flower-gram and Lilja-auncle sat together on the porch and looked really melancholy, so I drew a picture of them and I was really happy with it because it captured the melancholy feeling. Then Tiny Squeak came out to catch an orange tail, so I copied the picture and added an orangy-white pounce, and it wasn't melancholy at all. Tiny Squeak, you're a delight!
It's been a good week, but it's still HARD to not use all the capitals. I have to go back and squish them down a lot. I got lots of autumn weather snuggles and listened to Eldritch Elephants a whole bunch and my grownups who go to fight on Dream Mars are still alive. Zora is still alive too. Good job, grownups! Don't die next week either!
I still feel bad for not being a better friend to Hebichi when their costume didn't work. I know they aren't mad at me, but I should have noticed they were sad and helped them. Maybe if I did, they could have been Big Dragon.
Last night I had a really BUGGY dream. I don't know if it was an imaginary dream or a dream adventure, but Hebichi and I were beetles like before, and lots of other people were bugs too. Jeanne was a purple dragonfly who went really fast, and the twins were Mars-colored dragonflies who were really fierce. Humboldt was a big black beetle with really strong legs so he could explore all over, but Dmitri was a big fuzzy brown bee. Lots of the grownups were bees too, and they perched in some hexagons with Melli-chan and Apis-chan and Little Bzz and all drank grownup juice made from honey. Blonde Dmitri was a really shiny gold beetle and Flower-gram was an orange flower mantis and Annabelle was a water strider and like that. I didn't see Max, but then there was a blue star in the sky, and Max was rolling it backwards like a scarab! That's the nice name for a dung beetle, and in Egypt they had a story that the sun got rolled across the sky every day by a scarab spirit. Scarabs make balls of animal poop for their babies to eat, so maybe Scarab Max was getting ready for when she's a grownup and has larvae to feed. It takes a long time to get a star put away!
All the dragonflies made me think about Candlewick. Even big insects don't live a long time, but I hope she had a good dragonfly life and got to eat lots of yummy bugs and maybe lay some eggs.
This week is going to be rainy and cold. I think it will be a good week for snuggling and hiding inside and reading.
I didn't have any interesting dreams last night. I think I dreamed about being liquid and raining down from the sky, but I don't remember it very well. I felt nice when I woke up and listened to the rain, so it was a good start to the day.
When I got home after Orchestra class, Number-dad was sitting on the porch listening to the rain and reading about teaching art, so I snuggled up with him and read about finding a magic dimension ship and having adventures, and then Humboldt snuggled on my other side and read about making friends by riding bikes all over. After that, Beethoven came and jumped up on my back, so I felt REALLY cozy. I had love on 3 sides and home on 1 side and warmth on 1 side and that left 1 side to see what was going on in the yard. There was a lot of rain, but not a storm or lightning. Then Tiny Squeak in her adorable yellow raincoat came running to squish into her big brother's fluffy chest and that was the cutest thing ever.
It's still really weird that Tiny Squeak is younger than me but she's still a sister of my dad. Number-dad thinks it's weird too, but he says we all have to get used to it now that people are going to live a lot longer than it takes to grown up. Families are getting different!
My family has lots of people who like making chili bean stew. I hope that doesn't change.
I told Spin about the dream last night but then I remembered he wasn't in it and I felt bad. He said it was OK because he took Maz and Sonny to visit Bruno-auncle and Beezer-auncle and they drank hot spicy cider and talked about forest stuff. I didn't know he was good friends with my auncles, but I'm glad. Maybe he can be a giant bug with us next time.
We made it back to the island with the dodogryphons. They threw more rocks at us, so we didn't try to land. I'm glad they aren't extinct.
We're getting really close to home. If we keep sailing this fast, it won't be even a week more. We can do it, guys!
Poli and Nico were sitting on Nico's porch swing, so I tried to do a piracy on their laps, but I was TOO SLOW. Sahara got there first and she got all the petting and Poli ate her ears and she looked really smug. I could have pushed her off because I'm younger but there are lots of cousins to snuggle.
I went and sat with Nessie-auncle while she was drawing and we talked about what Zora is doing for soldier training. It sounds really hard and scary, but Zora is really brave and tough like her mom. You can do it, Zora!
We made it all the way back to Berry Island. We're ALMOST home! There weren't very many berries, because it's not fruit season, but there were a few. I think Podge and their new minions ate them all, though, and I didn't get ANY. It's OK, I ate lots of sushi instead!
Podge has 6 minions now, 4 calamari gulls and 2 northern pickle gulls. We don't know their names yet, but they got their crew bracelets. Welcome to VULTURE QUEEN JILL, guys!
When we left the island, it was raining really cold, so the gullies all hid under capybaras and the capybaras all hid under the boat so they were safe from the weather. The rest of us had to work, but we had good yellow sailor coats to stay warm and dry. I want to make yellow coats for the gullies, but they wouldn't be able to fly. I'm sorry, gullies!
Ultra-modern people don't get cold just from rain, but they feel grey when the weather is bad and want to get more snuggles. They like wearing fuzzy sweaters too, and so do pocket foxies, so it was a really fuzzy and snuggly day.
The electroflier doesn't work right in the rain, but that's because the pocket foxies left out some stuff when they built it during the summer. Now they're taking it apart to add that in, and Simoun and Jean really want to help. Their fingers are too big, but they watch and take notes and run to get stuff. I know they want to build big electrofliers and use them for racing, and that makes me think about the FUTURE. The future I dreamed about is STARTING. That makes me really happy and anxious and wiggly!
I hope everybody likes our future, even if it isn't just the way Toka and I dreamed it.
It was still raining on the ocean when I dreamed about sailing, and there was thunder and lightning too. It was really scary, even though we had a lightning rod at the top of our mainmast to protect us. We didn't get struck, but Broccoli-captain's ship did. I shrieked when I saw it, but they have lightning rod magic, so they were OK. Don't get killed, guys!
There was lightning and thunder in the Awake World too, and the tree with our treehouse DID get struck! It was in the middle of the night, so I didn't see it, but it was REALLY loud and we all shrieked and ran to look. I thought maybe something BLEW UP. Our tree was OK, though, because it has a normal lightning rod. Nothing caught on fire or really blew up, but I'm glad I wasn't sleeping in the treehouse. I think my heart would stop working!
It took a long time to go back sleep, but it was a good story to tell everybody at school. Lots of them heard the lightning because they live in our neighborhood, but they didn't know it was right in my yard. Now they say they want to have sleepovers in my treehouse every night to see if it will happen again, because they want to show how brave they are. Guys, you don't have to get electrocuted to show off!
We made it back to the islands that are right by the shore! We're going to be back in port TOMORROW!
We saw some other ships and the Checkerland ships signaled to them with flags. Nelson-captain's weasels taught them how to use flags, and they think it's really fun because usually they signal with plant magic. I don't know what the other ships thought about huge floating trees.
This is where we picked up Podge, so when they took all their minions except Maz and flew away, we all worried that they were going back home to their family. We were really sad for a while, but then they all came BACK and perched on our rigging and yelled really proud. I think Podge just went to show off their minions to everybody who said they weren't a great gullie and couldn't make their own flock. We were really happy they came back and gave them a whole bunch of shrimp treats. You're really part of our crew, Podge!
Maybe Podge and their minions would like to come stay at my zoo during the winter.
Today's nice thing that happened in the Awake World is that Tiny Squeak learned to sing the opening theme to the SHABOOP SHOW. She doesn't know the words because she can't talk yet, but she can squeak the melody! It was so cute when she sang along that Max and Annabelle and Secret fell right over. Now they say they'll always bring her to watch with them.
Nobody was REALLY surprised because we know Tiny Squeak can sing, but this is a really long song and she's really CUTE. You're a great songkitten, Mlle. Squeaks!
We made it back to port!
The weather was still bad but then we got into the harbor and everything was smooth and we docked just like when we came back from our shakedown cruise way back in the spring and we were all really quiet for a minute because we made it BACK. Then everybody YELLED because we made it back! I don't think the gullies knew what was going on, but they yelled too, and we all sang the We Made It Home Song and Dragon-mayor and all the other dragons and a MASQUILLION people sang Welcome Back Songs and it was kind of a party.
The party didn't last very long because we had to get the ships squared away and Dragon-mayor had to talk to Minnow-captain and Broccoli-captain and like that, but we were all REALLY happy that we finished our expedition. Nelson-captain and Zig-zag didn't even get mad that a different ship was in their usual dock.
After all the people who live in the Dreamlands get some rest, there will be a BIG party to celebrate how we found new lands and new friends.
It's a really weird feeling to be done with the expedition after spending months and months on it. Even though I had Mars dreams and all different dreams, it was a huge part of my dream life and now it's DONE and we SUCCEEDED.
When I woke up, I did a Successful Expedition Dance until everybody woke up and danced with me.
Nothing special happened in the Awake World, but it was an OK day. I got lots of hugs from friends and Number-dad came to Art Practice and gave people advice on using the Power of Colors. Everybody there thinks he's really cool, so his head got a little swelled, but Max helped me tickle him and he wiggled around really funny so everybody laughed. He's a really good cat and everybody loves his fluffy tummy.
I had lots of dreams about being in Dragon-mayor's city in between expedition dreams, but last night I had a dream about being BACK in Dragon-mayor city and that was DIFFERENT. I went around to all the places I usually go, like the park and Basking Shark 311 Flavors and the skate park and the Dragon Clinic and the Exploration Clubhouse, and even though I'd been to lots of them, it still felt like I was seeing them again after a long time. It was really WEIRD, but it wasn't bad. It made me appreciate them all. I saw Mercury and Morrow, too, and we played some frisbee in the park and it was really nice. The expedition was really great, but I'm glad it's over for now. Maybe I'll want to do more sailing in the SPRING.
It's been a good week, even not counting the expedition finishing. It's the time of year that's really good for snuggling, and Tiny Squeak is doing more singing because she's the BEST. The lightning wasn't the best, but nobody got hurt, not even the tree, so it's OK. The rain is OK too, but I hope next week isn't so wet and grey.
Soon it's going to be THANKSGIVING. I'm going to help cook LOTS of food for everybody!
I'm still using CAPITALS, but I think some words need them.
I dreamed about being back at my ZOO and saying hi to everybody and booping all the animal snoots and having bunnies hop all over me and it was really nice. Then it wasn't as nice, because Podge and their gullie minions came to see what the zoo was like, and they DIDN'T get along with the feathery dinos that run all over. There was a lot of yelling and flapping and the gullies all went to sit on the bridge railing, but then they saw the CROCODILES in the water and yelled some more and went to sit on the firebirdy's cage. That was OK because the firebirdy was busy building their winter nest to hibernate in, but the gullies didn't have a very good time, so Zig-Zag took them back to the docks. I'm sorry, gullies! I wanted everybody to be friends!
That was pretty sad, but when I went back to the petting zoo there was a NEW PERSON there. His name is James and he's 16 and he has really curly hair like Rafe but not as much. It's really weird to have somebody who isn't Zsuzsy taking care of the petting zoo! I didn't know if I like him at first, but all the bunnies DO like him, so maybe he's nice. The sheepies and everybody like him too.
The sheepies were glad I'm back from the expedition and they gave me a masquillion nose-bumps, even though they've seen me since I left. They're really nice and now it's getting toward winter so they're really WOOLY and good to snuggle.
When the sheepies got off work, we went to the food court and ate tater tots. Pierce and Nameko and Truffle and her mom were there too, and we got to hear about how Drama Bun is a human in her awake world and played soccer really fiercely but wants to do even better. You can do it, Drama Bun!
Mondays are Choir and Orchestra both, so they're really musical. Today Dragon-mom and Fairy-mom came with me to see how I'm doing, so I was NERVOUS, but I did a really good job! I shouldn't say it was me, because we all did music TOGETHER, but I didn't let anybody down. I was really proud when my moms talked about how good I am at music. I want to practice more, so I can be really great at music, but I want to practice magic singing and invent magic fiddling so I can COMBINE them. I know kids have lots of ideas and change them, but that's something I really want to do. You can do it, Samuel!
I had another Mars dream last night. The pocket foxies are still working on the elevator to visit Gooey-Bob, so all of us went with Binzi and a bunch of her parents up the river to see more of Mars. Sahara and Simoun and the Exploration Club have seen LOTS of Mars already, but they were really excited to see more. I was excited too, even though I'm not as big a Mars fan as the twins. Maybe NOBODY is. It was a nice sail along the river with all different-colored rocks and strange shapes that looked like alien fossils and a big cave of light crystals and wild plants. We stopped there and explored some to see what an underground FOREST is like. There were lots of flowers and flowery fungi and little wild animals with lots of legs and medium-sized wild animals that looked at us like we were really sketchy. It was all really pretty and nice, but the most interesting thing was the berries that were like blackberries only purplish-pink. They were as big as my paw, but they smelled just like ISLANDBERRIES. Maybe the ruins on Hollow Mountain Island really are MARTIAN. I think that might be why the aurora machine could summon us, but we couldn't talk about that because grownups were listening.
The giant islandberries were really yummy, so we picked a whole bunch of them and the grownup Martians will use them to make Mars pies. They said we're really good kids, and that made me happy even though they aren't my grownups. Maybe someday they'll be Humboldt's IN LAWS but probably not.
We brought some of the islandberries into the Awake World and Fairy-mom helped us make them into a yummy cobbler. Everybody only got a little piece, because our family is HUGE, but they all liked it. Rei said it made them think of sailing in a really NOSTALGIC way. I think that's weird because we were sailing just a few days ago, but Rei has lots of feelings inside.
I think eating dream food will make our dream magic more POWERFUL.
Today is Little Orange Cat Day! I'm sending out LOVE WAVES to all the little orange cats! I gave some toys to Squeaky Pip because she's part orange and I love her.
Last night when I was in the Dreamlands, Toka and I went to the Cat Café to give toys and treats to the little orange cats there, but some of them were Number-dad and Shoe-auncle and Clover-auncle! They were FUNNY but they were good kitties for all the visitors to be friends with. Later they grew to their regular size and we went to the bakery and ate cinnamon buns. Simoun was there fixing the Bakerbot, and she was REALLY happy to be back with the meerbots. When she first started taking care of them, she was really anxious about being their mom, but now she loves them all.
The party for the expedition people is going to be tomorrow, so we need to tuck our party dresses under our pillows!
I had to make a new party dress because I'm TOO BIG for my old one. Flower-gram helped me design it. It's all blue and sparkly and has some leather parts so I look TOUGHER. I really like it and I hope everybody else does too.
Humboldt got a beautiful dress for the party too. His is light orange and dark green, and he has an orange rose FASCINATOR to go with it. When he showed me that, I got really ENVIOUS and wanted a fascinator too, but we were already asleep so I couldn't get one from the clothes machine. Cara and Rei had some shopping to do, so they took me to the mall and we got orange slurps and looked in all the stores. Cara had to get special underwear to go with her fancy blue dress, so I had to go with them to LINGERIE stores and it was a little bit embarrassing. I pretended it wasn't, because I'm a cat and I can go wherever I want, and nobody teased. Lots of the shop people petted me and said I'm pretty, so I was proud. Then Cara and Rei helped me find a fascinator that was like a blue chysanthemum with sparkles, and it matches my dress just right. Thanks guys!
Rei had a black leather vest and a shirt with no sleeves, so they looked pretty tough. They're always pretty, but when they showed Cara, she pounced on them and kissed all over their arms until they got embarrassed. It was really cute.
Lots of people at the party had fancy dresses or fancy suits, and even the people who never wear clothes had ribbons and jewelry and hats. Dragon-mayor had a top hat that was clear and had a FLAME inside. It was really cool and all the other dragons wanted to try it on. The checker cats and tree octos and Checkerland spidies were all fancy too, and all the expedition people, and it was REALLY GREAT. Dragon-mayor and some other people made speeches about how happy they are that our expedition brought NEW FRIENDS back. Then Broccoli-captain and Minnow-Captain and The Spider Who Casts Everything With Higher Spell Slots made some speeches about how happy they are to visit us and how nice we were to give the exiles a place to live. Then they both made speeches about how great it will be to have leaf bubbles going back and forth so we can ALL be friends. The last speech was about the expedition and how great Nelson-captain and all the people who went with him are and what amazing places they discovered, and I got really wiggly because they were talking about my family and ME. The stage wasn't big enough for everybody to go up, but Nelson-captain and Zig-Zag and Humboldt and Rose-auncle and Clover-auncle and Willow-auncle and Thorn-auncle went up and showed a map of where we went and pictures of the islands and Checkerland and snails and Checkerland people and everything, and everybody really liked it and cheered and clapped and we all got REALLY proud.
I thought that was the end, but it WASN'T. Everybody who went on the expedition, even the Rigbots and Tiny Squeak, got to go up on stage and get an official Explorer Certificate from Dragon-mayor! Even me! Now we have really fancy certificates that we can hang on our walls and special pins to wear. They look like a compass rose with 9 points instead of 8 and they're gold and green and sparkly and look really cool. Dmitri smiled so much I thought his face was going to pop off, but then he looked at me and I was smiling just as much. I really like it when people appreciate me!
After THAT, there was a break so we could put our certificates and papers away, and then it was the party. We had all different kinds of party snacks and there was a lot of fancy music from live musicians and dancing and lots of people wanted to hear expedition stories and it was really fun. It was a fancy grownup party, like when Number-dad was at the Buzzbee Awards, but I still liked it a lot. I danced with lots of kids and teenagers and some grownups and the checker cats who already lived here and dragons and weasels and EVERYBODY and drank fizzy juice and gave Elephant Cat a big kiss and like that. I even tried a little fizzy grownup juice, but it's still horrible. VV-gram laughed at me, but she sent Tiny Squeak to hug my legs too.
I felt a little bit bad that not everybody could come to the party, so I made sure to be really polite to all the people who served the food and the musicians and everybody too. I know everybody could watch it, but that's not the same. I talked to Nico about it, and he said probably a lot of people aren't that interested yet. The checker exiles' friends were at the party, and people who don't know them are busy doing their own lives. I wanted to talk to him more, but a bunch of Teenagers II kids in flirting dresses stole him because he's too pretty.
Lots of people were splendid at the party, and probably Nelson-captain was the splendidest in his captain uniform, but I think I was pretty good with my beautiful fascinator. Even people who didn't know me said it was great, so my head got a little swelled up. Maybe that's good, because I thought I was splendid enough to be on TV instead of hiding. I hope I don't think I look really weird when I see myself!
When we woke up, we all shrieked and ran to make frames for our certificates and hang them in our closets. Humboldt and Dmitri put their pins on their exploration vests, but I put mine in my jewelry box. Then I took it out and put it on my HAT to show everybody.
Everybody who was on the expedition had their certificate and pin when they woke up, so we were all really proud. Everybody who wasn't on the expedition was really ENVIOUS and Gobi tried to get me to invite her over so she could do a piracy on my pin. My head got even MORE swelled up, but Zeb-teacher and Momo-teacher had pins too so I had to listen to them. The pins were too big to put on their hats or clothes, so they wore them like big necklaces and looked really cool. Then I got to Magic Singing Class, and Number-teacher and VV-teacher and Sahara and Simoun and even Squeaky Pip had pins so I wasn't special. That made my head shrink back down. We talked more about magic for helping people who are hurt or sick. That's good for expeditions, but it's good for everyday life with people who aren't ultra-modern too. That's all my brothers and sisters and lots of people in the Dreamlands, so I practiced really hard!
When I looked at what I wrote about the party and today, I'm not sure I did a good job, but I don't want to rewrite it. That seems like cheating for a journal. If my brain wasn't good at writing today, that's part of what happened today. Maybe it's because my head got swelled up. Now I'm going to hug Cattail a lot and go to sleep.
When I went back to finish making VULTURE QUEEN JILL ready for winter, the Exploration Club was already working on it. They had a little TV to watch the party on, and Podge and all the gullies were really interested. They sounded like they were talking about it, and they yelled when anybody from their crew went on stage, so they were really paying attention, but I don't know what gulls think about parties on TV. They yelled the loudest when Max did beans with Dragon-mayor, but maybe that was because everybody at the party cheered for how cute she is. They should, because Max is adorable!
Maybe I'm VAIN, but I thought I looked really good with my blue sparkly fascinator and party dress. I'm not as splendid as Dmitri yet, but maybe when I get older I will be! All of my family was really pretty, but Big Sam was the splendidest in his tuxedo made out of stars.
Clover was pretty with her orange fur and her dark green ribbons, but now that Little Orange Cat Day is past, she stopped being orange. Now she has grey and white stripes for winter hunting, and when she stands up, her hair is grey and her skin is white but she has stripes made of little grey freckles. She's still really pretty, but I liked her being orange better. I didn't say that, because I'm TACTFUL.
It wasn't bright and clear today, but it was really WINDY. We flew kites for a while, but then Gobi's big hexagon kite almost flew away with her and the grownups made us stop. Gobi said that was really unfair because she's an ultra-modern person and falling from a ways up won't hurt her, but Sara-auncle said it would be rude to anybody she fell ONTO. We all went to Gobi's house and had warm juice instead.
I wanted to have a WINTERY sleepover, so I invited Spin and Hebichi and then Max and Annabelle wanted to join us and Toka wanted to come with Hebichi, so it was a big sleepover. Spin doesn't have siblings to come, but he brought Sonny. We set up the tarp to keep the wind out and got a huge pile of warm blankets and bottles of warm juice and boxes of warm snacks and made a cozy nest to hide in and it was really great. We did lots of whispering together about special kid stuff, and Sonny couldn't whisper but she barked REALLY quiet and that was adorable. You're the cutest, Sonny!
I wrote about the sleepover in yesterday's journal, but I'm writing about the dream adventure in today's journal. Maybe I should have 2 journals. It's always ME, though.
Our dream adventure wasn't really exciting. We went to the docks to fix up the shelter boxes that the gulls and other seabirds use, and build some new ones. Podge and their minions weren't there, but we didn't worry about them. The weather was getting pretty bad out to sea, but they're grownup gulls who know how to be safe. We worked with a bunch of other people who like seabirds, so it was fun. Then we took them to my zoo to get some capybara boops, and the gullies were there! They were sitting at the top of Wembley's habitat making friends with the rhamphies. I still don't understand what they're saying, but maybe they were talking about how yummy it is to eat fresh seafood. After that, when we were looking for more snoots to boop, we saw them sitting on the firebirdy's habitat watching them fix their nest to be even warmer. I'm glad they didn't get scared away from the zoo!
Nobody wanted to get out of our nest in the morning, but we had to go to Fighting Class. We all complained a lot, but Dragon-mom wouldn't let us skip. It's hard being a kid!
I went to Dragon Clinic to help Shoe-auncle, but everything was OK there. The dragons didn't get sick or hurt at all while he was gone. Then I went to Meerbot Clinic to see if Simoun needed help, but she was done welding pin holders onto the Rigbots. Now they can have their pins on when they want to be fancy, but take them off when they're working so they don't lose them. She said I can't tell our parents she uses the welding zapper, even though she's always really safe and wears the big mask and gloves. We went to Exploration Clubhouse to see if they needed help writing reports about the expedition, and finally I could help. Writing reports sounds boring, but it's an important part of being a real explorer, and you get to think about all the best parts of the exploration. Cowrie-teacher, that's a tree octo who teaches new sailors, was there to help, but she's really funny so it was like a report-writing PARTY. We told her about everything we did on the way to Checkerland and she helped us make it sound more serious and we linked it all to the places on the map where it happened. I wrote a whole PAGE about what I thought about the carnivorous snailies and their birds. I hope their marinade experiments work.
Humboldt and the whole Exploration Club said everybody who got an expedition pin can be an ASSOCIATE MEMBER of the Exploration Club. That makes me feel like a REAL explorer. I think I can be an explorer and a zoo person and a musician and everything at the same time. It's hard to be a parent and be other things, but I don't have to worry about that for a long time. You can do it, Samuel! Except maybe being a beetle and being amorphous at the same time.
It's been a good week. The weather is getting really WINTERY so snuggling is even nicer. The gullies like the birdies at my zoo. We had a great party because our expedition was SUCCESSFUL. I booped a masquillion capybara snoots.
I had a Mars dream last night, so I got to show off my expedition pin to the Martians. They were really impressed because they don't have any oceans and that much water is kind of scary to them. I got to feel really brave.
We looked around the big cave for a while more, and Dmitri practiced making a map. Sahara and Max wanted to hunt the animals, but the Martians said NO WAY. Those are special animals and aren't for hunting. The Martians from Binzi's town think only fish are OK for hunting. After that, we kept going up the river to see more sights. Just like Earth fossils can turn into opal, Mars fossils can turn into glowing crystal, so there were GLOWING fossils, and places where ancient Martians painted pictures around them, or dug little holes to put statues in, or like that. It was really cool. The Martians are so old that they don't think about those sights much any more, so maybe showing them to us helped them appreciate them again. They whispered a lot about how visitors from outer space were making everything different, but I don't know if they thought that was GOOD.
The start of the river is a big waterfall with BARS at the top. There isn't room for the Martians to get through even though they're squishy, but they looked through with scopes and they think there's a pump that gets the water from below and squirts it out up here to be the river. They don't want to mess with it, because if they break it then they won't have a river and that would be REALLY bad. When the pocket foxies are done with the elevator for Gooey-Bob, maybe they can go through and look, but for now we had to go back to town and play GIANT HOLOGRAM CASTLES. It isn't quite the same as the Castles we play at home, but it's almost the same, and we played in teams so there was lots of yelling and it was really fun.
I played Castles with Nico and he crushed me, but I did 5 points better this time. Practice makes perfect, Samuel!
Today was cold and windy and RAINY so it was a good day for hiding inside and playing with Lego. Spin and Hebichi and Morning and Gobi all came to the Gram House to play with me, but we ended up playing with TINY SQUEAK. She likes jumping at people really fierce so they pretend to be scared, and making noises that sound like talking. We pretended like she was really talking and talked back to her, because that helps her brain learn. Practice makes perfect, Mlle. Squeaks!
I heard music I knew from the ellyphant habitat, so I ran to look and Cattail was playing ELDRITCH ELEPHANTS for them and dancing really wiggly like at the concert. Zig-Zag came to see what was going on and started dancing too, and then ALL the ellyphants were dancing and some of them were singing along with weird noises. It was an ELDRITCH ELEPHANT DANCE PARTY. I'm not an elephant, but I danced too, and then Cattail played some different music so we did different dances and it was really great! When I woke up, Max was mad at me for kicking her, because I was dancing IN MY SLEEP. I told her about the dance party, and then she was mad at me for not inviting her, so I had to let her snuggle Cattail for a while before it was time to get up.
Maybe I should get a new class or activity, because the weather's no good for bike racing. Ultra-modern kids don't get cold, but they don't like being wet and MUDDY. I don't know what I should do. I already do lots of music. I tried asking people for ideas, but Dmitri says I should take more naps and Rei says I should play more games and Dragon-mom says I should do more chores. You're not helping, guys! Maybe I'll learn a new indoor sport like table tennis, or learn welding so I can help Simoun at Meerbot Clinic.
Max wanted to take Cattail to her and Annabelle's sleepover at Secret's house, so tonight I have Scary Froggy to snuggle. I miss Cattail a little bit, but I know he'll be OK. He's a really smart and responsible mastydon.
I had an imaginary dream where the Earth was DOOMED, so we had to pack up all the people and books and animals and ecosystems and everything and hide them away in suspended animation until after the doom was done. I think a little alien star was going to clobber Earth, so we had to hide everything on the MOON to be safe, but people didn't want to get packed up and there was so much stuff that it wouldn't all fit and that wasn't even taking everything, just enough to REPOPULATE. Some people tried doing piracies on the stuff we packed, but that was dumb because there wasn't anywhere to go with it. It was a weird dream, and it was pretty sad because so much was going to get destroyed, but it was hopeful too because we were doing our best to be able to rebuild.
I don't know if I had a weird dream because I was sleeping with Scary Froggy instead of Cattail, but it wasn't his fault. After I woke up, I told him all about it and hugged him and felt better. I was still happy to trade back at lunch and hugged Cattail a whole bunch. Max said her and Annabelle and Secret took Secret's house-cousins sailing on a big lake, and Cattail was a really big help because he's strong and knows sailing. That made me really happy, so I said Scary Froggy was a good LISTENER. That made Max really happy too. I like having Cattail with me, but maybe trading SOMETIMES is OK.
Thanksgiving is tomorrow, so we did a lot of cooking today to get ready. Humboldt and I made lots of pies, pumpkin and lemon custard and pecan and spicy pecan and 5-berry, and all of us kittens worked on making a MASQUILLION dumplings. We filled dumpling dough with pork and chicken and beef BBQ and custard and eggplant stew and peanut butter shrimps and spicy catsup shrimps and rhubarb and smoked salmon and then put them in big racks in a fridge with wheels so that we can steam them tomorrow and have them fresh and warm. We're going to be at the Neighboorhood Center with everybody else this year, so we feel like we have to make enough food for EVERBODY even though we really only have to make enough for ourselves and then we can swap for different food. I like giving people food, though, so I don't mind doing a lot of extra cooking.
VV-gram is making really spicy goat stew like they eat in the Caribbean. It's so spicy that when Tiny Squeak licked a drop that fell on the floor, she shrieked and her mum had to give her an ice cube to suck on. I know some people like food that spicy, but I think I'll only have a tiny bit with lots of cornbread. The Cousin House is making sides, especially potatoes and yams and all kinds of veggies. It's going to be a GREAT feast!
I dreamed that all my siblings and friends and I went to my zoo and made sure that ALL the animals got special treats that were good for them but really yummy. It was a lot of work, because everybody needed different treats, and Wembley needed a HUGE fish, but it made us all really happy to see the animals enjoying their feast. Human James was there for a while to make sure the petting zoo animals were taken care off, but then he had to go home to have Thanksgiving with his family. I think he's nice, but he thinks it's weird that I call him Human James even though we explained about Penguin James. Now all the sheep call him that too, and he makes faces at them. I think he'll be a good zoo person.
Then we woke up and it was time for US to have a feast of special treats! Fighting Class got cancelled because some of the teachers were away to visit their own families, so we took a bunch of stuff over to the Neighborhood Center before school. We didn't get to skip school, but we learned about food stuff like why cooking makes meat brown and tasty and how proteins give things textures and like that. It was really interesting, but it made us all hungry so we were really glad to get out of school and run to the neighborhood center to do a piracy on snacks.
I helped some grownups take food to people who had to stay at work, like nurses and doctors and emergency people and a few shop people. They were all really happy to share our feast, and we were really happy to give them food because they were staying ready in case something bad happened and that's really important.
It was a really great feast, just like we thought! Everybody tried to bring enough for the whole neighborhood, so we had RIDICULOUS food. We had a masquillion people and some of them were new because they moved into the neighborhood since last Thanksgiving. I felt a little bit shy about meeting them, but Annabelle caught all the kids and brought them to meet her siblings, and that was OK. None of them are going to my school with the pocket foxies, but maybe we'll be friends anyway. They were all nice, and Mimosa had her hair all folded up like origami, so maybe she's cool like Hebichi.
When we had to say what we're thankful for, everybody said all the regular things first, so I said I'm thankful for KISSES, because they let me get all the love from my heart onto people's ears, and then I kissed a flowery ear and a tiny squeaky ear and a little dragony ear, and everybody laughed and cheered. After that, lots of people brought their ears over for kisses and it was a little bit embarrassing because they were laughing, but I gave them really good ear-kisses anyway.
When people were too full to eat more, they did all different stuff, but I went with the kids who played games like Gliese and Robot Maze and like that. I didn't win all of the games, but I did really good. Mimosa did a really good job too, but I beat her in the last game of Robot Maze and she had to swear ETERNAL VENGEANCE. I think that means we can be friends.
Then we had to fill our extra stomachs with DESSERT, but after that we had to clean up and go home. Now I'm in my closet because the party was fun but it was really loud and full of people and I want to sit with Cattail and be really quiet.
That was a lot of writing, but it was a big day. It was a lot the same as Thanksgiving from other years, so maybe next year I won't have to write as much.
I dreamed about going to a Thanksgiving party at the zoo, and Bruno and Beezer and all the Sea Wolves were there too, and I gave out a LOT of kisses. The capybaras helped, but then they ran out of kisses and I had to fill them back up, and then Number-dad was there with his best capybara-friend Algernon and THEY needed kisses and my mouth dried out. When I woke up, I was all tangled up in my own paws and my mouth was open, so that's why it dried out. I probably snored, too, and that's embarrassing because a good cat should sleep really SNEAKY. Nobody noticed, though.
I went back to sleep and dreamed about going to Dragon-Mayor's Thanksgiving party, and it was really nice because everybody who wanted to go put their name in and then Earrings Dragon, that's Dragon 53, picked names randomly until they had as many people as would fit in the City Tall banquet hall. I got to go in because I had my expedition pin on and everybody said they were happy to have me. It was really CROWDED because it was already full and then extra people got to go in if everybody liked them and some of the extra people were dragons and Elephant Cat and other huge cats, but I found a good place in a corner of the stage to sit and eat my food and talk to people who had questions about the expedition. Everybody thought I was really brave, especially when Spider Who Casts Everything With Higher Spell Slots spidered down from the ceiling right onto my head and I didn't squack. You're the best, Samuel!
It was a quiet day in the Awake World because everybody was still full from yesterday. I watched the rain and ate leftovers and played Chibi Galaxy with Rei and Humboldt and a bunch of people. That's a game where you zoom around to tiny planets that make funny stuff like Squeaks or Masks or Beans and try to get everybody everything they need. I was from Tomato World and lots of people wanted tomatoes, so I did pretty good.
After choir a bunch of us took Mimosa and her little brother Charles to see all the cool places in our neighborhood, like the spiderweb park and the big park where Bina tried to fly on a kit and the good ice cream store and the skate park and everybody's houses. I was worried people might get crushes on Mimosa because she's new and her hair is so cool, but I don't think anybody did. Bina wants to be friends with her because she said flying on a kite sounds really amazing, though.
Dmitri said he thinks CHARLES has a crush on ANNABELLE because he hugged her so much, but I think it's just because her fur is so soft. Charles is only 7, he can't get crushes on people. Everybody is friends with Annabelle, though.
The pocket foxies got tired of building the elevator to Gooey-Bob themselves, so they built a robot that lays the track down the cliff, ching-CHUNK, chink-CHUNK. Sabertooth Fox still has to go down in her artifact to check on it sometimes, but if it doesn't break then it will be a lot faster and easier. Now they're working on a base that can fit between the bars of the river and expand to give them a place to stand while they work on a SUBMARINE to explore the pump. The Martians think it's really WEIRD that the pocket foxies have so much energy for building new things and exploring, and they're worried that maybe the pocket foxies will cause problems, but they aren't sure what to do. I feel a little bit bad for them, because aliens are coming to their planet and being weird, but I think finding out things is really important.
My friends and I went to the athletic center and played a lot of inside sports because it was still raining and windy outside. A lot of other kids were there too because they didn't like the weather either. We played table tennis and racquetball and climbing wall. Mimosa was there with some kids from her school, so they challenged us to dodgeball so she could get her revenge, but I'm really good at dodging and she couldn't. I stuck my tongue out at her and she made horrible faces at me, but after everybody was worn out, we all went to get ice cream together.
It's been a good week because we had lots of parties and food and friendship and I met new kids and somebody swore ETERNAL VENGEANCE against me. All the best pirates have those!
I dreamed that we did a lot of work to get VULTURE QUEEN JILL ready for the winter. I didn't have to go in the water to check the hull, though, because it's TOO COLD. Cara went instead. We're really done now, so we just have to send somebody to check every week.
More people asked for a Magic Dreaming Class, so we're going to have one on FRIDAY. I'm going to invite Mimosa and Charles, because I think they would like magic dreaming. I need to practice my Guided Thinking speech.
I made chicken with purpleberry sauce for dinner, but it took too long and Fairy-mom had to help me. That was embarrassing. You need to plan better, Samuel!
I invited Mimosa to Magic Dreaming Class, but then I had to explain all about magic dreaming. She said it sounded really amazing because she didn't know about magic dreaming before. That made me really proud, but I feel like I have an OBLIGATION to help everybody learn about magic dreaming and have dream adventures. She's going to bring Charles and maybe her parents too. I think grownups have a harder time liking magic dreaming because they have to do so much in the Awake World.
I told her about my dream adventure last night where I went skateboarding in the skate park behind City Tall with Spin and Hebichi and Cattail and LN and Jeanne and we did a 4-way cross in the AIR and didn't die and then we went to Dragon Clinic to help Shoe-auncle give checkups to all the dragons and took him a bunch of snacks from the bakery that the rampaging capybara tore the roof off of that time. It wasn't as exciting as adventures with DINOS but she wanted to meet dragons. Dream adventures are really great!
Gobi was helping lots of people in class today, because she understood the math first, and that made me so happy I POUNCED on her with hugs. She squacked and almost clobbered me, but gave me a masquillion kisses instead. You're the best, Gobi!
I dreamed about going to the mall in the Dreamlands with Cattail and LN and Mercury and Hebichi and Jacky and Simoun and looking in all the stores for cool stuff. LN and Jeanne tried on lots of dresses with short skirts, because they were flirting, but the rest of us looked for cool hats and stuff. Simoun got sunglasses that were shiny blue like beetles to go with her blue ribbons, and Jacky got shiny black ribbons to look spookier. Hebichi found really cool purple boots that went up their knees and had high heels, and they liked them so much they went to the store where LN and Jeanne were and got a purple dress and a big purple hat so they could look REALLY pretty. You're splendid, Habichi!
Mercury and Cattail didn't find anything they wanted to wear, but they found the cinnamon spiral store and ATE a bunch of things. They smelled like cinnamon and sugar after that, so they were really POPULAR.
In the Awake World, it was really windy! The clouds and rain all blew away so it was clear and sunny, but cold and leaves were flying everywhere from the trees. Bina said it was perfect weather for flying on a giant kite, but Hebichi said if they tried, the wind would break their kite string and send them flying to HAWAI'I. That made Bina even more excited, because they heard Hawai'i is really nice, and when Morning said they might fall into the ocean instead, they said they'd get strong by eating sushi all the time and swim the rest of the way to Hawai'i. But then we got to their house and their parents said NO WAY to kites. They said it was OK to hang out, though, so we talked about flying to Hawai'i and eating fresh pineapples and ocean swimming and volcanos and stuff until we had to go to our own houses for dinner. I think visiting Hawai'i would be really fun!
It was really windy in Dragonland too, so we had to go back to the docks to make sure VULTURE QUEEN JILL was OK. One of the spars BROKE even though there wasn't any sail, so we'll have to fix that before we can sail again, but that was the only damage. Even the nesting boxes for seabirds were OK. I'm glad we did a good job building them.
We saw some of the birds flying out to see, and I think it was Podge and the gullies, and that made me worry but I know they're grownup birds and know how to fly even when there's a lot of wind. They'll be OK.
It was still windy in the Awake World today, but GUSTY, so sometimes it was quiet and sometimes the wind sang the Howling Song. In Magic Singing Class, we practiced singing along with it, because that's important for singing for more or less wind, and maybe some other stuff like making TORNADOS.
I feel like we do lots of BASIC stuff in Magic Singing Class and don't learn how to do the really great stuff, but VV-teacher and Number-teacher say we need a STRONG FOUNDATION, just like in Fighting Class.
Mlle. Squeaks is really cute when she sings the Howling Song.
It's already Friday, and that means MAGIC DREAMING CLASS tonight. Instead of going to art practice, I rehearsed my Guided Thinking speech. I did it really good last time, but I'm still ANXIOUS. Sahara and Dmitri made really good chili bean stew for dinner, and that made me feel a lot better. Now I'm hiding in my closet for a little while until it's time to go to the Gram House.
Last night I dreamed about SNOW CAMPING with Boogie and Chibi Moosa and Cally-auncle and my siblings. We made a round tent with an opening in the top so smoke could get out and a fire in the middle, and we snuggled in the tent and told stories about stars and toasted marshmallows. Then the rest of the Exploration Club came and we had to squish a LOT to make room for Maa-uu but it was OK. We had to toast a lot of marshallows for her too!
It's time to go, so I'm going to write about the class tomorrow.
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