Fell asleep on the couch last night and slept like the dead. I still have had disturbing dreams. Last night I dreamt about someone who hates me, and she came to me and asked if we could be friends again, something she would never do. There was something about the scene that made me terribly uncomfortable, because I really don't trust her and never will.

I applied to two jobs on Saturday, but have yet to hear anything back. It's been difficult; I haven't found much of anything that I'm qualified to do. I've looked into clerical jobs, most of which pay $10,000 less than I was last making. I really don't want to take a pay cut, especially one that large.

I think I'll go out to run for a bit.

Today is our anniversary. Andy and I have been together for 2 years today. Tonight we celebrate with tickets to the Blue Man Group. I've never been, so I can't wait! I need to figure out a gift for Andy...

Andy will be going to London at the end of August. I am sad about that, since he will be gone over a week. I will miss him. I'm a little jealous as well, since I have never been to London, but always wanted to go.

I got information about a 4K walk for PAWS that I might attend to raise money for pet shelters. The walk lets you take your dog with you. Andy seems interested, too.

I am sore all over today.

I tackled a JavaScript idea yesterday that I thought would be much harder than it really is. I can't wait to get the new pages uploaded to the server. Next is the ASP code on the new server and the Magic:the Gathering database. This should be fun....

The heat is nearly unbearable, which disappoints me somewhat. I was hoping to get some work done on my site today, but with no air flow or conditioning of any sort in this room, I am dehydrating quickly. A real shame, since I am in such a creative mood.

Tonight, a musician is playing at the Starbuck's down the street. I don't know who s/he is or what style of music (I'm imaging a singer with an acoustic guitar), but I thought it would be a fun thing for Andy and I to do tonight. He has been so stressed out lately that I doubt he will want to do more than fall asleep once he gets home, but maybe going out for 20 minutes might be good for him.

I am continuing my studies, though I haven't been reporting them to this journal. I am progressing though DMK's Modern Magic (I'm on Chapter 3, so far), and I got some books from Amazon last week that are quite intriguing. More on that when I start reading them.

I have a couple of new projects as well, one for D&D and one for my Magick studies.

The D&D project is an all-elf campaign world. I'm getting some new ideas about it from a science fiction book I'm reading now, Hyperion. One of the characters was an ex-Colonel in a huge interstellar army that follows a code of ethics and honor. He learns from his training, and comes to believe, that the more advanced the civilization is, the more codes and laws it must have. After several horrible nuclear disasters and wars, the armies of these worlds had adopted a samurai-like code of honor and conduct to prevent large-scale wars and to protect civilian life. Animals can kill at whim because they do so for survival; because humans are capable of thought, invention, empathy and understanding they do not have that option. I like the idea of a highly civilized society that has many self-imposed rules, a society that thinks, "Because we are greater, we have more responsibility and obligations." Because elves are so much longer lived than humans, they might be such a society.

The Magick project is concerned with the "Outer Planets." There are well-documented magickal correspondances for the "classical" heavenly bodies (sun, moon, mercury, venus, mars, jupiter and saturn), but because our ancestors were unaware of the outer planets (uranus, neptune, pluto), there is no traditional magickal use for these planets. Maybe there should be, and I plan to find out.

When I bought the Tae Bo videotape, I felt sort of foolish. I don't now. I tried it for the first time today, and it is HARD. It's no wonder why the people in the video have hard muscular bodies.

I'm not sure what I was really expecting. I guess because it looks easy, I expected that I wouldn't have such a hard time of it. I couldn't even finish the basic routine. I slick with sweat and completely out of breath. Also, I wasn't sure if I was punching or kicking properly.

It's disheartening to be so out of shape and overweight.

Got the unemployment benefits straightened out today, so there's a load off my back. I went to Starbuck's and drank an icy Americano and read. It was unexpectedly pleasant.

The heat outside is like a blast furnace. This feels quite a bit like Arizona, even if it is considerably more humid here. I was surprised that I wasn't sweating more. The sun is very bright, as if it is closer to the ground than normal, and the sky is a deep blue. The weather report predicts thunderstorms, but it doesn't seem likely right now. If they happen, it won't be for hours and probably won't cool off much. It's predicted to be as hot tomorrow.

The dog is dozing in front of the air conditioner; he is uncomfortable, yet he doesn't drink much water, which concerns me. I can't force him to drink, but I can give him ice cubes, which he loves. He looks so funny when he chews them.

I was thinking about the planets today in regards to astrology and magic. It's funny that the classical planets (Sol, Luna, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn) and incorporated into most magical systems, yet the outer planets (Uranus, Neptune, Pluto) are conveniently ignored. They don't fit into the neat model of color, number, tarot and astrological correspondances, which if you really think about it is horseshit. I mean, there isn't anything special about the inner planets except that they were known to ancients and most can be observed with the naked eye. The fact that they didn't know about the other three doesn't mean that they didn't exist, and if the inner planets affect our lives then the outer ones probably do, too. I've been researching and brainstorming about how they fit into the Grand Cosmic Scheme, but I have yet to find any answers. I can't believe that I am the only person to think about this, so I'm perplexed by the lack of information.

I think the Air and Water Show is this weekend. Andy and I are seeing The Blue Man Group on Friday.