Saturday, May 23, 2026
20260523 i took a two hour commute all the way to downtown Toronto to meet Shortbread and her sister. I kept tabs on the time, noticing i had half an hour left of time before i had to take the train back home to pick up my toddler from school.
I wandered around a music store with wood panels for walls. A taxidermied black bear stood by the entrance, wearing a hat. I talked to a store employee, who let me wander around while I waited.
Shortbread finally arrived, out of breath from running. "I got here as soon as I could!" she exclaimed as her sister strutted by her side without breaking out a sweat. She said something about Shortbread too long to get ready and missing the trains.
I felt disappointed. I told them it's already time for me to go.
Monday, September 22, 2025
20250922 I was staying at a cottage with strangers. There were two couples, and two Filipino brothers. One night, the girl from one of the couples didn't return to the cottage at night. She was a large woman who wore a pink sweatshirt. She came back the next night and I greeted her. She didn't seem happy to be back and I realized she was trying to run away from her husband.
----
I went to an underground shop that sold comics, manga, and video games. They held a pre-release copy of a "how to draw" book for me. I held on to it and left the store without paying. I realized it was still in my hand a few hours later and stuffed it in my backpack, which was full of plush animals. Cookie and Shortbread wanted to visit the store, so I went back and we ran into Amaretti. He was preparing to fly to him home country and needed something to read. I whispered to Cookie, "i still need to pay for my book but I'm scared." The staff hadn't noticed it was missing yet. Then we left the store. I kept thinking of ways to give the money, and then remembered i needed to return to give Amaretti a goodbye hug.
Sunday, July 20, 2025
20250720 i was outside Shortbread's parents' house. They had moved and she lived with them. Outside was a large front lawn and a canopy of evergreens led to the red front door. The grass was covered by a thin layer of fluffy snow.
It was my birthday. I came in to a small party of my friends and family.
Saturday, June 21, 2025
20250621 i was in school and running late to catch the bus home. I hopped in from the back, escape door, passing and waving to Shortbread and her sister on the way to an empty seat near the driver. Then the bus was off.
After several drop offs, the bus halted in a traffic jam. The engine was also dead from being the heatwave. I realized the street we were on was unfamiliar and not on the usual route, as well as Shortbread was never on my bus home. I was on the wrong bus.
My backpack wasn't with me either - i'd left it in my classroom, along with my cellphone.
"Sir," i called to the driver. He was elderly with white whisps of hair, glasses, and a red sweater vest on a white button-up shirt. "I'm on the wrong bus. I forgot my backpack and i don't have any money to get home."
He left his seat and pulled out a notebook and flipped to a page with music notes he'd written. Pointing at them he said, "do you know what these mean? I forgot them, but now i remember. They stand for 'peace...'" He waited for us to fill in the blanks: 'love', 'unity', 'respect', and 'trust'.
I checked the time overhead; it was 17:44 - at 18:00 i had to wake my baby and breastfeed her. I was not going to make it on time.
I called out to Shortbread behind me. "Can i borrow your phone a sec?" I asked.
"Of course."
I made my way to the back of the bus. The other students, tired and faint from the heatwave, lazed in their seats. Shortbread's sister leaned against the window as i approached and Shortbread pulled me into the vacant seat beside her.
She cheerfully handed me her phone.
"It finally pays to memorize a [phone] number," i said as i took it.
"Who are you going to call?" She asked as i tried to press the tiny buttons on the touch screen. Her phone was small with a tiny screen. It literally was also a piece of well-toasted toast, sliced in half. My fingers kept dialing the wrong numbers as i tried to press the '4'.
"Dean [Winchester]," (Cookie) i responded.
Friday, June 20, 2025
20250620 Shortbread and i ran through a Chinese plaza to escape some men chasing us. I had a friend with us. He was tall and lanky, blond and gentle. He was deaf. We stopped in a hallway behind some crates and he changed his socks from a white pair or pink ones as part of his work uniform.
We got separated and Shortbread and i tried to find our way around the Chinese stores and plaza. We were meeting our friends who were mostly Cherry's friends for lunch.
Shortbread and i ran into a Christmas supply store to avoid our predators. As we started up the carpeted steps, she said, "i always feel like someone is watching us."
I soon felt the feeling too, so we raced back down and out, successfully hiding out chasers.
We finally made it to our restaurant and was the first. Soon Cherry and her friends, then my deaf friend. He took a seat by me at the end of the table, reading everyone's lips. A group of Cherry's friends stopped in front of us to say hi. One of them was looking off to the side. She meant to look at us, but her vision was wonky.
As I sat beside him, I felt something urgent at that moment and my thought drowned out the conversation. I needed to tell him.
After this, he had work. I couldn't wait. As he started changing his socks, for a third time today, to another pink pair to go with his McDonald's uniform, I put my hands on his shoulders to have his full attention.
I shyly signed, "I think I love you".
Planting a hand in my hair, he pulled me into a warm kiss.
Saturday, June 7, 2025
20250707 Shortbread and i were in school together, taking a science class in highschool. We sat in our desks, reading from our textbook doing the work on the computer. We got to the activity which was like a cypher except it was relevant to our everyday life. I took a break and came back to find Shortbread's part and another student's were the opposite and solved a problem for a major health issue. On the computer, i tried to complete my cypher. when i looked up from my desk, a loner girl who dressed punk and preppy at the same time put her used mug beside me. She was a bully with a toque. You could see her belly button and she wore dark eyeshadow and liner. She told me to move so i did.
Next, i was watching from in her house. She was in a relationship with the dance teacher. As she leaned forward into the counter, he moved in hugging her from behind. The space between their bodies enclosed showing they get physical from time to time. She turned around in his arms, wrapped hers around his neck, she kissed him.
He pulled away. "Now is not the time," he said, smoothly. "I need to practice and so do you."
I got the impression he was injured in his last dance competition and was recovering.
She, on the other hand, had a competition against her ex-boyfriend in table tennis. He called her up to tease her. He told her, "let's practice side-by-sides."
So, against the wall, she slammed the yellow ping pong ball with her paddle in lightning speed.
20250607
Cookie's mom came to my home at night to help me move some flowers. She saw a small box of cute, mini vases, took one, and thank me. They were late Mother's Day gifts for everyone.
-----
Cookie and I visited Biscotti's home where he was having a small get together. Spritz was there and so was Shortbread and Wafer. I sat on a sofa while Biscotti's mom helped me sew up a dress I was wearing. It was navy and made of velvet.
Biscotti, Cookie and Spritz talked about the time they went to ???-Con and said I should have came.
"I really wanted to, but I have to finish this for school," I said.
Regardless, the room turned into a crowded hallway at ???-con, where The boys were walking. Shortbread and Wafer were close behind them. Everyone stopped at a small dining area. I jealously watched as Wafer invite Spritz to the beach, hoping he wouldn't go. Biscotti would be in his home country, Shortbread wouldn't be able to either, and Cookie found her intolerable. Spritz said he'd come and Wafer shrieked out a joyous reply.
Monday, February 24, 2025
20250224 Cookie and I had to attend a wedding. Cookie was part of the wedding party and I was his guest.
We were in a mansion, with brick walls as an interior. Everyone was getting ready in the same rooms. Cookie was shaving his face with a cheap, pink, dual-bladed, disposable ladies' razer when I came in the room with the bridesmaids. I exclaimed I forgot to shave my legs and asked Cookie if I may use one of his razers. Of course he let me. He had two bags: one standard shape, and the other had a concaved, crescent blade. I took a crescent one and immediately went to a sink. There were many sinks in a line across the wall. Wetting my leg and then the razer, I did my best to avoid razer burn as I shaved the one centimetre long leg hairs. The razer pulled and I felt stinging pain.
When Cookie was done, he sat on the white-sheeted bed next to me. I looked up, seeing his navy pants legs to the white cap on his head. He was in his naval officer's uniform from the Navy. His coat was decorated with a few medals on his chest. I immediately felt flushed and lustful. I didn't realize the groomsmen were required to wear their uniforms instead of a suit. Before I could comment, they were called to the altar.
As the bridemaids watched the men leave, I heard one say they look gorgeous. I replied, "I'll have to keep [this memory] in my spank bank."
The reception was more like a nightclub with each corner of the room having a different theme, lighting and music. It was messy. I showed my mom, seated at my table, the bride's spending - which was over budget. She grabbed it and showed it to everyone, frantically. I yelled for her to stop or the bride will hate me but it was too late.
The next morning, Cookie and I got packed. Shortbread was getting a ride home with us. We went from room to room, looking for things we could take home with us. Items that wouldn't be missed. Shortbread took a small potted plant.
Sunday, January 19, 2025
20250119 Shortbread and I were back in school together, as characters we created, with a high school atmosphere. We went to our class, which looked like a small amphitheatre, and our teacher told us the parameters of our assignment. The class was a language arts one. We chose our groups: Shortbread, two other female, two other male students and me. We split up the work between us.
My partner was one of the boys. He was smaller than the rest of us and had big brown eyes and matching hair. We met at my apartment hallway (that looked like 9L's) with brown and orange carpet and yellow wallpaper from the 70's. Before we got into my home, he disappeared. In my teal, peep-toe stilettos, I ran around looking for him. He disappeared for days, and I spent any time that wasn't class looking for him. I had a minor crush on him, and obsessed with solving what happened to him.
Meanwhile, Shortbread's partner was the other boy. He was tall, handsome, curly-haired brunette. He also disappeared. At the same time I searched for the short boy, she looked for the tall boy.
Our paths crossed often, but we were preoccupied with our cases - our mysteries. When we talked, it was to check on each other and if we had any leads.
[I woke up, then returned to sleep.]
I went to class and set my books on a desk in the middle of the room. I noticed the short boy was back, sitting at the back row of desks. As I got up to talk to him, a group of mean girls declared I was sitting at their spot. I gathered my things as they teased me for being unremarkably dressed and set it on the desk behind them.
I went to the hallway, and a heavy gust blew through the hall. It was quick and hurricane-like as it lifted me off my feet and blew me horizontal. I held onto the door to keep from blowing away. When it stopped, the classes had ended and the hall filled with students.
Shortbread was one of the last to leave the class, holding her books on a short-rimmed baking sheet. She waited for me as I ran back in to grab my things, including my books that now sat on a similar baking sheet I've brought from home.
As we walked, I asked why she was upset. She said she had a crush on her partner, and embarrassed herself when she found him by telling him. When he rejected her, the whole class walked in and teased her, laughing. I told her, ”I blacked out" and can't remember at all how I solved my mystery. I wondered why we had baking trays and if we had a science project in a language arts class.
Monday, January 6, 2025
20250106
I was in university, during my free period. I stumbled into a club that entertained children. There were various activities set around this room. A staff member saw me wandering and assigned me a task, assuming i was there to work. I was trying to cross the room to get to my class, which was in a mall.
I finally got to the class, where the professor had already started class. A childhood friend of mine was there, but he didn't recognize me. Shortbread, Spritz and Wafer also took the class, but stood at the other side of the room as the professor talked. I wondered if i was in the right class. I filled out forms, as did the class, and as i went to hand it in, Wafer handed me a few dollars, telling me to drop these off at the registrar office. I said 'no' and left the class.
------
I was Cookie's first day back to work from parental leave. We had just moved into a new home. It was an older house, with old furniture and cabinets. It was in the early hours of the morning with dark skies and snow on the ground. Cookie's mom had come to drop him off at work. While she waited in the car, Cookie rushed to the kitchen to grab lunch.
I picked up a tupperware and asked him, “what about this one?”
He said it belonged to the jetski instructor and he has a lesson on the weekend.
When Cookie was going to the car, his mom came in asking for water. As i got her a glass, i checked the baby monitor. Our baby had her piggy face on and was running around outside. I yelled for her to come back in.
Sunday, December 22, 2024
20241222 i was in high school again, this time in art class. I can't remember what was our project. I went through a bin of random bric-a-brac. I saw a paint brush in a plastic case and thought Cookie might like to own it if these items were abandoned. I also saw a home made, hot pink dildo with a blue tip.
Earlier I talked to Shortbread about my romance troubles. She dropped a dime. She said something along the lines of, ”if you don't tell them what you feel, then your feelings are just as tossed aside as my dropped dime.”
Tuesday, December 17, 2024
20241217 i was on my old computer from the 90's - a beige desktop that became dirtier and yellow with age. On Windows 95, I opened a chatroom with Shortbread, but my messages were all in a different language. I tried to fix it and the words became Russian.
----
I woke up in a bright room in one of two twin beds separated by my baby's bassinet. The bassinet was upsidedown with my baby underneath but safe in the basket area. The other bed was Cookie's. In the corner, where my feet pointed, was my computer.
Sunday, December 15, 2024
20241215 i was in a mall that looked like Square One. Cookie was with me, and we went to a card game store. I watched Cookie interact with regulars who played card games there, then left to find Shortbread. When Cookie was done, I asked if we could take Shortbread home and he said yes.
Cookie dropped us off and I went up to her apartment. In the elevator, we ran into Martin Short. I told him I thought Andre Braugher was handsome as Captain Holt.
Labels: person: cookie, person: shortbread, theme: tvshow
Saturday, December 14, 2024
20241214
I sat with my family at a restaurant - my dad, mum, and sister. We were celebrating my sister's achievement for something, like a graduation. At another table, Shortbread and some high school friends sat together. My sister's friends stopped by our table, chatted and left together with my sister. I looked where the high school group sat and they had left too. I texted Shortbread for an update on where they went, since she'd tell me when they'd go but didn't get a reply. I felt alone.
-----
It was night and I had some Christmas shopping left to do and lots of time to kill. I was at a mall and the first place I stopped was an popular store selling products and treats from Asia. The cashiers announced they were closing in one minute so I hustled to the registers. Todd from Image Collections was at the register; he didn't recognize me. I bought a bag of marshmallow candy and another treat for myself.
I went looking for another store shop and saw a bakery. I remembered they made vegan ice cream from scratch so i stopped by to look at their selection.
Thursday, November 28, 2024
20241128 i drove to a high school meet up at a computer cafe by myself. Cookie was at work and couldn't attend. The music was loud. There was so many people i didn't know, but i soon found Spritz and Shortbread at computers at a quieter corner. I took a spot beside Spritz and played a game for a couple of hours. When it was late and everyone was heading home, the three of us hitched a ride with a couple in their white station wagon. When we stopped at a gas station, i realized i left my car at the computer cafe. I turned to Shortbread and Spritz and exclaimed i could've driven them home myself.
Sunday, November 24, 2024
20241124 I left my hotel in a suburb of the greater toronto area and took the subway all the way to the heart of toronto (there isn't one built on this period of time). I met shortbread there and some friends, and we stopped at a Chinese store. It was late in the day and the stores were closing. I threw a bunch of things (i couldn't get where i lived) into a cart and took it to a cashier whose register was outside the store while everyone waited at the sidewalk. He took a long time ringing up my items. When he was done, i was alone with my bags and everyone couldn't wait longer. I took the subway alone back to my hotel room.
i was a landscape labourer again with Cookie on a warm spring day. We were cutting bundles of chives, digging holes in the ground in rows, and planting them. Instead of the chives, i was planting magazine paper strips. I thought the chives were grass.
Friday, February 16, 2024
20240216 After years without contact, Wafer invited me to her new apartment's party room where she was entertaining new friends. I haven't seen or spoken to her in years, purely because I didn't think she was contributing anything positive in my life. Since I've had time to cool my head, I decided to give her another chance. i atrived to a sleek, white party room, where I decided to spend most of my time behind the bar and kitchenette. When Shortbread arrived, she'd stay there with me, each of us holding a red Solo cup as a crutch or our awkardness. Every now and then, the social butterfly, Wafer would come there to get something. She was surrounded by her friends. Barely any time was spent with us.
Something horrendous happened, I can't remember what, sending us all to hide under sturdy furniture. Wafer crouched with us under the bar as we waited for the trouble to end. She mumbled something spiteful and with snark, that the reason why bad things were happening was all the fault of the friend who left her for years. I knew she meant me. I knew she hadn't changed. I got up and rushed to the door with disregard for my safety. I was upset, angry. Why would she invite me if she still held resentment. I was ready to start freshm but she was not.
Wednesday, February 7, 2024
20240207 I called up Shortbread and we met at a new cake cafe around Yorkdale Mall. Lining the walls and floor-to-ceiling windows were woven baskets filled with golden and chocolate-brown cakes and cupcakes. Scattered around the room, in multiple small groups, were sofas, armchairs, and compact cafe sets of tables and chairs. I stopped at the cashier, ordering a cupcake, without icing. Paying for it, and after I was given it on a plate, I sat down at an armchair arrangement. Shortbread ordered a latte and sat across from me.
As we talked, I finished my cupcake and wanted another. There were several in a clear display case on the wall, so I took one back to my seat. After I'd finished it, I wanted something more. Near the entrance was a basket of un-iced cakes. I took one back, and when I finished that one, I took another.
Sooner than I noticed, the sky outside was navy, and Cookie arrived to pick us up. The cafe was also closing. People lined up at the cashier to pay for their consumptions. When it was my turn, I told the cashier I'd eated a cupcake and two cakes. She was confused, so I said, “the big ones.”
Her face was shocked, as she asked me where did I get them. I repeated, “the big ones.” She excused herself and talked to her manager. I felt I messed up.
On my phone, I navigated to the cafe's website, looking for the cakes I'd eated. They were small cakes, each $24.00 CAD. The big cakes were $63.00. I looked at Cookie and told him that I hope they charge me for the small cakes, not $63 each.
Sunday, August 27, 2023
20230827 I don't remember the first dream very well. Cookie and I were at his family's cottage with his other family circles. One family cancelled because one of their members wwre infected with COVID-19.
I'd entered the main room where everyone was seated. To my surprise, the family with a COVID member was there, happily chatting away with everyone. I felt conflicted.
-----
Cookie and I were with his aunt and uncle. We were at a lobby with wooden panels as walls, and lighting was dim, as if it were a steakhouse or a sauna.
The Japanese hostess approached me. She was dressed in a pretty, red kimono with her hair tied in a neat ponytail. She asked if we would like to have dinner there. I looked at everyone else to see what they thought.
Cookie's uncle responds, “yes, sure. Let's have dinner here.”
“It will be $300 per person,” the hostess said.
I tried to add it up in my head, realizing it was dinner and a Kabuki show. I nervously wanted to change my mind because it was too expensive.
----- naptime
I went on a walk ny a pier with Cookie, Shortbread, my 4 year old nephew and his mom. He was running, misbehaving and tripped, breaking his ankle. Be he didn't cry. His mother was frantic, getting a splint and black electrical tape from her purse and wrapping her kid from head to toe as I sat aside and watched.
While I knelt by them, I thought it was ridiculous how she was wrapping him, but she has a recent First Aid certification. I also noticed I recognized the song the live band played from a stage looking down on us on this sunny day.
I bobbed my head, clapped my hands and raised a fist at the appropriate time to the song. It was “Harlem” by New Politics.
When the kid was ready, he and his mom wennt with emergency personnel, while Cookie, Shortbread and I agreed to walk to meet them somewhere. As I walked, a gust of wind blew a thin, lacy, burgundy dress with long sleeves and tangled it around my legs. I was about to let it continue blowing on its merry way until I saw the pricetag still attached - it was $1,353.00. I checked the label, and it was black, cursive letters on a beige background.
I decided to find the store it came from, and when we walked back a little, there wasn't a clothing store nearby.
“I guess I keep it,” I said, in awe of my luck.
Sunday, August 20, 2023
20230820 i barely remember these dreams. With Shortbread, I climbed creaking old wooden stairs of a small house. On the floor we reached were filled bookshelves of fragrant old books. The walls were peeling painted white horizontal wood planks and the floors were creaking wood covered in expensive antique rugs. I can't remember what we were talking about.
-----------------
After viewing the results of my entry for a specific country fair, I decided to build a new fairy garden with Shortbread and another boy. We were making them on the floor over a white tablecloth to prevent dirt from staining the floor.
Labels: person: shortbread, theme: books, theme: plants
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