[Whatever Makes Me Happy, Whatever Keeps Me Young - Part 1 of 2]
by YBLalat

(Start of entry)

4: 30 – Mamat my roommate woke me up for the dawn prayer. I was awake even before he did, but the chilly breeze from outside rushing through the window kept saying to the half-awaken me: "Get back to that dream, dammit. She was just about to flash her boobs." Then suddenly, Mamat jumped onto the mattress, rocking the bed like a seismic wave. The dream drifted off into a wide-open space of darkness and appeared later only in the form of a snoring teddy bear with a curly hairdo. I lifted my head and dragged myself to the bathroom. As soon as I turned on the lights, I saw a horrible-looking ogre in a white pajama, making its way towards me from behind. I was petrified by its ugliness. The hair on top of its round skull was standing up so high; it formed multiple horns like a mutated Satan. It had eyes, which was red like blood and mouth so disfigured that they reached the back of its ears. I turned around to confront this beast, this demon that prevented me from praying but I found no one there. It was actually my own reflection on the bathroom mirror.

5:00 – I wanted to not sleep again after the dawn prayer. Usually I would go back into my roommate’s side and slipped under his blanket and fall asleep together until sunrise. I tried reading a magazine but my eyes were too tired. I was still sleepy. So, I drank a lot of warm water instead. I sat on the couch and stared at the clock. After a few minutes, I became bored and started dancing in the dark to the beat of my own dreadful singing of a Pavement song. Soon, I was back on the couch, struggling to stay awake.

5:15 – The image of the boob-flashing girl in the previous dream came back again. I think she was somebody I have met before in PPP ITM but I couldn’t figure out her name.

9:30 – I woke up to the chorus of Ozzy Osbourne’s ballad ‘Mama, I’m Coming Home’. The radio station was 93X Rock and so far, it’s the only radio station that is worth listening to. There is no way that the DJs are going to spin any of Britney Spears’ songs here. Although they play a lot of songs from forgotten rock legends like Black Sabbath and Metallica, sometimes they would fit in numbers from local bands that run the underground scenes in Minnesota and Wisconsin. These unknown bands are mostly of the hardcore, rap-rock and progressive metal genres, which I have developed a peculiar taste for.

10:00 – Last night’s leftover meals were still there. All of my roommates had already gone out to their respective jobs or classes. I switched the air conditioning on to medium blast; the heat of midmorning is unbearable this time of the year. I arranged the couch that I slept on and reheated the leftovers. That vegetable dish alone was my breakfast while a mug of chocolate milk and slices of bread dipped in pasta sauce became my lunch although it was still too early to be called lunch. I went into my room and recharged my Discman batteries for the day’s use. I checked my drawer to see whether there is still clean underwear to wear or not. The bed was a mess but I did not bother to clean it up. It wasn’t me who used it last.

10:30 – One of my readers was online via MSN. Jae was awfully happy today. I wasn’t fast enough to punch the Offline icon; so, she managed to strike a conversation. She invited me to a chat room in IRC but I declined the offer politely. She talked about a lot of stuff ranging from knowing my phone number and address to being flirted by a guy pervert who pretended to be a girl in IRC. She said she kind of missed me a bit while I was on my 5-day hiatus and wanted to see me in a picture. By then, I felt like a celebrity rock star. In the mean time, I was chatting with Norris, listening to her stories of credit card debts and going to the movies with a black gay guy, and with my eldest kid brother, who was pissed off because he lost a crucial chess match (again) in a local tournament. I was juggling several tasks at once: replying an email from Rafique, reading poetry my brother posted at Poetry.com, updating my guest book, reading the online news and eating breakfast.

(to be continued)