Monstercat University I

Chapter 007

[Dilumi's POV]

     I shut my car door with a loud slam. "Woof! Woof! Woof!"
     "BUDDY BOIIII!!!" I yell, running to meet my dog Buddy. He gives playful yips as I rub him behind his short, floppy triangular ears, and tries to bite my hand. "You silly dog," I chuckle. Suddenly I hear a loud meow and look at the porch, where I see my cat Juliet. "Kitties!" I walk up to her, where she meows loudly again, rubbing against my legs and looking up at me. "You just want in," I say, opening the door and letting her run through, then I step inside. Not much has changed, except that I see a few pictures I've taken of nature around Monstercat University hanging up on the wall. I smile. Those must be the ones I sent to my parents. My mom and dad walk in and both give me hugs, and my dad is wearing a t-shirt with a picture of me when I was...like...five.
     "Do we need to help you carry anything else in?" my mom asks.
     "Nope, this is it." I answer. There goes Rogue. I love making song references in daily speech while acting completely cool and then watching people have no idea.
     "Here, let me get that," my mom says, taking my suitcase. We go into my room, which has been cleaned up a little but otherwise looks the same. My bed is carefully made, with all my warm quilts and blankets given to me by various members of the family layered on top of it, and the few stuffed animals I have kept through the years are sitting on it: my first Webkinz, Emma, my cuddly brown dog Floppy and his brother Puddles, my white bunny, April, my Siamese, Sardina, and my black and white cat, Car Kitty. "So, do you have anything you need to work on this weekend?"
     "Actually, yes. I'm playing a set at the university next Wednesday," I say proudly.
     "That's great!!! I wish we could come!"
     "They're streaming it online. It's the same link as the podcast. I'll give it to you again if you want to watch."
     "Of course! What time?"
     "9 PM."
     "9 PM next Wednesday. I'll go write that down!"
     "Cool!"

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     Let's see here...I kinda want to play the Stephen Walking remix of Rain because that's just awesome. It's Saturday night and I'm sitting down and writing some of my ideas for my set. There is absolutely no doubt that one of my three throwback tracks will be my dubstep anthem Deeper. Rootkit and the Fij collaborated on a deep house remix of that for me, and it turned out so great, so I think I'll play that after the original. Then maybe some more deep house like Real Love...I don't know. I don't want to go too heavy before a strictly electro and house artist like Soulero, but I also don't want to not stay true to who I am, which is, in one word, dubstep. And for me, I usually love it more the more brutal it is. I've got to find a balance somewhere in between for this set though. It's kind of intimidating thinking of all the tracks I could play in an hour, and I wonder how I'm going to pick the right ones. It'll be especially hard to pick the opening and closing tracks. There are so many that have a great vibe for it. But I'm sure I'll find the perfect ones.

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     "Alright! She's gone! Let's do this!" I call to my dad, clapping my hands. We've just gotten home from church, and Dad and I are going to prepare for my mom's birthday party while she's at the store.
     "Alright. Can you get out the brownie mix for me and I'll get out the eggs?" my dad says.
     "Sure!" My mom loves brownies. She's definitely more of a brownie person than a cake person. While my dad reads the directions to me, I mix the ingredients together. Once the brownies are in the oven, we start blowing up balloons and taping streamers all over everything. As a finishing touch, I put a Happy Birthday tablecloth over the dining room table, then step back and smile as I admire the decorations. Later we will all sit at the table and my dad and I will sing Happy Birthday to my mom and bring a brownie to her with candles on it. Then we're going to give her presents. That will be fun. I'm giving her a matching set of earrings and a necklace. We'll do all that at lunchtime, then in the afternoon I'll head back to MCU so I can get some extra sleep. I've got a big week ahead of me...