The External World

http://vimeo.com/22462619

It's really a cool animated short film and it's interesting.

Try this!

http://morph.cs.st-andrews.ac.uk//Transformer/

What is the link for the Flickr account? -Victor

My Chat with Milton

MILTON: I was attacked by two white boys. See they always say that the blacks are wrong, the whites can shoot and kill you as well, see? I worked for a bank, first national bank, I was a guard down there for 30 years.

____________

MICHAEL: Did you ever get in an trouble as a kid?

MILTON: Me? Yeah I used to bust the windows playing ball. My father said aye, I understand you busted a couple windows... you and your friends. No ice cream, no shows you don't have no fun with anybody no skating board you know, nothing; until it's paid.

Art? make something that people will like!

Brunice said,

" There's always good people and bad people everywhere"

"TELLING TRUTH to people is important.
You don't have to worry anything.
, and you might get better job."

"A baby swimming, Some people--They're building a hut, and That's a man riding a motorcycle underwater."

Collage by Rosemary Nunn

Milton says...

“Pearl Harbor. Just as soon we land there, y’know with the boat. Dinga-linga-ling! The war is over! The japs surrender. So I was sort of…sad, y’know.”

“I had a Buick and I had an Oldsmobile but I liked the Buick better because it didn’t cost so much gas, see?”

“All my friends, their fathers, were rich, filthy rich. My mother and I, my father, they were the poorest. So now I never see them, see? When you’re rich, you stick with the rich. When you’re poor, you stick with the poor.”

“Has anybody ever bothered you? Pull your hair? Try to touch your breasts? I went to a school like that. But I didn’t do it. I grabbed them outside and I says “next time, you won’t have a hand.””

Bob Bringer

Bob: How old am I? Guess! I'm younger than you think!
Me: 80?
Niaz:75?
Bob: I'm 95. My mother lived to be 135.
Niaz: Did you travel on a plane before?
Bob: I'll never fly again.
N: How many times did you go on the plane?
Bob: ........................ As long as they stay up there, it's good.

Milton 2

MILTON: No drinking. And no smoking ...

VICTOR: Did you have-

MILTON: ... not always.

VICTOR: Did you ever write growing up? Do you like to write?

[PAUSE]

MILTON: Yeah, sometimes.

VICTOR: Yeah?

MILTON: I go to church.

VICTOR: That's good.

MILTON: Not always, y'know.

VICTOR: Of course, of course.

MICHAEL: Do you have any favorite books?

MILTON: There was one ... but someone stole it from me.

me and Ann's art work

while visiting the nursing home i met a very interesting woman. she couldn't speak and seemed very fragile but she made a major impact on me. together we collaborated and made these pieces from clay. enjoy. i know i did :)

Milton

ALYSSA: Wait, do you like art?

MILTON: Hmm?

ALYSSA: Do you like art?

MILTON: I like to see it … can’t say I can do it.

ALYSSA: Wait, do you want to see some of my art?

[PAUSE]

ALYSSA: Do you want to see some of my art?

[PAUSE]

MILTON: I have to have something in my ear so I can hear you.

VICTOR: Yeah. [PAUSE] Do you guys take trips up to the lake? To visit the lake ever?

MILTON: Yeah … when there’s a bus. See, everything that we wanna do, we have to do it right away. Y’know, can’t wait all the time.

VICTOR: Right.

MILTON: Some people here wanna have their hair cut, they wanna shave, and when you’re going to a nice place to eat …

VICTOR: What’s your favorite part about Chicago?

MILTON: [SMILING] Huhh […] Marshall Field, now it’s –

ALYSSA: Macy’s.

MILTON: Yeah.

ALYSSA: Have you seen the Macy’s Flower Show?

MILTON: Here? No.

ALYSSA: It’s BEAUTIFUL!

MILTON: Flowers … I didn’t make ‘em … in fact, I wouldn’t have any.

VICTOR: Yeah.

ALYSSA: NO?! [LAUGHING]

Talking with Erlinda

I didn't record her speaking, I didn't write anything down. But I remember what she had said and what she did--even then, I'm not sure if I fully understood what she was saying. Whitney had asked Erin and I if any one of us in our class was fluent in Tagalog, so I believe her English wasn't very fluent.


Erlinda, 86?

Lived in the Philippines—her father has passed
Three children: Noel, Rodell, Dennis—all sons
Her children adored her
Wants to go home, can’t get back—no money back in the Philippines, can’t use her right hand, can’t walk, two large swells on her face--along her jawlines
Clothes—no clothes? She made clothes in the Philippines? She kept point at my clothes and her clothes.
Her sons are big, bigger than me—age range 30-50 (age kept changing for each children, she can’t remember very well)
“You…”?
Debt? One of her sons is in debt?
No money

Near the end, I tried scooting closer to her (almost to the point of resting my chin on her arm rest) since I still couldn't really hear her very well. While she was talking she suddenly touched my face and pulled back my hair a little. It shocked me, but I didn't want to pull back in fear of hurting her. After a little while, she reached out to me and I let her touch my hair in a gesture that seemed like she was trying to pull back my hair again.

With the play-doh, she made random shapes. Just played with them and laughed--she laughed when I told her I had no idea what I was making, too. After a while when I got the courage to ask her a question, the play-doh shapes she made slowly molded back into one as she talked more and more about her despairs.

Bob

"How old am i now?
You guess how old i am...I'm younger than you think...i'm 95
my mother lived to be 135"

Bob is from Kentucky and used to be really into horse racing and won a lot of money from betting.
He likes baseball.
He also likes cats and has had about 10 cats over the years.

He does NOT like riding planes.
"I'll never fly again...when it comes down it's bad news

Bob likes riding trains for transportation.
He has been on a plane before though, to Europe.
He has been to France and Germany.

"pray before you get on a plane"

Interview with Niaz

Me: Can you speak Turkish?
N: I can only speak English. Ok, I know ice cream in Turkish. It's "Don durma."

What's your family like? Your relationships?

Anita: Ooohh. I actually, my father is my role model—like, I really want to be like my father. He’s always being honest and everything. He never, like, cheating—he never really committed, you know like, crime even if it’s like minor crime. He never done it, and just—it’s like he rather be fooled than fooling people.

Me: Oooh.

Anita: Like, cause he think if—he thinks it’s better rather than being a fool, he knows he’s not a fool he’s just trying to, like.

Me: Yeah.

Anita: Yeah. And my mother—I’m really, really close with my mother. Like, I call her everyday.

Me: D’awww

Anita: And then, if I’m like back in Korea, I always stay next to her and bother her all the time. Like, “What are you doing? Why aren’t you paying attention to my conversation?!”

Anita + Me: (laughs)

Anita: As much as you get used to it, like, blah blah blah and just bother her all the time. I’m like mama-girl.

Me: (laughs)

Anita: And my brother—I used to be close, but…we’re close, but he’s like, uh, grade eleven—he’s in grade eleven now. So he’s still like, you know, like in high school--they’re like teenagers.

Me: Yeah, yeah.

Anita: Adolescent and blah blah blah. Yeah. Yeup, that is my family members.

Me: (laughs) Sounds like—Sounds like a very good family.

Anita: Mm, yup!

I know we're done with dreams but...

This one's too intense to not share.

I had the most BIZARRE dream the night before last, and it's extra weird because I remember all of it.

My boyfriend and I were walking in a field, and this military helicopter lands in front of us. A little troop got out and told me the vampires were back (back from where? Not sure.) Brian and I were horrified and upset. But the troops told us even more bad news-- They were stronger, faster, and had learn how to reanimate the dead as vampires. Not just newly dead either, like they could completely regenerate flesh, bone, and mind. Not zombies, but functional vampires.

Then I was in an art gallery, were I was having a show of my high school art work from last year, but I was going crazy because I couldn't find my Nirvana themed art (never done Nirvana themed art.. I had one piece with one lyric in it... I don't know.) Every room I went in was full of MCR art, and I was getting pissed off. I went into this all white room and there was nothing but some workers repainting the walls white, and My Chem playing on a TV screen. I turned around and found this older man, and he said something along the lines of, 'hey kid, you didn't hear this from me, but your art is in the alley, inside the ice cellar. But be careful cause there's some reckless kids with a freight train out there."

Of course, I rushed out to the alley, but the kids were out there with the freight train aimed at three girls in a bathtub. I screamed NO! but it was too late and they killed them with the train, and the tub filled with blood and overflowed. I went over and lectured the people driving the train, and they apologized and the girls got out of the bathtub and were like 'dude, we're fine.' got in a car and drove off.

With that mess taken care of, I went to the ice cellar and still couldn't find the Nirvana art, so I gave up and went back in the building. The first room I walked into was the room with my Nirvana art! And there was only one person in there looking, and he had his back to me. He was blond. I was like 'hey man, what's up! You like what you see?' or something else totally lame. He turned around and it was Kurt Cobain, with vampire marks on his neck. I was like WUT. And he was like 'i appreciate your creativity but don't use my shit in your art.' and I was like okay. But all I could think was how Brian had to meet him, so I went and got him, and when we got back Kurt was still there but told us not to be creepy and follow him, cause he wanted to keep a low profile.

SOOOO me and Brian went home and laid on my bed, looked up at the sky (cause the room had no ceiling) opened umbrellas and let them go like balloons.

SUCH A BIZARRE/DETAILED DREAM.

Sit and Look at Each Other

Hey all,

Clare and I posted our photos from the Sit and Look at Each Other project to Flickr. You can check out / share the whole set HERE and see pictures from the past year HERE. You guys are amazing.

Interview with Charlotte

ANITA: Is there any childhood memory? It doesn’t necessary has to be childhood memory, but anything that is really strong .

CHARLOTTE: Um, I have lot of memories like that, oh. I guess, when I was a little, I had a lot of ants in my house,

ANITA: really???!! Ants?!

CHARLOTTE: yeah, E-V-ERI-WHE-RE-. it’s like epidemic.

ANITA: ewwwwwww.

CHARLOTTE: really weird. And I was really scared of them, I am still scare of them now-, so usually if I see them I like scream to mom to help me. I WAS REALLY SCARED OF THE ANTS. One time I was playing by myself in the living room and my mom was taking nap. I had all these blankets and one was laid on the floor and I SEE these THE LITTLE ANTS CRAWLING ALL OVER my blanket- I started screaming I was like jumping on the couch, I don’t know to do so I just managed to ran over these to my mom, “MOM- WAKE UP- WAKE UP- I NEED HELP. The ants are everywhere-“ and my mom, I guess she was really tired, she yelled at me to stop bothering her, (giggle) I just cried by myself, I just set on the couch, waiting for the ants to disappear so I can go back to my blanket. (giggle)

Interview With Zach Hutchinson

Zach: Rabbits are usually mean. They’re not really good pets.

Casey: Yeah, they’re really bad pets.

Interview Quote

"Yeah, uh, bright colors describe me… because I'm a very bright person... most of the time I'm really outgoing and ambitious. Like, just… I'm very talkative, just in case you haven’t noticed by now, I love to talk and um I love to get to know people, so I guess just bright colors in general."
-Raven, when asked what colors describe her personality.

This is Victor's Post

VICTOR: Alright, um...is there a particular aroma that reminds you of home or growing up?

MIKE: Yeah, grass and trees.

Anywhere you used to like/want go when you were a kid?

"I wanted to go on a road trip yea but like ummm what was is it... the only problem is that I like get car sick a lot." - Megumi

Alyssa's haunting

Michael : Have you ever had any contract with any supernatural or strange, mysterious occurrences?

Alyssa: Oh, a lot. A lot, actually.

Michael: Give me and example.

Alyssa: I’m pretty sure my old middle school is haunted. (Pause) Yeah, so basically, like, I’d go to the bathroom in my middle school and I would, like, hear footsteps and I’d ask if anyone was there and then I’d look down and there’d be no one there but I could hear the footsteps clearly and they were in the bathroom, like walking, around the stalls, but there was nobody there.

And, um, also at that same school there was, like, this ghost that a bunch of other people would see that was like in the corner, kind of by this hill, and it was like a female figure, like all white, and, like, you would think that you saw something and then you’d look away and it was gone. (Pause) I’m trying to think.

I’m pretty sure that my friend’s basement was also haunted. Like there were people that were actually murdered there and we would sleep over there and we would just like hear really weird sounds. And – it was – it was freaky, it was really scary. Yeah. But I would still sleep there and I’m pretty sure her next-door neighbors were haunted. But, yeah it was weird. There’s a few more but it’s a lot to go into (laughter).

Victor says um a lot

ALYSSA: yeah it’s been awhile. And then wait; what’s your biggest fear?

VICTOR: My biggest fear um, this was also on facebook on that 30 day challenge um I don’t know if I’m really like terrified of them but I really really don’t like centipedes.

ALYSSA: really?

VICTOR: like they shouldn’t have that many legs and they’re not supposed to move in that kind of way-

Free Internet Dating from Zachary Hutchinson on Vimeo.

A short film by Zachary Hutchinson exploring an exploited reflection of life through dating, internet culture and loneliness.

MY VIDEOOOOOOO!
incase you guys wanted to see it again :D

PLEASE WATCH THIS.

http://www.break.com/index/dance-assassin-2009881

Full of win.

Guys Walks Across America

For Anita!

dream

sorry i had not have really good sleep over few days,
and due to my religion, i could not share most of my dreams.

i will just share the dream i had before.

1. the ghost
I don't know why, but i was doing laundry with my highschool friends.
We were waiting in line to give our clothes to the laundry people.
and i saw my mom.
After doing laundry, i found myself standing at the shore of a random lake.
The atmosphere of the lake was very creepy. It was subtle, with awkward silence and very foggy.
The weather suddenly changed to winter. I saw the lake quickly getting frozen.
When I look down on my feet, I saw a fishing pole.
I have never done fishing, but i was fishing.
I threw a fishing line over the horizon line, and i stroke something.
As i stroke the thing, under the frozen surface of the lack,
I realized that the thing that i stroke was a full dressed clothes.
A white t-shirt, a pants with a shoulder strap, and a pair of brown shoes.
The clothes were in shape if as a person is wearing them.
As soon as i realized the thing, the clothes, I saw the black shadow slipping under the clothes and quickly disappear to the horizon of the lake.


Within only a few second, i saw eyes, the eyes of the black shadow.. starring at me.

It's Not Midnight Yet!

So I thought I could share a few songs with you guys! The lyrics in these songs are a part of my archive, I think they have really beautiful and intense imagery, and they're just really good songs. These songs have inspired my past work and dreams (I used to listen to a certain CD on repeat while I slept...). I hope you'll give them a chance.

Wine Red
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uc3KZ4jYXFk

The Jetset Life is Gonna Kill You
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nb2mRgnfIAo

Cemetery Drive
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6c1uCHFYG5M

Don't Wake Me Up (SO RELATIVE TO THIS PROJECTTTT)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNboLgiHcMQ
*****The lyrics in this video are especially effed, so you might wanna look those up separately. This was the only semi-clear recording I could find on youtube though, sorry. The song is really beautiful though

Meh, lyrics videos suck, but I want the words to be what impacts you guys.

Poems

I think this is a nice link to share for everyone.

greatpoets is a livejournal community that shares poems. Members share their favorite poems of all time periods. The archive is huge--the user info says that there are 11,599 entries submitted, and most of them have to be poems.

Dreamtigers

Here's a short story-poem by Jorge Luis Borges, called Dreamtigers, from his book "El Hacedor" (The Maker) that connects our exploration of dreams to the research, expectations, and sometimes disappointments of real life:

In my childhood I was a fervent worshiper of the tiger-not the jaguar, that spotted "tiger" that inhabits the floating islands of water hyacinths along the Parana and the tangled wilderness of the Amazon, but the true tiger, the striped Asian breed that can be faced only by men of war, in a castle atop an elephant. I would stand for hours on end before one of the cages at the zoo; I would rank vast encyclopedias and natural history books by the splendor of their tigers. My childhood outgrown, the tigers and my passion for them faded, but they are still in my dreams. In that underground sea or chaos, they still endure. As I sleep I am drawn into some dream or other, and suddenly I realize that it's a dream. At those moments, I often think: This is a dream, a pure diversion of my will, and since I have unlimited power, I am going to bring forth a tiger.
Oh, incompetence! My dreams never seen to engender the creature I so hunger for. The tiger does appear, but it is all dried up, or it's flimsy-looking, or it has impure vagaries of shape or an unacceptable size, or it's altogether too ephemeral, or it looks more like a dog or bird than like a tiger.

- Jorge Luis Borges

The Dog Kennel By the Palace

I've decided to add a few things of interest to the group pool too, in case any of them spark ideas for your project proposals. This one's an excerpt from Soren Kierkegaard's "Parables of Kierkegaard," which could be re-interpreted in any number of ways:

A thinker erects an immense building, a system, a system which embraces the whole of existence and world-history, etc - and if we contemplate his personal life, we discover to our astonishment this terrible and ludicrous fact: that he himself personally does not live in this immense high-vaulted palace, but in a barn alongside of it, or in a dog-kennel, or at most the porter's lodge. If one were to take the liberty of calling his attention to this by a single word, he would be offended. For he has no fear of being under a delusion, if only he can get the system completed ... by means of the delusion.

- Soren Kierkegaard

Presentation Day

I'm in a classroom that resembles my high school Spanish classroom. It is some kind of presentation day and every student must stand up in front of the class individually to present. I come unprepared and when my turn to go comes up, I remain silent and the female teacher calls on the next student (she is calling us in alphabetical order) without even acknowledging my presence. I feel ashamed but relieved. My desk is in the front right corner of the class. When the next student begins to stand up to present, a middle aged thin man, with a stubble, and balding (his face resembles a Polish heroin addict I met at the train station) sitting in a desk in the front middle of the classroom and says something along the lines of "hold on! Hold on! Let the kid go! It's his turn, it's not fair to skip him!" At this the teacher nods and calls me up to the front of the classroom. I am nervous and do not know what I am going to say or do. I position myself at the front of the classroom and smile sheepishly. It's now that I notice that the middle aged man that called me out is wearing a leg brace and is holding a cane, still sitting down. He begins to rant about his horrific experiences in Vietnam, his eyes darting furiously from me to the teacher and back. Another man siting in the back of the class butts in saying he was at 'Nam too. The two Vietnam vets begin to argue amongst themselves. I'm still standing at the front of the class and look to my right, where a stereotypical Orthodox Jew (curls, black rimmed hat, thick glasses...) walks up to the desk at the front of the class, seemingly unaware or uninterested in the situation, to staple some papers.

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/money/51268547-79/alcohol-pregnant-signs-drinking.html.csp


Super interesting and eye opening article about women's beliefs about FAS. Like, really? She really thought it was okay to drink beer. Cool. Go America.

Poem--What's Genocide? Carlos Andres Gomez

I stumbled upon this poem a while ago. It has beautiful imagery.

Read here

I was walking in a dark school hallway when I heard footsteps behind me. The lights were flashing and a few flies were circling around them. I walked down the dark corridor without making any sound when suddenly, the footstep behind me started to walk in a faster pace. I was holding a compass like object tightly. In one step, I was in a different place. Somehow I was in a fancy, luxurious hotel room with white satin sheets and white couches. I put the compass-like object on top of a white drawer. The room was rather small with dim lights that gave the room an eerie atmosphere. On the walls, there was a side mirror with a white Victorian design on but I couldn't see my reflection, and a horned skull above the white bed. Out of nowhere, an old friend named Inae appeared in her 20~30 year old form. She still had the same short, jet black bob cut and she was wearing a long black robe. She said "Hi, I was expecting to see you here." Behind her, there was an tall Asian man about in his early 20s, who was wearing an all-black tux. He told me to stay there. I greeted them and asked him who he was. He didn't answer. Rude.
Desperate to see where I was, I walked up to the window, pulled the white curtains and only saw lights. Confused, I asked her where was I. She gave me an evil smile and told me to stay here while they were getting something. These two walked sideways for some reason and I didn't feel like waiting. I grabbed that thing and Inae angrily tried to snatch that away. Before she could get her hands one me, I was awake suddenly.

salmon the dreamer

This is what I dreamed in February 14^th 2011.

I was wearing military uniform and holding a rifle gun. I noticed I was moving in a military truck without knowing where I was going. When I arrived, I saw the paved square ground, which looked like swimming pool with no water in it. I started to look around myself. I was in a dark and gloomy room, but I could still recognize soldiers’ faces. The light shed only on their faces. Then I stopped looking around and faced directly to the paved ground. Suddenly, I realized paved ground was filled with thousands of Vietnamese fishermen. I couldn’t visualize the number of soldiers in dark room, but I could hear their loud screaming noises. What I could see was Vietnamese fishermen wearing aprons and holding sashimi knives. It was funny because they were in barefoot. They were also wearing one sleeve short and one sleeve long shirt, but rolled up. Usually the short sleeve side of hand was holding a knife.

I started to shoot all of them. The Vietnamese fishermen started to fall down one by one. I couldn’t see any blood or sign of pain on their faces.

Few minutes passed quickly. When I relooked at the paved ground, I realized Vietnamese fishermen have changed into little Vietnamese, Mexican, Jewish and Arabian girls and boys. They looked around seven to eight years old. The boys looked younger than the girls. The boys were also wearing dirty white shirts and short pants. The girls were wearing white sleeveless dresses with long hair. Those girls and boys looked really skinny, but they had most dark and beautiful eyes. I knew I had to shoot them anyways. So I started to shoot one by one again. This time, the boys and girls didn’t fall down like how Vietnamese fisherman did. Instead, they were jumping around to grab golden and silver Kisses chocolates and some golden coin chocolate that were falling from the ceiling. It was unusual experience. I felt joy by looking at those shining boys and girls. At the last moment, I shot this one girl’s helium balloon and then I woke up.

i was in a store that was set up like a grocery store but the only sold things... like objects. It was all very surreal-- with bright colors... weird lines. Sort of looked liked my roommate, carlos matul's, paintings.

I had this little book shelf with me. the one that's next to my bed. it had compartments that were not normal to the actual object. I was dragging it around stealing things (folders and and china dolls?) and putting them inside the shelf.


I go to the counter and there's this man who works who looked and acted a lot like this guy named Arthur at this thrift store back home. Arthur in real life is autistic. Arthur in my dream was autistic and yellow.

I put my things up on the belt at the things super market to get bought some of things i had stolen them last time i was there so i quick put them back into bookshelf.

Arthur notices and gets suspicious. I take his snow pants from under the table and try to buy them and then he gets mad annnnd i wake up.

If you're interested...

If you guys enjoyed listening to the RadioLab podcast then you should check out this week's This American Life podcast (100% free on iTunes). This American Life is hosted by Ira Glass and every show has a different topic and explores several stories from average people on that topic. This week's topic is called "Parent Trap", basically focusing on stories where parents have tried to do something nice for their kids,with their best interest at heart, often leading to unwanted or unexpected results.

One of the contributors for this week's story is...RadioLab!!! Every so often RadioLab makes an appearance on the show and tells some very interesting story relating to the topic of the week as well as to science. This week the people from RadioLab tell a story about a chip who was raised twice, once as a human child and once as a chimp. Very Very cool stuff.

Enjoy

Dream Journal / Blog: Entry #5

02.21.11

So I'm living alone currently and I had a really hard time going to sleep last night ... I kept hearing noises throughout the house and one of my biggest fears is ghosts so I was legitimately curled up with my eyes wide open ... i wasn't even trying to dream but I ended up having this really weird dream and I am surprised I even remember it ...

This is one of my more "jumbled" dreams ... there were a lot of segments broken up that all correlate with one another ...

a. One segment I remember is driving in a car, with maybe my younger brother? I'm the driver and it's nighttime and I think we're driving through what looks like the suburbs of Vegas? Anyways ... I guess at one point we're driving through a red stoplight and I t-bone this car coming in another direction ... The dream all of a sudden goes in slow motion and instead of swerving or putting my foot on the break, I literally press down the gas as hard as I can and ram this guy ... all I remember is his face looking at me from his car in complete shock ... and me and my brother just drive away ... D: ... hit and run driver much?

b. It cuts to me walking a dog I guess? I haven't had a dog in years and I guess I have a german shepherd in my dream ... I'm walking him through this parking area for a condo/apartment development (again night time)

c. The dream then goes to me returning home from walking the dog ... I see the police patrolling the neighborhood and I get really fucking freaked out. I confess to my parents what happened, with the whole driving incident, and they're like weirdly supportive ... basically they're like ok we'll hide this secret from the police.

d. The next thing I remember is the cops coming to our house, interrogating us, seeing if we know anything / have heard of anything ... of course we're all lying ... the cops start looking at our family photos on the wall, searching through the house, etc. and then leave ...

I'm missing a lot of pieces from the dream but that was the gist of it ... I remember just being terrified of the cops finding out ... It was a lot weirder then it sounds ... it's funny cause this morning i knew i had dreams but i couldnt remember them ... in class today i had an epiphany, remembering this dream here ... :P

These two are from last night...

I had two dreams last night, back to back. How they correlate to each other, if they do, I don't know:

1. I am at a loft party asking people for a cigarette but nobody takes me up on it, ignoring me and continuing on with their conversations. I come across a girl on a couch, wearing a furry hat, who at first I thought was a dog. I ask her for a cigarette. I tell her I thought she was a puppy at first and she laughs and gives me a cigarette. Before I can even lite it, we start making out violently and rolling around on the couch. I remember wanting to pause to catch my breath but she wouldn't let me.

2. I am in a room of glass. An old friend of mine from high school, who wasn't so much a friend as a friend of a friend, passes by and I press my palm against the glass but he ignores it. Then I hear a tap on the glass and I am let out of the room into a space of darkness. I am married to a woman resembling my own mother and she tells me that she will divorce me if she ever sees me drunk again. I tell her spitefully "you're real fucking ugly when I'm drunk," and she lays down on a couch and agrees with me.

I remember this clearly from before I was ten years old

My family is having a barbecue in the backyard of our old house in Chicago. It is a bright, sunny day and things seem to be going fine. The light mood is interrupted when a semi-truck crashes into the front of my house. Out of the semi-truck comes a stout grinning stereo-type of a trucker, trucker cap, denim overalls and all. His face is almost cartoonish in the way he is smiling ear to ear, like the Cheshire cat. He picks me up, as I was still a little boy at the time of this dream, and throws me onto his back. He begins to take me with him back to the truck, away from my family and home. I cry out to my mother for help but apparently she cannot hear me, although she clearly sees what is happening, following the trucker and I, on his shoulder, with a look of hypnotized dumbness on her face.

Babies, and Puppies, and Robberies.

I didn't realize we were supposed to be posting, I thought we just needed the journal, I don't know why. Really sorry!

Last night was wierd, I remember having three dreams, two of which I can remember completely and one that I think had something to do with cupcakes? I think about cupcakes a lot recently, haha.

These are from last night:

1. My boyfriend Brian and I were outside of a Fed Ex near my house (what we need Fed Ex for... I have no clue. And he recently, in real life, got into a huge fight with someone at a gas station, where I thought we were both gonna die. Maybe that's where this dream stemmed from? But a homeless man came up to the car. Brian had just gotten out and I was in the car. The man reached for Brian's door and yanked on the handle, and it came opened but I pulled it shut. I was mad and scared so I flipped him off. He started yelling at me and calling me a bitch, and reached for it again, so Brian hit the lock button on the remote key and locked me in and I couldn't get out and I was screaming and crying and trapped in the car because the man pulled a knife and stabbed Brian. When Brian fell, he took the keys and unlocked the car, and stole the cupholder where Brian keeps toll change (it's not removable in real life.)

It felt like I was actually there, so real in fact that I texted Brian at 3:13 AM and said "That was scary. Wewwshouldnt go there anymore+" I only know this because he just texted me "Go where?" and I was like "What?" so I checked my sent box. Yay for REM texting?

2. Had a dream my mom bought a surprise puppy last night. It was a really weird breed, and it was REALLY small. But it had really similar features/qualities to the big flying dog in the Neverending Story. Meh.\

I have some old dreams that I'll literally never forget.

3. When I was 11 or so, my cousin died of cancer, she was 5. I had a dream right after that she was at my house and kept asking to play with me. I said "Pamela, stop, we can't play because you're dead!" and she took a few steps back and asked me why I would tell her that. And then her eyes rolled back and blood came out of every orifice and pore on her face. Scariest dream ever.

4. The day I met Brian, I didn't know his name really I just kinda saw him? Well, that night I dreamt of him, and my subconscious named him Max? I don't know why. ANYWAY. I had an extremely bad crush on Brian in real life so in my dreams, he walked me home from the park and we held hands. I was super happy and went inside and fell asleep.
WELL when I woke up the next morning, I was pregnant. Like full term ready-to-pop preggers. I was like "WTF?!" And told my mom, who immediately kicked me out. I had nowhere to go so I waited at the park til 'Max'/Brian showed up, and told him I had to live with him. He was like 'Sure.' so I got on the pegs on his bike and we went to his house. But I'd never been in his house, just his backyard, and apparently my subconscious couldn't build a house, so I lived in his backyard on an aluminum swing set, hahahaha.
The last part of the dream, I went to a dance by myself (where's Max? No clue.) and no one would dance with me because I was clearly pregnant. And over all the music, I could hear really loud ticking. I was like 'Really? Who brings such a LOUD watch to a dance?' and then the ticking got faster and I started to panic and then my belly exploded and I was just screaming. So scary. I was like 15 when I dreamt this. Absolutely horrifying.

Also, this is tough because I almost ALWAYS dream about babies and marriage because I think about it a lot, and I don't want my project to be annoyingly cutesy gross, nor do I want to post those 'cause it's embarrassing how much I think about those things. And if it's not babies or marriage, it's MCR. Which is a little more embarrassing, but may make better project material? Eh. I'll go with MCR. It's a little less personal, I'm sure no one wants to hear my dreams for my future.

5. I had one recently, and me and like fifteen other people were waiting in a VIP area for a concert, which is going to be in April (April 15th YAYA!). We were going to wait there, for 3 months, on a rickety 'VIP' wooden balcony. In the middle of a lake. So Brian was kinda like, 'Wtf Erin, lets just go home until April.' And I was so opposed to this. I was like 'NO. WE NEED TO JUMP THE LINE.' Well, patience paid off because about ten people left, and everyone was like hesitant. But then Gerard showed up in his Killjoy outfit and was like 'Why did you bother to wait? in this really wise tone. Think Batman in the Dark Knight. That intense. And no one answered, they all kinda just stared. So I yelled, 'Because WHO would miss this show?!!'

Gerard just kinda nodded, and there was a big green light, and everyone was like 'Ahhhh, oohhh,' and then all the remaining 'VIP' people were in superhero outfits (kind of a theme in the new album ha), armed with rayguns and other cool shit. We patrolled the show. It was so cool. Hahahahah I suck.

6. Alyssa is in this one!

So MCR was at my house, but they were all avoiding me because I think I was creeping them out (big surprise. Me creeping, yeah right!).
They were all hungry, so I gave them pizza (I had pizza that night in real life ha.) Then Gerard was whining and said 'I want something sweet...' So I gave him a banana? I dunno. Then I tried to talk to him again, and I was creeping him out so he pawned me off on Mikey, the bassist, and then they all just left without saying goodbye and I was really sad. Well, Gerard pop up chatted me on facebook and was like 'hey what was that food you so piously shared with me today?' and I said 'bananas?' and then he sent me a painting of bananas. I was like YOU PAINTED THAT FOR ME! and he was like 'yup :D!' Then Alyssa chatted me too and was like it's true, he did, I'm right here with him. It was nuts.


tl;dr I have a lot of wierd dreams.

More dreams

I can't remember anymore dreams if I had any in the past few days, and I might as well try sharing a few old ones.

I used to have these dreams that came in a series, though I only really remember two. Sometimes I'll flashback to a dream I had a few years prior, but I don't have dreams like I did as a kid (if I do, I don't remember them). Just to clarify, what I mean by series of dreams is that I'll have a dream one day and the next day my dream will be a continuation of the previous dream. Like a TV show except kind of horrifying.

One particular series of dreams that I remember lasted at least a week. The basic premise of these dreams were that I was living in a half utopia, half distopia world where technology had greatly advanced and there were these amazingly tall buildings. There were also slums and dirty alleyways and a lot of danger. Most, if not all, of the danger was directed towards children. Children, in my dream, were being hunted for either sport or they were seen as a nuisance to the nation. I was part of a group of children who just try to live as long as possible until we weren't children anymore. Each dream began with us running away, a new teammate (oddly, someone who I had seen on TV or someone in real life) and usually that new guy would die among other kids in my group by the end of the dream.

The men, or just a man, who hunted us were big guys with big guns or just really powerful weapons. They enjoyed the sport.

What I remember most vividly is the very last day I had this dream series. We found a car, I think a green jeep, that was sort of abandoned and kind of mounted a bit on its side. It was also in my home, at the end of the hallway that connected to the front door area and had a closet where we kept our junk. Anyway, the smart guy in our group checked out the car and told us that it was good and we could drive it. We all rejoiced, because a car meant we could get away faster and a place to sleep--it was something safer than just running around. Suddenly, a lazer beam shoots up from the ground and through the smart boy's heart. The ground erupts and the hunter comes out with a cry. All of us kids scream and run away in all different directions.

I ran into the kitchen, which is just a bit down the hallway. To explain, there's a small sort of window space that lets you see out of the kitchen to the living room and vice versa. I try to hide in the dark and I see the hunter stalking down the hall, trying to find one of us kids. I suddenly feel a burst of courage, being in my home made me feel safer in a way. I run out of the kitchen and in front of the hunter. I fight with him and I manage to knock him onto the ground. In his hands was the lazer shooter, and before he could use it, I slam my foot on his hand and the controller. I won. The kids rejoice, I pose triumphantly. The End.

As a segway, I had another dream that was similar to this one, except it was just one day. I was the leader of a bunch of children and we were trying to run away from this giant monster creature. I just remember a lot of running in dark, grey-blue lands (kind of like what you'd expect old time Great Britain would look like) and especially running up a series of stairs. I think I lost a shoe at one point, and I remember stepping into a puddle. At the top of the stairs was this giant castle/cathedral like structure which was a safe haven for all the children. I have all the children run into the building, but for some reason I stay back. Either for some reason the building is too full or I decided to face the monster. I remember seeing one kid at each side of the door hiding in crevices with torches in their hands. I hear a growling noise after a short while and I turned to see a giant wolf snarling at me, lunging towards my face. The last thing I remember is its giant teeth and tongue. So I assume I died, since I woke up right then.

Staircase

I had this dream a while ago, maybe a few months, but it was one of those that still haunts me to this day. It had a huge impact on me.

The first thing I remember is being in a desolate forest-like environment with a couple of my friends, talking a walk and all seems normal. My friends are no longer there and I find myself staring at a mud-caked jeep abandoned in the middle of a dirt road. From there I make my way into an old decrepit mansion standing ominously in the wilderness , an enormous structure that seems like it hasn't been occupied in decades. I don't recall actually stepping foot into the place but I have a vague picture of cautiously walking down a corridor so narrow that I even felt claustrophobic in my dream. This corridor leads to a room in which a videotape was playing on a television set of a young girl trapped in a box and inevitably starving to death. This cuts to a scenario in which I am walking up a wooden staircase that seems to have no bottom or top. As I walk up this staircase, a old naked Asian man is running down, passing me by, laughing to himself. It wasn't so much laughing as chuckling, like he had just done something mischievous and was pleased with it, like a child would when ringing a doorbell and running away. This was the last image I remember from this particular dream.

Past Dream #2: " I Throw Rocks At Myself "

This is one of my favorite dreams I've ever had because of how ridiculous it was. I had it in 8th grade but I still remember it vividly.

The dream starts out at my house, except its not really my house. The layout is similar to the house of these kids I used to babysit . I'm with my friend Maddie and this boy from school named Brock. (Right off the bat this dream is funny because the idea of me and Brock ever hanging out is pretty far fetched. As his name might imply, he was the resident "jock" at school. He sat in front of me in english that year so we would talk occasionally, but were in no way good friends). So me, Maddie, and Brock are hanging out in my house. Maddie's acting super crazy, she's like really really hyper and its getting a little annoying. Brock on the other hand, seems really upset and I'm getting a little worried about him. While I try and calm Maddie down I notice Brock heading down stairs to the basement.

I decide I should go check on him, so I leave Maddie upstairs and head to the basement to look for Brock. In this house the stairs leading down to the basement take you into this large room that leads to two smaller rooms, one right next to the other. The first room I pass is open and I see Brock lying on a bed sleeping. However, I somehow know that this isn't really Brock, that its really just a "decoy Brock" that is supposed to stop me from finding the "real Brock". I continue to the next room and I see Brock sitting in a chair with his head in his hands.

I walk up to him and try to comfort him. I ask him what's wrong but he just shakes his head. I say to him,"Brock, you can trust me. If there's something wrong I can try and help". Finally, he lifts his head from his hands, I see he has been crying. In an anguished voice he says," Casey, I'm so afraid to tell you what's wrong, I don't want to lose you." I tell him that that is ridiculous, that I won't judge him, that I'll always be here for him. So he takes a big breath and says..."Casey, I throw rocks at myself!"

*I have to interrupt myself here to give a little context as to where this strange confession may have come from. At this time, I had several friends who were dealing with depression and self-inflicted injury (cutting, etc.). So this kind of thing was often on my mind. I felt really overwhelmed by what was happening to my friends. While this was not funny in anyway, the way it entered into this dream, I think, is hilarious. Okay, back to the dream:

Upon hearing Brock's shocking confession I begin to cry. I say, "Brock! You are so much better than that! You are such a great guy and don't even know it!" (Whats funny here is that Brock, in real life, wasn't a very good guy, but believed he was the most awesome person in the world).

At this point the dream shifts and Brock and I are walking hand-in-hand in what looks like an old train station, sort of like Kings Cross (Harry Potter nerd), but its really an airport. Apparently I am traveling somewhere. Brock walks me into the plane. The seats are all shabby, miss-matched lazy-boys. I sit down in one but Brock says, pointing to a rust brown chair, "Don't you want one that reclines?". So I change seats, Brock kisses me goodbye, and I wake up.

Upon waking from this dream I remember being both extremely confused and extremely amused.

I Don't Want Your Boyfriend

I had the oddest dream I've had in awhile last night. I was at the Pilsen fabric store with my sister and mom and I was trying on ready made clothes that they had and I kept on a dress that I really liked and planned to purchase. I was walking around in it and this guy and girl walked past me but the guy grabbed my butt from under the dress. I was going to let it slide for some reason but then he turned around and gave me a disgusting look so I was like "Hey! You can't just do that to me!" and then his girlfriend was like "What the fuck, don't talk to my man" and then I tried to explain that he is not a good boyfriend because he grabbed my ass but she wouldn't listen and tried to beat me up after she put on this weird needle brass knuckle thing the store provided for some reason. The fight was broken up before she got to hit me and the police took the guy away but she was still in the store and I was scared... she was crazy and her boyfriend was a perv.

Dream Journal / Blog: Entry #4

02.20.11

I keep having weird nostalgic dreams about my old high school D: this one took a turn for the odd though ...

I remember I was in my school's auditorium or maybe it was the gym and it was this huge assembly or something ... my school's founder was at the auditorium and she was ranting about something ... all the seniors were sitting in this designated area (it reminded me of graduation but it wasn't really because in the dream I knew I had already graduated but it had the same feeling to it) ... our founder then asks the seniors who would be willing to help out with this banquet coming up ... everyone that wanted to help stood up / raised their hands ... I stayed sitting but the founder then goes "no one? OK well then I'll have to just randomly choose" ... she lists off like 5 people, starting with my name, and I'm like "Shit..." ... the dream transitions to the banquet and I guess I'm chosen to hand out flowers (carnations) to the guests who I arrive ... I have two left so I go to where my parents are sitting ... they're arguing, obviously and arguing pretty loudly at that ... I go "You know everyone can here you two arguing right?" and I give them the flowers ... then this bitch from the administration office comes up to me later and goes "Where's the one with the broccoli?" and I'm like "what...?" and she goes "the flowers you were handing out ... one of them had a broccoli on top" ... at this point I'm like what the fuck is going on and I go "uhh no ... one of them did not have that ..." ... I lead her to my parents' seats, I look over at the flowers I just gave them and sure enough the one I gave my mom had the stem of a flower but the head of a broccoli ... I took it from my mom and gave it to the lady ... I apologized a million times and then ALL OF A SUDDEN I'm looking at this advertisement for how to make this bizarre salsa/quacomole sort of thing ... I decide to go to a 7-eleven of sorts (but it's more of a Mexican 7-eleven? It's not racist it's just that the store was more hispanic? more fiesta-y?) ... the guy working directs me to this little fridge at the front of the register that displayed green and red peppers ... but the recipe i was holding showed a picture of an avocado ... he assured me though this was what i was looking for ... all I get from there is this vision of an avocado looking thing that looks like a pepper on the inside ...

So object-wise I now have sushi, a broccoli flower, and an "peppercado" to choose from ... :P D:

Past Dream #1: Three Dreams In The Fog

I haven't done a great job remembering my dreams this week so I thought I would share several of my really vivid past dreams. The one I am going to start with is the only nightmare I really remember having. It was a dream in three, unrelated parts.

The first part of the dream I was in a car with my mom, my best friend, and her mom. We're driving on this really narrow, reallllllllly tall bridge (I'm terrified of heights) and its really foggy and hard to see out. I'm feeling really anxious when suddenly a car appears right in front of ours, out of the fog, heading straight for us. My friend's mom is driving and she swerves so as not to hit the car, but we fall off the edge of the bridge.

As we're falling, before we hit the water, the dream changes. Now I'm walking in a field but its really foggy out and I can't see anything but the ground directly below me. As I am walking I begin to notice how green the grass is, how it stands out against the white of the fog. Then, I begin to notice little dots of color on the ground. As I continue walking I realize that the little dots of color are millions of brightly colored dead birds.

As the horror of that situation sets in the dream changes a third time. This time I'm out in a field again, but I'm not alone. I'm with my high school gym class and we're playing this game called war. We each have a gun and several hand grenades (they aren't real, just props).The field is hilly and it is foggy here too, so there's a lot of opportunity to hide. I remember being really scared, even though I knew it was a game. Everyone was getting really into it, taking it very seriously and it was frightening. It was like everyone forgot it was just a game. I was hiding at the bottom of a hill near some bushes when this girl from my class, her name is Torrie, jumps up behind me a shoots me. I remember everything going black, and thinking, "oh my god, I'm dead." After a couple minutes of lying in the mud in total darkness I remember that its just a game, that I can't be dead. I get up just as the bell rings marking the end of class. I'm shaking and very upset. I go into the locker room to change and in the mirror I see Torrie behind me. She's acting totally normal, laughing with friends, but I feel this intense unease about her, because she was the one who killed me.

The day after having this dream I was really freaked out. From the moment I woke up I felt weird, uncomfortable and uneasy. It was such a vivid, disturbing dream that it was hard to shake.

ew

i was running and then i was in a factory but there was a gallery show there and it was really nice but then as i went along there were fewer and fewer paintings and it got dark and there were dead bodies everywhere, not just human bodies but animal circuses too, skinned just hanging everywhere but the weird thing was that all the colors were like green, blue, pink and it felt like we were in a painting.

weird dream

so there was this talking monkey. and then this guy walked in and we went to this place. i don't know if it was this weird party or just a room full of people. but then we were'nt in the room anymore..... then the guy disappeared and i was walking in a forest. all of a sudden i see all this cats. then the cats left and i was in someone's house. all of a sudden i was getting married to this guy named Padro...... i will never eat pizza before bed ever again

kangaroo manicure

i was at this show in the basement of some house completely unfurnished and then the show was over and i was walking around the house through all the rooms and there was this spiral staircase but it was outside and i was inside and then i had to sleep there for some reason. everyone was sleepin on the floor and there were all these blankets so i slept in this nest in the middle of the room. We slept for three days and then i just got up and left and all the lights were on and it was night tine and i was chillin outside by this lamppost and then i was at this other house and it was a party and then i woke up in a really nice bed i went downstairs and went outside. we were in arizona and it was like desert, dead grass type landscape. someone died and all the kids from the show were all mad and they were gettin ready for a war and there was this kangaroo and it had its nails done human nails..like bright pink manicure. everyone was running and i was just standing there and the kangaroo was there to take care of me and it was hopping along with me. and then we were in the city and we had to stop cuz the kangaroo needed to get cigarettes and all the kids and i stopped at the cheesecake factory and i chilled outside till the kangaroo was done smoking.. and then i was on a boat . it was a ferry or something but no one was on it

Shark Fishing :)

so i was at this place and there was this pool, it looked really shallow, like a huge fountain but it was all big and round. I was with people and we were chillin at the edge. All these dolphins started poppin up n they were plastic but not and then we were higher up n there were sharks in the pool n we had these big ass guns n we were shooting at the sharks cuz we were shark fishing and all the water got all bloody n then it was just a bloody fountain and then i was crawling on this wooden ledge and it was time for dinner and i was in this summer house and i was with my family but it wasnt my family but it was all good cuz everything was jello.
thats all i remember.

Dream Journal / Blog: Entry #3

02.18.11

I had a dream that made absolutely no sense ... it wasn't linear at all and followed absolutely no order of any kind ... All I remember is making out intensively with a random pedestrian woman near a bus stop across the street from what seemed to be the Border's beneath the 162 dorm building, purchasing sushi at some sort of grocery story and being extremely agitated by the fact that the store was out of mangos, and at the same time Polish people were some how involved ... oh and at one point I was in an elevator? And I guess at another point, towards the end, I was near a harbor? On a warm but breezy summer day?

It was bizarre ...

Dream Journal / Blog: Entry #2

02.14.11

I dreamt that I was living in my old high school theater with a bunch of miscellaneous people ... in the dream I remember I could distinguish the people but looking back on it, I don't remember anyone specifically ... the bizarre part was the fact that this theater building was also, somehow, part canyon ... haha ... I remember we were all having a good time, lighting bonfires, etc. when all of a sudden a giant pack of mountain lions attacks our "camp" ... a battle of epic proportions immediately ensues ... All I remember is being in a hand-to-hand combat sort of fight with a mountain lion ... we may have won? I don't remember ... It was badass ...

Dream Journal / Blog: Entry #1

So I always have a good time remembering my dreams ... I remember when I was in middle school or early high school I had to train myself to remember my dreams better because I always had a hard time with it ... I've always been fascinated by dreams/deja-vus/memory(ies) and I was always bummed out that I would go for long periods of times (weeks, a couple of months) without having any dreams. I've gotten a lot better though and I absolutely love avocados ... If you didn't know already, some foods aid with memory including blueberries and avocados.

Anyways, I'll try to share my more interesting dreams ... I always seem to have really bizarre or obscure ones ...

02.08.11

I was on a plan or shuttle of sorts ... like one of those space shuttles ... I was with my mom, my older brother Michael, and my younger brother Alex ... we landed in Las Vegas right as Armageddon was about to start ... We landed the shuttle in a Smith's parking lot (in Vegas, Smith's is the same thing as Chicago's Jewel) just as this beautiful, surreal, out of this world sunset was happening ... It got dark really fast when the sun went behind the mountains and it started to hail/rain/and get pretty bad weather-wise ... We ran for shelter as "Armageddon lightning and thunder" started above us ... When we all got inside, I all of a sudden decided to run back outside to see the storm some more ... I get outside and it's like a cyclone is hitting the city, the wind is ridiculous, palm tree branches are flying everywhere ... Just as I get outside to see all this, I make it just in time to witness this stranger, a man, run across the parking lot in front of me and get struck by lightning, collapsing instantly ... I ran back inside the grocery store to tell my mom ... she was sobbing and apologetic towards me that I had to "see such a thing" ...

And that's all I remember, haha ... it was kind of a cool dream if I do say so myself ...

I actually remembered a dream!

It happened the day of class, but I decided to wait to see if I dream anything else. And well, I don't remember any of my dreams aside from the one I just mentioned, so yeah.

I don't exactly remember how it started, but I remember there a feeling of urgency and something getting me or something like that (which is almost every dream I have).

The parts that I do remember are pretty odd. Me, my family (or maybe a new imaginary family, I can't remember faces) and a bunch of other families that I either know somehow or we're all just in this adventure together for some reason get together for this vacation. And there's this feeling of urgency again, like as if me and the other families MUST do this (my POV also shifts a lot; sometimes I'm a dad for two young girls). So we all hurry and get our belongings packed and move on to this guy.

This guy, my mind registers him as either the director or the artistic creator of the animated movie Robots and another movie that made me spasm with joy. He has glasses, a receding hair line, his shnozz is pretty noticeable--basically, a bookish man who kinda looks like Ben Kingsley (not his Ghandi role, but the one from Schindler's List), but not really. The vacation he offers us as we all gather in his little study room (like a Harvard literature professor's dusty study but somehow more spacious in a weird space defying way) offers vacation via our dreams.

He says simply that our vacation is our dreams--we'll spend about a week and a half in another world together which will last just a few seconds (in movie terms, Inception-like limbo *gags*). We gain the knowledge at some point that if we remember that we're dreaming while we're dreaming, the vacation is over and we wake up. Anyway, so we all go into our dream and there are flowers and I think bookshelves that don't have anything in them somewhere. Very bright, white and yellow colors. My POV switches in the dream. I become either some young man or maybe my dad or the Dad of the two daughters I mentioned earlier but I can't remember. I realize it's a dream and I start panicking for some reason. Then I go to me, actual physical me, and tell me that it's all a dream. Then I reply to...myself, I guess, that I know that it's all a dream and that I chose to stay in the dream. Then I continue to frolic in flowerbeds.

That's all I remember. I have an itch to scratch--I want to tell all the wacky strange, sexual, super violent, romantic and adventurous dreams I've had. They're all so weird. I guess another day.

Bizarre Dream Of The Week

So, last night I dreamt that I was on a road trip to Indiana with some friends from high school. We decided it would be faster to drive only on beaches instead of taking the highway (how that makes sense I do not know).

Now we're driving on a bunch of beaches but its a lot harder driving on sand than we had thought. There are also a lot of rocks and drift wood on the ground so we have to sort of swerve around them. Eventually, one of our tires pops and we have to get out and figure what to do.

So, we jump out of the car and are inspecting the damage when my roommate's family appears. (I have never met my roommates parents, so they are totally made up people in my dream). Apparently they had been having a bon fire on this random beach (which is weird because they're from the east coast). For some reason they were really mad at us, yelling and stuff. My roommate's mom is telling me and my friends that we're going to go to hell (I have no idea why, I'm sure she's really nice in real life). We don't really know what to do, these people are being really mean and we're stranded on this beach. Finally we decide to just leave our car and walk to rest of the way to Indiana, leaving the angry family behind.

Who knows what that was all about?

SLEEP on Radiolab

All right, here's the piece on Sleep that we'll be listening to for this week's homework. It's about an hour long and has three main sections, which means it may be preferable to download and listen to as a podcast HERE. (you can also download it as a podcast from iTunes) We will be discussing it at the beginning of class, so don't put it off too late, but if you do listen earlier in the week I'll ask that you take down notes so that if you're called on class, you can remember key parts that stood out to you, basic info, etc.

For those of you looking for sound-activated recording options, here's a link to the software I mentioned: Dream Capture - though I just read a lot of reviews from people who had trouble getting the free version to work. In looking back at my former student's post, it looks like he wound up just buying a voice recorder from Radio Shack or Best Buy that can be voice activated. Here's the piece he made with that audio for those who are interested.

Looking forward to your posts this week on dreaming and sleep. Sweet Dreams!

What people care about! (click to enlarge photos)

YOUR Opinion Wanted!

Erin and Raven have a serious question for you! On a scale of 1-10 we would like for you to rate our asses. YES! Rate them. It's a serious issue that we wish to resolve about American society and define the line between comfort and discomfort.

Here are a few opinions:









YOU decide!




http://chicago.craigslist.org/chc/wan/2218143208.html

Anita/Megumi/Raven/Erin

Penny for Your Thoughts?

The mind is an obscure and vast environment ... it contains our passions ... our fantasies ... an abyss of obscurities and fictional worlds ...

We collect thoughts ... here are some samples of what we have gathered from the citizens of Downtown Chicago ... some more bizarre than others ...

-I don't get to see my boyfriend as often as I'd like ...

-I need advil ...

-We need a run-off for the upcoming Mayoral Election; it would be beneficial for the media ...

-Thought of impermanence ...

-Put a cup of water under your bed at night to draw out all your bad feelings or issues that are troubling you in life ... -

-I love Chicago; I know very little English ...

-I've lived here since 1984, I'm a tour director and I take photos for my son in New Zealand ...

-Sex, Summer, Tattoos ...

-The Bean; I think it's big ...

Have a thought? We'd love to hear it.

This is some of the gang at work in Millennium Park:

http://chicago.craigslist.org/chc/vnn/2218141013.html

Save the Pudu!

We specialize in therapeutic experiments involving personal interaction and how the general public deals with revealing their thoughts when put in an emotional situation (i.e. given an endangered animal).

In our most recent endeavors our team traveled to the heart of downtown Chicago, with a strong curiosity of the unknown and a few delicacies from the local 7-Eleven. We set up shop near corporate establishments throughout the city, advertising a desire to raise money for an endangered species native to South America. It was through this task that we were able to create an emotional bond between the spectator and this wild Pudu, a sympathetic cry for an animal in need of some simple generosity.

Known as "the smallest deer in the world," the Pudu calls its home Argentina and Peru, placed in the spotlight of danger every day due to deforestation and hungry predators. This tragic reality is in our voices as we shout out to the citizens of the downtown Loop and the surrounding areas for you to look into your hearts and make a donation. Any contribution, small or large, will benefit in saving this endangered species from disappearing forever.

Purchase our merchandise and spread the word to your fellow comrades ... the Pudu needs your help now before it's too late!

Our location varies day to day but we are typically located in the Loop area. We offer anything from tropical fruit to foreign nuts, from baked chips to southern jerky. Donations are welcome as well ... remember, every penny matters! No donation is too small!

So ask yourself ... what would YOU do if your home was threatened by a rabid puma or invading bulldozers? Save the Pudu ... save the world.

http://chicago.craigslist.org/chc/vnn/2218110844.html