Friday, August 13, 2010

Dreams & Schemes

My dreams have been rather dark as of late. Not scary or bad necessarily, just dark.

Two nights ago, I dreamt that through my own trust and negligence, I let my dog Faith be dognapped. A man with two little girls asked to walk her and walked right off. My brother furiously and heroically managed to get her back, leaving me to feel extra guilty about my actions. This all happened in the back sale parking lot, so as Dad and I sat with the dog in the minivan, a couple guys came over and started harassing my dad. Because in the dream I already had my digital camera, I started taking their pictures to show the police, which made them mad. One guy menaced over and attempted to take the camera, which scared me 'cuz I kept thinking, "No! It's special, and I just got it!" At one point, I fell over and started kicking at him, but they decided to leave. Dad and I went in the sale to sort things out afterward. A lot of my dreams take place in the sale.

Last night's dream, well, there were several and I remembered them upon waking and later in the shower, but not now. Usually, if the ideas make it to the shower, they're in my head for the rest of the day. However, the feeling that lingers indicates the most important one was also dark. [Edit: I remembered my dream when I later said, "Nah, dawg" while reading Superpoop. Anyways, in the dream, my little brother, his friends, and I were snuck outside, sittin' at a picnic table in the driveway. The neighbor Jack kept slamming the door. But when I went to teach him how to shut it silently, there was this awful blaring music from the front yard. Everyone rushed inside, hoping my dad would rush to the front, not back, and we were right. Curious though, we also rushed to the front, only to find there was a choreography group in the grass of our front yard? My brother Jack and I were grounded, unfortunately, so I actually watched TV. One of the shows that proved hilarious was Sesame Street. I watched it twice within the hour, and recommended it to Jeff. At some point, my brother came in to the room with me, so I tried showing it to him. Sadly, during the third watching, I could not figure out why I'd ever thought it was funny. As I stood up to turn off the TV, we noticed there were additional cellar doors behind it. Inside was a dank room with a dais, a desk, and a bathtub. There were people everywhere, and we found out it was a "fight to the death" fight club. Somehow, I got volunteered, and managed to slowly get my opponent close to death, but I couldn't kill him. I didn't want to die though, so the lady at the desk said they'd take care of it. Then I found Yellow Version for $4.99 and bought it. Seriously. That was the end of the dream.]

My neighbor gave me a ton of purses. Not literally a ton, of course, but something like 1/100th of a ton of purses. One of them is a "for legit" Louis Vuitton, and while I was trying to identify the model number for eBay, I went through three other spellings before using the Google spell-check to arrive at that conclusion. Girls are really gross. Besides all of the paper trash in various pockets, there were a whole lot of weird, sticky stains I had to clean off. The collective smell made me nauseous, so they are in bags in two different rooms. Hopefully, I can make a lil' money, which would be nice to offset the ridiculous amount of money I've spent on stuff for college.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

"He Models Genes"

During a TEDtalk on the moral roots of liberals and conservatives, the speaker surveyed the audience to determine what their political leanings were. There were more libertarians than there were conservatives. I giggled and giggled.

While browsing my book shelf organized as "Beloved Fiction," I stumbled upon Mrs. Dalloway, but momentarily thought she was the author and Virginia Woolf the character. Oops. For those interested, I eventually settled upon a book of short stories by Mark Twain. Now, for your enjoyment, some quotes from Mark Twain:

Of all the animals, man is the only one that is cruel. He is the only one that inflicts pain for the pleasure of doing it.

Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.

Always acknowledge a fault. This will throw those in authority off their guard and give you an opportunity to commit more.

Be respectful to your superiors, if you have any.
-Mark Twain


One of the reasons I post these is because the second quote seems to capture the essence of TEDtalks. Sadly, my interest is likely a binge and not habit forming. I can only hope that some of my professors can manage such thrilling lectures at least once.

TED Performancs

Dance

It's rare for me to think of dance as a legitimate form of art, because so rarely anything innovative seen in the public forum. My family is not much for arts and culture, so I've never been to the ballet or other movement performance. Still, I dream about dance. Ballerinas makes me feel ugly and loping, but stunned at the beauty of the human body. Most often, I herald the achievements of the mind and the creative spirit while ignoring the expressive body. This excerpt revitalized my appreciation. It's beyond my realm of imagination to the point it unnerves me for its oddness. It makes me forget the dancers are human and that gravity exists. Maybe the fact I dismiss its artistic potential is one of the reasons why it's so striking now.

[Edit: It's worth noting that this is the most erotic, most intimate interaction I've ever seen that I have not personally experienced. To communicate that tenderness is astounding, and something difficult to come across, even in music and literature.

Additionally, the movement is so natural, yet requires such unbelievable strength that it draws the comparison to spider silk. Even though I feel like such an irritating, flowery sell-out for that metaphor, it's appropriate.]