Caucuses Kick Bum

So, last night--my plans being freed up by a necessary tux fitting--Sarah called.

"Charity are you in town?"

Yes.

"Do you want to go to the caucuses with me!?!?"

So we went. It was sweet. (We went to the Republican Caucus to support Ron Paul.) We also ran into Cory K., Serena A., and Serena's partner in performance. It was so much fun hanging out with them. As far as the actual caucus...

People talked about the candidates, then we did the vote. Then people discussed platforms they wanted the Republican party to uphold.

This was the part that got a bit long winded. But it was still fun, especially when I disagreed with platforms and I got to say "Nay"--I was often alone in my "nay-ing".

The only downside to my attending was the attempt to sleep afterwards.

I was restless the whole night. I dreamed that I went to Iran, and myself (though I may not have been a physical being, but just an observer) and three others went to look into this valley within the city. There we beheld ashen trees and scattered clutter.

As we descended the hill, we were stopped by a couple people. One of the persons accused on of our companions of being "Shrek Castro" and wanted to shoot him. We saved him and left.

Then my dream was filled with topics like Fair Tax, Right to Work, mandated taxation, farm subsidies. At the same time, in real life it was so dry in my room that I was thirsty. So in my dream I kept revisiting water fountains and drinking--without feeling any better. Someone in my dream recommended that I eat wheatless wheat crackers.

Strange things continued to happen. Like at the actual caucus, I ran into tons of people that I knew but I hadn't seen. I.e. Poklitar.

Also in my dream, I was in the middle school and there was a huge portrait of Annabel in the display case. There was also a smaller photo of Dena and I sitting together against a brick wall, a photo which I knew had been taken that very day.

Anyhow, I tossed and turned all night, and finally at four am I got up and got some water. I feel somewhat better but also feel the onset of a cold.

Ffffffffffffinals

(cut from old blog)

I dreamed that Stef A. (from college) tried to go through a doorway which had a lowering door with a blade on the end (the end was rubberized though). I was holding others back to wait to go, and she rushed under, dropped to the ground "to avoid it" and it cut into her body along the body just along her right side near her arm.

I responded accordingly, but 911 kept putting me on hold.

Then someone gave me a cordless phone that I thought was 911 but it was some obscure job offer.

All this to say that it was hard for me to get up this morning, so I didn't till like 7:40, with a final at 8. Roommate Ashley was asleep in the middle of the floor and woke up when I jumped out of bed. She woke in a panic, for she also had an 8 o'clock final.

I didn't care what I looked like; I left my hair and my face and put on some clothes. I walked outside and ran into Geoff. We walked together and I was 10 minutes early for my final (=10 minutes from bed to classroom). I started it early, and i think I did well, considering I onlyu studied for like half an hour.

Now I have one final to go, and I know I'm meeting in a study group at 1 pm. Woot woot.

Life is Pleasant

The transition back into school this year was tough. It took me by surprise for I was so anxious to see everyone again. Amusingly enough, the first guy I ran into on campus was Reed, which should have been a good omen, but those first two weeks, man. I just really missed the staff from Trout...

I've been dreaming about the staff too. I had a dream that I roadtripped with Reed and Jon P. to Chicago. We ran into Josh--counselor this summer--and he gave me the kind of hug you give an unfamiliar person at church. It was disconcerting. Then I woke up.

(cut middle part of blog post out--just about how the beginning of the school year was going)

I will sum this up with a dream I had last week:
In the dream I was sleeping under my lush down comforter in the foyer of my house in Roland, next to a pile of other such commodities. Apparently these things of value were a sort of offering unto God. I was sleeping by them to guard them.

I heard the sound of people pounding at the front door. I was under my covers so they didn't know of my presence, they only knew of the items I was surrounded by. I stealthily reached up to lock the deadbolt, and instead unlocked it and let the savages in.

They took the different items and spread about the house. I ran after them, ravaging items from their grips, overturning tables, and quoting Scripture. In my dream I knew the passages were from Exodus, but in waking I knew that they were not anywhere in the canon. But I would seize something from their hands and then yell something like, "It is written, 'They shall take the fragmented wood from the Lord and make it into an adoration for their walls!'"

In waking I realized that it was my own rendition of Jesus clearing the Temple, with myself as the protagonist. This actually makes sense, for we discussed this scene last week in my gospel of John class. I also read through the scene in the Odyssey in which Ulysses (Odysseus) drives the suitors from his home and gets his revenge.

PS-I also had a dream the other night that I landed an ollie perfectly on a stage set up in the student centre for some show Goose was hosting.

Camping Trips and Large Fish

I dreamed like crazy last night.

It began in a national park in northern Minnesota. It was Hope, Nathan C., myself and scattered others. I said I was going to go into this river with a lot of birds in it. So I hiked in and started looking at the animals. I stopped just before a bend in the river.

As I looked on, a giant fish, about 10 feet tall and only submerged about 2 feet in the water "swam" towards me.

I fumbled with my camera to get a picture and cranked out a ton. Then a dinosaur came and I wondered if it and the previous fish were fake.

I rejoined my family and was surprised by some shots of a lizard that I got. Apparently these were super-fast lizards and the only reason I had photos of them was that I was trying to take a picture of a frog while they were running by.

We then went home and Hope was upset because Nate (though I always call him Nathan) was interested in me. He asked me out on a date to go back to the park. I was back in Iowa getting ready and thinking I had to mapquest directions, then realizing that he was driving.

As I was waiting in the foyer, Reed was talking to me, "Okay, explain this to me again. In that picture there's a brother; in this picture, it's just you and your sisters."

I replied, "Reed I've told you multiple times; he died."

I then went to take my bag out to the car. Instead of finding Nate, I found Dustin St.--who's on NWC's golf team. I wasn't too disappointed. He was driving one of those beasts that has way too much room in the back. He was surprised to see me with one bag, when piled before me were bags and bags and boxes and metal sound equipment crates. He remarked, "I was super excited, and I had to wait so long that I guess I overpacked."

It turned out okay, because I didn't know we were going to camp there for multiple nights and I hadn't brought a sleeping bag.

Husbands--18 Cents a Pop

I forgot to relate a rather interesting dream that I had last week.

It began with me driving home from Trout. In the dream, I stopped by a gas station of sorts which I frequented en route because it had a service charge-free ATM. Inside, it looked like a post office. While at the counter I purchased two husbands, eighteen cents a piece. I received two voucher coupons and found my husbands sitting in some simple chairs in the rear of the station.

They were both mulatto, attractive, and friendly. We hit it off and I recall thinking that they were better husbands than the previous husband I had purchased. I then thought that I would have to get three divorces before marrying the man I truly loved, a fact that discouraged me greatly.

My dream then sped up and I found myself living near where I had purchased the husbands. Apparently my marriage had gone downhill and a girlfriend of mine expressed her concern when she found that I was attending a party alone. I assured her of my contentedness and then got in my black car to drive to the house party.

While driving through the parking lot, a man that I knew to be my husband started shooting at me. He was attractive in a cliche way. After this I apparently decided to return to Iowa. As I related my experiences to Heather and Chad in a Perkins-looking restaurant, Chad read my diary that had been written on a menu. I was rather disturbed that he was reading the diary of my marriages.

As Heather looked over the diary, she asked, "What do you want for Christmas?"

To which I quickly responded, "A coffee bean grinder."

Others' Dreams about me

Often I have had the situation in which others tell me the dreams they have about me. The dreams range in content. Sometimes I wonder if these dreams reflect the persons true opinion of me. Here are a few of my favorites.

The first night in the dorms last year, Lindsey dreamed that she caught me making out with one of my professors.

Once Seth had a dream in which we were having a religious discussion. In this discussion I said something true to my real character about some religious matter and it infuriated him. It was to such a degree that he started slamming my body into the lab tables.

This summer a fellow counselor, James, had a dream that someone handed him a newspaper where I was displayed under "sexy singles" in the personal adds. It had my photo and bio beneath.

And last night Lindsey dreamt that I insisted she watch me skateboard in the rain 45 minutes before going to her formal birthday party. I was so insistent that she came outside. Her straightened hair was ruined (in actuality it takes her over an hour to straighten it). When we came indoors, she insisted that I help her fix it. I did so with angst, calling her vain and pulling her hair with the straightener. Then I insisted we walk to her birthday party because to drive was a waste of gas. We were already late and Linds was upset, declaring, "It's fifteen miles!"

Thoughts . . .

Yesterday Father said he would be willing to go halfsies on the Rome trip for spring break. Though I would love to go to Rome, I wonder if this is a wise expense and I also wonder of part-time work for the school year. It was in this contemplation that I entered sleep last night and had the following dream:

I was at camp and saw various staff. Heather B. asked me to accompany her in a trip to the mall. I agreed because I wanted to be social, but I did not wish to spend money. We were separated at the mall, and I waited with her brother for her re-arrival. Whilst we waited at the hair salon, it came time to pay in advance for haircuts. It was a pricey place, though they were running a discount deal. Somehow I ended up paying for three haircuts and used up all the cash which I was trying to budget responsibly.

Then my mother appeared and I lamented to her of the situation (Note that lamenting to my mother, with her in the consoling role is very out of character for our relationship). I burst into tears and remember it not being an I-don't-have-control-of-my-emotions bout of tears but a bout of deep and anguished weeping.

I woke up in that state, grabbed a sweatshirt and read 17 chapters of John.

I'm going ice blocking: easy going and free.