Time travel, Murder, and The Marvelous Land of Oz

Last night, more likely this morning, was brimming with the craziest dreams I've ever had, and I'm probably going to go through this fast, so bear with me.

We left a town early after buying supplies at the local general store and immediately jumped in the water and began swimming underwater towards my boat. I was swimming with two other men one was poor and black, and the other was rich and white. We swam under the boat, where there was an airlock, and the airlock was apparently the only way we could get in the boat. The other men were under water as I unlocked the hatch with a very big key that was tied around my neck. After I removed several compartments of the hatch that appeared like a puzzle box, I was finally able to make it inside the ship. I never saw the rich white man or the poor black man again, so they must have drown, but it hadn't phased me.

The year was most likely around the turn of 18th century, from the looks of the boat, the clothes I was wearing, and the people around me. It was raining heavy and the ship was being tossed around. We seemed to be doing normal ship activities and work for an hour or so dreamwise, which translated into several years.

Among the crew was a man that I remember working with, having a laugh, and perhaps drinking grog with several times over the years. He was a built white man with no visible hair[it was either covered or shaved, I don't remember]. Anyway, it turns out that on a particularly dark and stormy night, this guy goes crazy and starts murdering everyone aboard my ship, I say "my ship" loosely, because I don't think I was the captain.

So, another guy and I are freaking out because we're about to be murdered, so we run to a compartment of the ship and use some sort of device that allows us to time travel. We try to go back to the time where no one on the ship was killed, so that we could make everything okay, but it didn't work. We ended up traveling into the future, everything became more modern and spaced out. We were now on a very large cargo ship. I was with my buddy, and I saw the murderer just chillin on the rafters; sitting on some supplies hanging up there. I was freaking out because we were on a new ship, with a new crew of men for the man to murder. Anyway, I made it a duty to warn everyone aboard that there was a murderer loose on the ship, but no one believed me, except for two Japanese men who didn't speak any English. Anyway, long story short a female cyborg was sent to the ship and she found and killed the man.

So I'm on a farm in what seems like rural Virginia, and I'm giving a walking tour of the area to a bunch of girls. We see this crazy animal that I've never seen before, but I'm looking at it as if i've seen it a lot or all the time. It had the back two legs of a giraffe, but narrowed in at the abdomen and started again with the back end of a giraffe and this continues for a long time, like a centipede with giraffe legs. The very front of it's face looked like a large and furry crocodile, but it didn't seem dangerous; I'm pretty sure it was an herbivore. Anyway, I knew that over time it grew into these large beast chains, and I could tell because there was a younger one that was only the furry crocodile head and giraffe legs. It had a pair of undeveloped legs dangling out from behind, and I couldn't tell if it was giving birth or growing another segment. I remember being really confused about how the animal might breed though.

Anyway, we continued to walk and eventually approached our destination. Someone in our group asked, if we were close to the land of Oz, and when I looked up I saw a wall and a giant green magical hurricane. My view changed to what seemed to be a bird zooming around the emerald city, everything was green, and I promise you guys... it was the coolest thing I've ever seen! I was like "WHOAAAAAAAAA!!!!!" The green hurricane of magic that whipped around the city was just amazing! I wish I could describe it to you... seriously, it was a marvel to behold. I was like the double rainbow guy, "What does it mean?!?!?"

So we approach a very big wall which has an attached a food stand. The people in the stand are giving away free food to people that are going into the emerald city. I was okay with this at first, but then I began to feel paranoid. The food was delicious, and made me want to go into the city all the more, but it also made me suspicious of what was going on. As I stood in line with a bunch of girls that looked like they were about to enter some dance club, I realized, it was a trap, so I didn't go in. I woke up choking on a lot of liquid, and then I realized I had been dreaming.

Dream interpretation note: There isn't too much here this time that's worth translating, but I do think it's funny how my paranoia prevents me from doing wonderful things.

Keys to potential, blocked by fear.

I had a dream last night; a very vivid dream, and as the day has gone by I've remembered more and more of it:

The only definite person I remember was a friend from work named Amos. Amos is the gentle giant type. He's a tall skinny black guy with a lot of tattoos. I guess that's not relevant, but he was there with me the whole time.

We were at the beach, near some warehouses at night. The only lights I really remember were street lights, and moonlight; besides that it was very dark and moody.

In the warehouse we met with a man who was propositioning us with a new drug. It was orange, granular, and kept in small bags[Orange in "dream terms" represents a stimulation of the senses, and is considered good; interesting side note] . There were tons of the baggys and they were kept in a locker. He gave me a small bag and a lady told me that when I used the drug I would be able to have an experience unlike anything I've ever had before. I would be able to have a vivid and lucid hallucination. This means I would have a bizarre experience, and have total control over everything that happens. It was going to be like a lucid dream, but a very real one, and the orange grain would put my body out like I was in a coma, but my brain would be free.

This excited me, so I took a grain out of my bag, and placed my bag in my locker for later use.

Amos and I went out to the docks and decided to eat our grains. Once I did I fell to the ground and began to have a dream inside my dream, but this time I had control. I remember having the overwhelming feeling that I could do anything I wanted! And do you know what I did with that power? Do you know what I did with my ABSOLUTE POWER!?!?!

I watched TV.

I literally could have have commanded the elements and slept with starlets, but I imagined being in a very comfortable chair, just watching TV. What a waste!

When I woke up from my dream inside a dream, I was very scared; I looked a little wasted and there were cops everywhere. They searched my locker and found my bag of orange grains. I was frightened and angry that it was taken away, but I was glad that they were only booking me on possession instead of distributing. That's all I remember.

Interpretation: Basically I've been given a gift or certain gifts and I do nothing but waste it away by watching TV or not being productive. If I don't use my gifts they'll be taken from me. A simple explanation for an elaborate dream, but if you think about it more, it makes sense.

Orange drug: My gift

Cops: take it away

I waste my gifts by wasting my time. It's time to change.

The Stairway from Intelligence to Genius.

I was sitting down with Jordan yesterday, and we had a conversation that represented a variety of ideas. One of the main ideas of our conversation was a discussion of the difference between intelligent people and geniuses. At first he didn't follow me; he said something along the lines of geniuses finding creative ways to adjust to normal life; basically, they learn to adapt. While creativity is key, true geniuses don't adjust to normal life, or become normal. They rise above normal life and dwell on a entirely different plane of thinking.

I imagine that this world is represented by three levels of thinking: Unintelligence, Intelligence, and Genius.

The Unintelligent are the uneducated people of the world. They mull around on their plane and eventually try and find a way out and graduate to something higher. The only way to ascend to the plane of Intelligence is to follow a staircase, and this staircase is made of blocks of education. Whether this be high-school, college, or street learning, you're still becoming educated and your staircase will eventually lead to the plane of Intelligence.

On the plane of Intelligence you have learned to adjust to normal life, and you have a franchise job. By Franchise job, I mean that you are one of millions just like you that get paid for doing exactly what you do. If you stick around long enough, you are told that there will be a bonus in it for you. From your plane you look down on the Unintelligent and now they come to you through the staircase you followed, you tell them to do what you did and one day they'll be able to be just like you, all they have to do is follow the same steps. Secretly, you don't want them to, because the more there are of them, the more likely your job will be at risk! But since you've been here longer, seniority is yours and you get even higher education, so that when they reach where you were, you can say, "No-no-no, I am the master; I have a master's degree and seniority". You tell them this from a pedestal you've erected to glorify yourself. You are constantly looking down to make sure that there is always someone below you, and that your position is secure. Because of this and your reliance on structure, you cannot look up.

If you would look up, you would notice the higher planes of genius. The staircases to the higher planes are hidden. You discover that not only did you have to be creative to find them, now that you've found them, you have to find a way to climb them, because there aren't any stairs. You will have to find a way to build them, using the knowledge you've already obtained. What do I use, and how do I get from here to there? It's a complicated process and you are alone all the while. The empty stairwells exist on the planes of Intelligence, and Unintelligence, but if ascended creatively, lead to something higher than both. The planes of Genius.

You had to be creative to find your way to the highest planes. You sit on the disk you created by yourself and look down at the big picture. You see the world as it is, you see the evil and good. You open a bag of things you've learned and you sprinkle the knowledge on the planes below. The flakes of genius touch everyone. Some don't notice. Some say "How can I use this flake to help me on my plane"? Then there are the ones that look up and say "where did that come from, and how do I get up there"? These are the people who will become the next geniuses. They'll find the empty stairwell and begin to build their way to the top. When they're at the top, they'll look to their left and see another genius on his disk sprinkling knowledge, and yell over to the old genius that "You and I are different" and the new genius will begin to look down and sprinkle his knowledge. Then the old genius, will hear this and look to his right and see the flake he'd cast down upon the new genius so long ago resting on his forehead... and then he'll look up.

Late night status update goes overboard.

Preface: The following took place at two in the morning as I was changing my facebook status. I thought it was 2099 words but it was only 2099 characters long.

Status update:

I'm just beginning to realize how incredibly sane I am. I know crazy people, and some of them really scare me. You could say I have a paranoia of insanity, and that either makes me totally sane, as I've stated before, or a complete madman. I like to believe that our paranoias guard us from completely exposing the little madmen inside us. So... then fear is our friend; fear is what keeps us safe, and fear is what makes us like everyone else, so that we don't have to be afraid of being different. Because when we are different, we fear being ridiculed by the people that are subjects of fear tactics who are perceived as normal or sane human beings. So, there is a great circle of of fear and normal people trying desperately to be perceived as sane. I'm afraid of those people and all geographic clusters of sanity. There are many clusters that we can join, and we usually join the one where we have to change the least. These clusters roll around the earth all the time. They impact one another and create fragments of dust that will no longer be part of any cluster because they are marked as unfit or crazy. But the dust is the key. It has seen many clusters at the point of impact! In fact, it was once part of a cluster! But the impact helped it to crack off and fall to the earth where it will be rolled over and over again by the clusters of fear and sanity. What's going to happen is that eventually the clusters will break of into nothing and everyone will be dirt. Unfortunately, clusters will form again, but fortunately they will be formed by those first flakes of dust that had to break away. The once thought of as insane will one day rule or invent, and that's how it's been forever. So many insane people, for their time, have changed history because of their supposed insanities. Insanity is often mistaken for inventiveness and free-thinkery.----- wow, I'll stop. It's late, and it's the longest status update ever... and it probably won't make sense to me in the morning... all I'm trying to say is dare to be different, and control your own destiny, and people will follow you.

Appendix:

Well, it's funny that I start my status reassuring the reader and myself that I'm not crazy, and I really don't think I am. The main point I was trying to make with that phrase wasn't addressed, there is a thin line between crazy and eccentric. I like to think I'm on the side of eccentric inventiveness. From my viewpoint I see actual crazy people... those people usually present fragments of ideas without relativity. For example let's say that you're sitting at dinner with an insane friend, and without any prompt at all, that you know of, he says "she is such a sweetheart," and you say "excuse me, who?" and then he says a girl that he met at the gym, and you say "we've never gone to the gym together" and then he says she's a sweet girl. Then you say, "well, why don't you talk to her?" and he starts talking to the empty space beside you as if he were talking to the girl. This is an extreme example, but it illustrates that there is no genius there. There are only random electronic pulses in their brain firing off abnormally. The key to being a genius is to be able the think of ideas in the abstract but with continuity and a general story web. You can think of things differently but there has to be relativity to references points and human interaction.

Anywho, I've got to go to work.

Beyonce and Dental Floss

So I had this crazy dream last night, that I was either participating in or just watching "Britain's Got Talent". Anyways it had to have taken place a few years ago because it was supposedly before Beyonce got famous. After she sang she made a desperate move to get Simon's approval. She said she was going put floss in her gums and subsequently pull the floss out of her "floss ducts". I remember being in the audience now with an expression on my face like "whatever". No one knew what she was talking about but waited for something to happen.

Anyways, she puts the floss in her mouth and gargles it around for a little while, as if it were Listerine or something. Then she puts her hands up and squeezes her cheeks until she's pinching them tightly. Slowly she pulls her hands away from her face but she leaves behind a trail of floss that's following her hand. She begins to wrap the floss around her ears, and then wraps it around her head until she's covered her eyes, and says "tada"!

The next shot was of me in the audience, but the audience now had floss wrapped around their ears and eyes, similar, but slightly different, than Beyonce had hers. I was the only one without the floss coming out of my face.

I think the dream has a lot to do with my character. How I feel about society and the media. I have nothing against Beyonce, but the idea of the show[Britain's Got Talent], the star [Beyonce], and the audience trying to be like the star no matter how stupid it gets, is something that bothers me. Also, the star makes a desperate move and pretty much does whatever she can to actually become an absolute sensation. I'm the only one sitting in awe; not understanding why it's a sensation at all? The problem with being "original" in the end is that I'm left alone because I don't fit in. At least, that's how I interpret it.

A scary dream!

Hey everyone, a quick update about my book. I'm in the final personal editing phase and it's going rather well. I'm excited to be done soon!

Moving on! I had a normal nightmare last night; I'm not use to having them. My nightmares nowadays have been weird, like I have to go back on a mission or something. Last night's was totally different, and it played out more like a creepy horror movie:

So, I was walking in a post apocalyptic wasteland by myself and I came upon what looked like a bombed out bath house. There were a lot of shower rooms and in the building and some of it's hallways seemed endless. President Uchtdorf was trying to take a shower in one on the rooms and I was just trying to help him get a door on a hinge so he could have some privacy because these three inbred looking guys were creeping around. President Uchtdorf, just got frustrated and told me to leave, because if I left, he'd have his privacy. It made sense, but I was upset that he yelled at me. So I just wandered around with a towel wrapped around me, looking for a place to shower privately.

The inbred three were everywhere I went. One time they were throwing rubber balls against the walls, other times they were walking on the columns where portions of the ceiling had caved in. I remembered talking to one of the three, and he was saying nothing that I should have fretted about, but I really couldn't understand him. They were just teenagers really, and I really shouldn't have been threatened by them, but they seemed to be everywhere, and they seemed to be following me.

I finally felt like I was alone and I found an empty shower room. A naked old man had recommended this room specifically to me. I seemed happy and I began to shower. On the other half of the room, the wall was caved-in, and there was a dresser that seemed to have fallen from the roof. It was saturated with water and seemed to have been there for days. Then I heard a laugh, and I saw the inbred three, watching me from behind the dresser. I asked them what exactly they were doing? They didn't answer again, just smiled, so I left the room, and they didn't follow me out.

I found a personal stall down the hallway, in a darker corner of the bathhouse. It was really strange because I had to climb down into it. It was tight and box shaped; I remember feeling claustrophobic, but this seemed like the only place I could possibly be alone. The shower head was on the floor of the normal bath house, and I could reach it with my hand easily, but I was down inside the floor. I turned on the water, and took a shower for a few minutes when I realized that the water wasn't draining properly. The water was coming up above my ankles and then my waist, but I wasn't afraid at all. I figured that when the water got high enough, I could swim out and be safe. The water was at my shoulders now, and I decided it was probably a good time to get out.

Then suddenly, a hand reached out from the dark rim above my head and grabbed my hair and I began to freak out! I looked up and saw the inbred boy with his hand on my head holding me down under the water! I struggled for a while, but then I woke up.

I was glad when I woke up and it was only a dream. Usually when I have dreams, I go to the same places over and over. The bath house was new, and I don't think I'd like to go back anytime soon.

Other than that life is good. I'm working on making some healthy changes; improving my life in spiritual and temporal ways. I'm already seeing benefits. This nightmare was just a fluke and I don't think it means anything... but now I think I'll read President Uchtdorf's article from this month's Ensign and see if there is a message in it for me. Who knows maybe there was a reason why he was in my dream. There's probably no reason why he should have been naked, but maybe maybe he stood out in my mind, so that I'd read the article.