Another crazy dream

Last night I had another crazy and vivid dream. I was in my town visiting with some people, and when I went to leave, my car wouldn't start. So I called AAA for a tow truck. But within 10 mins or so, a helicopter landed on the street to pick my friend and I up instead. I found this rather odd. As we were flying over my town, I started noticing many buildings on fire and a ton of black smoke pluming into the air. I commented on this, but no one seemed phased.

My town has an old Naval Air Station at one end of town. It is used by some other businesses now, but still has a ton of open land. Once we landed over there, I looked back toward the city and it was more full of flames than ever. I yelled to everyone to gather what they could and head toward the water. There were some houses there that were abandoned and had no doors or windows, but we used them as shelter. I had my camera with me (as I always do in life) and a chain about 3' long with a snap hook on each end. I had the camera in one front pocket, then took the snap hook from one end of the chain and put it around a belt loop, then the chain filled up the rest of my other pocket.

We then heard a loud explosion from the city and a tsunami resulted from it. The waves were at least 30'-40' high and completely engulfed the houses we were in. I had handed the other end of the chain to my friend before this happened so we wouldn't get separated. So we swam out of a window and up to the surface. The water seemed to quickly subside. We knew we had to move on to a new location. But instead of just walking somewhere nearby, we seemed all of a sudden transported to a tropical locale. We were standing in a lush rain forest at the top of a very tall and beautiful waterfall. I remember taking some pictures, thinking if my camera survived this, then at least part of this journey would be documented.

But the explosions and tsunamis followed us where ever we went, so this was some sort of global event that was taking place. I never saw people attacking, or planes flying over, but I knew it was some sort of war situation. We found more houses to hide in, only to be forced out all over again by the waves. I remember thinking that my chain was a great resource to have and helped keep my friend and I together.

And like most of my dreams, I woke up before it ended. I actually tried to go back to sleep to see how things turned out, but didn't happen. It was very real and vivid though. Maybe that's what I get for watching 'The Colony' before bed.

Dream... Cheechoo and a work camp

I had 2 dreams last night at the completely opposite end of the spectrum from each other.

The first, I was apparently dating Cheechoo (don’t get jealous ladies). I don’t remember much of the dream except that we were at some amusement park for one part of our date. Then we ended up at some really high end restaurant, where the chef kept bringing us tastings of the food. I remember looking at the menu and it was really pricey, and even Cheech raised an eyebrow at the $40ish entrees. But we had an amazing meal with appetizers, entrees, wine and dessert. I felt bad it cost so much and offered to go dutch, but he wouldn’t let me. I was never one of the ones to pine for Cheech (so not sure why I dreamed about him) but he did look rather hot in my dream :-)

The second dream had me waking up with my heart racing. I was walking past barbed wire into some kind of work camp. I saw people dirty and in pens like you would see animals in at a farm. I had to walk with a line of people over these back to back ladder like things hovering like a bridge over water. I slipped and the last ladder came loose and fell into the water. The guard watching screamed at me as I apologized over and over. We kept going and we ended up inside and I saw a room that looked like it was framed out of bamboo and just had tarps over it. A bunch of people were inside wearing those old style military helmets watching something on a screen on the wall. Then there were bomb sounds and orange glowing lights just to make people scared. Inside were a bunch of offices, it looked like, and I just kept looking for a way out. I ended up outside back where those pens were and hiding under some tarp lying on the ground. I remember being muddy and wet and only one girl saw me go under there and was going to keep quiet. But eventually there was this lady guard that found me, and was sort of being nice by explaining what I was in for. She said the women were passed from guard to guard and then their fate is unknown. I was freaking out. Then I woke up just very uneasy and jittery.

Ryan from The Real World Brooklyn, Return to Duty and Iraq

So because of the fact that over the holidays, every show is a rerun, I have been re-watching The Real World Brooklyn online. Actually just finished the reunion episode a little bit ago. And I never knew MTV made a follow up show called 'Return to Duty' about Ryan. I just started it a little bit ago, then felt inclined to write this.

I admit to finding him a likable guy on the show, and balling the first time I watched the season when he found out be was recalled to the Army and was going back to Iraq. I know I don't "know" the guy. And I know he isn't "technically" a celebrity. But having watched The Real World, I feel Like I know him a little. I know some people whine about why people morn celebrities, for example, when you never actually met the person. But when you learn a lot about a person and get to know their story, it feels personal.

Anyway, after watching the episode where he got recalled last night, I added him on MySpace (and tonight on FB). Not sure why, I'm never on MySpace. But looked him up on there out of curiosity. Then tonight I just read his new blog dated today, about his close Army friend (RIP Darren) who just died 3 days ago of an overdose of pain medication. I just re-watched the scene from The Real World where Ryan, Darren and his child attend the 9/11 ceremony at Ground Zero. It's just so sad to see their interaction, now knowing what happened.

Ryan seems like such a good guy, and has a personality that makes you think he can overcome anything and still have a smile when it's all over and done with. For someone I have never, and will never, meet... I truly respect the guy in a lot of ways. And I hope he returns home safe, and on schedule, this Spring.

Dream... about being in Iraq...

"I was in Iraq for some reason. And it was more forest like rather than desert. While I was there, there was some sort of uprising and a group of American's sided with the Iraqis and were against us. Myself and the people I was with were basically running for our lives. We had to sneak through forests, down strange paths, through marshes, etc, to try to avoid these people. All the while hearing gunfire and seeing people shot around us. We even ended up in some abandoned house with two abandoned dogs, until we were found out and had to run.

Then cut to me getting to some sort of refugee camp where they were evacuating people. The people were put in groups of people for each flight. One bus was leaving as I got there... and I kind of had an aerial view of their travel. The bus was going like a bat out of hell through the streets, avoiding cars and people, to get to the airport. Then two men with guns were running from a building taking about talking hostages. But, when they got to the airport, there was some sort of UN or Embassy escort and they were safe from there.

Back in my reality, I was sitting in the second group (to fill a plane and leave) at the airport. I saw someone get up and leave from the first group so went up to the front to see if I could get bumped up. And they checked my paperwork and said yes. At this point my Grandma was with me and she said she was feeling like she had low blood sugar, so went to a medic and thought she would miss the flight. I went up to the front to chat with the people about it in case she missed the flight, and Christian Slater (must be from watching 'The Forgotten' lately) was one of the guys working up front there now. But she was ok and back in time. Then my Mom and Aunt were there, and a couple of groups behind us, so chatted with them for a few.

My group ended up getting shuffled to the terminal and though security. I had to give up my 3 water bottles. I thought I was going to be able to buy one by the terminal but the shops were closed, and I only had US dollars too. When we got there, we received our boarding passes, and saw for the first time that we were flying from Iraq to Brazil to the States. And found out my Mom and Aunt were flying through Germany, and then home."

That's all I remember. I knew when I woke up for the first time I should have gotten up to write it down. By the time I got up, that's what I remember. And no, I didn't watch a war movie before bed. Strange how the mind works.

The Real World... and War. Who knew?

So as I'm watching The Real World tonight, yes I still watch it, I get more teary and teary as the episode goes on. One of the "Real Worlders" is an Iraqi war veteran at the age of 23, and even though this is known, the whole episode focuses on that. He visits veteran centers, walks in a Veteran's Day parade, goes to a gala for soldiers... and at the end gets the dreaded phone call that he has been called back for active duty. Boy did I bawl. The episode that aired was filmed back in November after the elections, and he had just shy of 2 years left where he could be called back. And he did. I think I only know one person (to my knowledge) that has served in the Middle East, and we have never really talked about the experience. He had a friend who wrote a book that I purchased (Link) about some of his experiences, but have yet to read. But now I think I want to start it. Getting to know this person on the show was a pretty close connection to understanding personalities and emotions revolving around this topic. To someone without close friends or family in the military, the topic can be so abstract at times and you don't really let the emotions in. I did tonight. It's just awful. I 100% support those that serve... I just can't wait for the day that they don't need to anymore.

This is a current interview with Ryan about what happened.