A Couple More Bad Dreams

In my post last night, I ended with a joke about running from Bigfoot in a dream. While that didn't happen as I dreamt last night, I did have another recurring dream of which I forgot to mention. I'm guessing the reason I had the dream was that after I finished posting, I thought about a couple of dreams I could have added, and thought, "Well, I'll just add them later." Sure enough, I had one of them. Here it is:

7. Being a Radio Announcer Again. This always starts out very positively in the dream, and last night was no exception. In this case, it was my third radio job, in Carroll, Iowa, and I've decided to chase my dream job once again. I get hired in Carroll, even move my family down there, and start my first day back. I reconnect with old co-workers and friends. I thank my old program director for taking another chance on me.

Then all hell breaks loose. During my air shift, I only remember vaguely how to operate the board, I fail to have songs cued up and ready to play, and I don't have the latest forecast ready to read during the weather segment. It's awful, and what starts out as a dream I don't want to end, winds up being one from which I'm glad I wake.

I can't remember what the other recurring dream I thought of is. Perhaps I'll remember it later tonight, before I fall asleep, and tomorrow will be able to write about having the same dream. I'm sure you're hanging on the edge of your seat for that.

My Recurring Nightmares

I don't have nightmares per se, like the kind with monsters or horror of any sort. Occasionally a dream might be a little frightening, but for the most part, I just have "bad" dreams from time to time. Some of them are recurring. Here are the most common, in no particular order:

1. Plane Crashes. I have recurring dreams of both witnessing plane crashes, like the catastrophic kind, and also being a passenger on them, which are more like the bizarre kind. Like flying between buildings in a downtown area, and then crash landing in a field. I always come out unscathed, and shortly thereafter I wake up.

2. Law School. This is my least favorite of all. I have a lot of school dreams, and many are wonderfully nostalgic, and I'm a bit sad to wake from these. High school, my one full semester at the U of M, and Alexandria Technical College tend to be the "good" dreams about being in school. I always wake up the moment I realize I am in fact nowhere near 18 anymore.

The Law School dreams, however, are rarely so kind. Typically, they will involve me showing up for a class, the name of which I'm typically not familiar, nor have I studied for the day's lesson, or worse, final exam. Absolutely horrible. Let's move on...please.

3. Sports. I hate these because my better sports, like bowling, golf, and softball, tend to take on surreal turns (gee, go figure, it's a dream after all). I might find myself playing golf, and one hole will suddenly include a tee box in someone's living room. This is fine, as there is a large enough gap in the wall to drive the ball through, but my backswing will be obstructed by the bar (as in liquor cabinet). The common link to these sports dreams tends to be that they end up playing on a field much smaller than the real life game, I tend to have little control over what I'm doing in them (for example, I'll find the holes in the bowling ball don't fit), and they rarely last long.

The only recurring positive sports dream I have is when I'm playing basketball and get serious hang time, like I'm practically floating up towards the hoop, and then dunk with ease. But even those kind of suck, like I might find myself having trouble holding on to the ball on the way up.

4. Tornadoes. I always survive these, and in fact some are a little exciting. But then there are the ones where I'm trying to protect my kids in a house that is getting hit by one. I was scared by tornadoes as a kid, so I'm sure that's why I still get these. But at least I've matured so as not to have them be quite so frightening, usually.

5. Bigfoot. Yeah, I know I said I've matured, and I said, "No monsters," but this goes back to my youth as well, when I believed in Sasquatch. They can some times be a little frightening, and often the setting is my grandmother's farm house near Alexandria, MN. They occur less often, however, and I think that may be because over the years I've come to dismiss Bigfoot as a real possibility of existing.

6. Losing my Teeth. I had this one just a couple nights ago. Odd thing about these ones is that each time I convince myself that "I'm not dreaming this time...oh no! I've ground my teeth to the point of them crumbling right out of my mouth!" And then when I wake, I always make sure to bite down to see if they are still there. I do grind my teeth during these dreams, and even used to wear a fitted mouth piece to keep from making my already teeth minuscule by the time I'm in my 60s. I've made it to 44, and they haven't shrunk that much, so we'll see in 20 years or so.

Generally, I tend to like dreams, because the good ones are fun, and the bad ones are always a relief to wake up from. But I do wish I had more "success" in my sports dreams. Especially when trying to run. My feet tend to move like they're stuck in the mud.

Let's hope that doesn't happen tonight when I'm fleeing Bigfoot at Grandma's place.

Down Goes the Dome

The last time I made a prediction about the Minnesota Vikings, I thankfully was wrong. I predicted EJ Henderson would never play again, or at least never near the level at which he did prior to his serious leg injury last year.

Hopefully, I will improve to 1-for-2 with this one: The latest collapse of the Metrodome roof, sagging ever so near Mall of America Field, will be one day remembered as the turning point in the Vikings getting a new stadium.

Actually, I could get this prediction right and regret it. That is, it could be known as a "turning point" in the Vikings getting their stadium in LA or some other metropolis suitor. For some day, people may remember that the politicians of Minnesota thumbed their figurative noses at the franchise even after proof was given to those not sharp enough to already realize that the Vikings played in one of about three of the worst professional sports venues in the country.

In 1998, when then-governor-elect Jesse Ventura, said that Minnesota did not need a new stadium, he was spot on for two reasons. One was because then-owner Red McCombs was able to secure the team at such a bargain price because of the lack of a top-notch stadium.

The other reason was, to quote Jesse from memory, because we don't tear down schools after 16 years, referring to the Humpty Dump's age at the time. No, we don't, but now it's been 28 years, and we would tear down a 28-year-old school building that was this embarrassing.

Or at least should.

One Reason Why a Wisconsin Dells Trip is so Expensive

One thing I learned on my trip to the Dells this past Thanksgiving weekend, although it has nothing to do with Thanksgiving or the Dells, is that Dippin' Dots are positively the biggest waste of money on the face of the earth. Almost five bucks for what amounts to a large scoop of ice cream.

Actually, I've known what a rip off they are since I visited the Minnesota Zoo a few years ago, but it finally sunk in because I was, up to that point, proud of how well I was sticking to a budget for the Dells trip. I don't get it. The texture isn't as enjoyable as hand-dipped ice cream, and the kids spill about half of them. I'm hoping even young kids will wise up and these things will go the way of the Pet Rock. At least at that price.

Wisconsin Dells Thanksgiving

It was a nice, long Thanksgiving break, and I kind of wish I had tomorrow off from work. I think an ideal vacation is one where you get whatever time off spent doing whatever you do on the vacation, then get one day at home to unwind.

My wife and I took our two little guys to Wisconsin Dells, just getting ahead of the nasty weather, last Wednesday. It was my ex-wife's Thanksgiving to have the three older kids, so to make up for what they missed out on, we plan on heading back for President's Day weekend with them. It was also my first Thanksgiving away from them for the entire weekend, that I can recall anyway.

For President's Day, we will probably find a nice resort with a water park built in. This past five-day weekend, we rented a timeshare, which was fine, and had nice facilities, but we had to drive to get to the amusement and water parks. That wasn't so bad, but with five kids along for the trip next time, for convenience's sake, we'll try to stay where there is all that stuff on-site. Another key factor is that it will be more like a three-day weekend, so to cram as much in, it will help to not have to drive around as much.

We'll also need to find something better to travel in than my old Ford Taurus wagon with 120,000 miles on it. If all goes well, and my wife gets one of the jobs she is interviewing for this week, we'll be able to get a minivan. I couldn't justify it otherwise, despite the alternative - seven of us packed like sardines for 3 1/2 hours.

Here's hoping...

Elections

This being my first post since the election, I suppose it would be appropriate that I comment on how badly the Democrats got beat. I won't profess to know why it happened, but I do believe it had a lot to do with a lot of people being impatient. I also believe it had a lot to do with the success of the right wing media to get people to believe crazy things, at least to enough of a degree to affect votes.

Take the untrue $200 million-per-day Obama trip to Asia, for example. Although the story came out too late to affect the election, it's testamentary to how people are willing and capable of believing some crazy stuff. Then, after presented with the evidence, they'll still either believe it because they want to, or, almost as bad, believe something along the lines of, "Well, it may not be that bad, but there's still a lot of truth to it."

And when you get a lot of folks in the media from the same camp repeating the story as true because "they heard it in the media," even though they are only hearing it from each other, the uninformed fall for it, and in large numbers.

While this does happen with all political "sides," the Right Wing pretty clearly had the lion's share of successful indoctrination of misinformation this go-round.

Why I'll be Voting Democratic This Year

I don't touch much on my politics here, but occasionally I feel compelled to. In my adult years, I haven't liked the idea of one party controlling the House, Senate, and Presidency. But this year is different.

Unlike past years, I don't plan on voting for a single Republican on Tuesday. Now, I'm not that far left politically. Certainly not on fiscal matters, anyway. Social issues? Definitely to the left. Like gay marriage, which I think is my generation's civil rights. Twenty years from now, if my children ask me how I felt about gay marriage and the right to serve, I'm glad to know that I won't have to lie to tell them I was on the "correct" side of the issue...today's "liberal" side.

I could point to countless things that contribute to my decision, such as the above, but all I really need comes from some of the simplest, yet most misleading lies from the campaign season. Things like calling Obama and Dayton's tax positions, "Job-killing tax hikes." Say all you want about it not technically being a lie, but my Webster allows for it to absolutely be called a lie. They know they are intentionally being deceiving; ergo, they are lying.

"But what about the Dems this and the liberals that, and they do it too, and blah blah blah?"

Yeah, I know. Please spare me the tu quoques. One side has disgusted me far more than the other this year, and it is the party of Lincoln.

But if you insist that, as you should, this is not enough, here's another good example of why I don't want another mid-term like '94, from Dana Milbank at the Washington Post.

Here's a good reason why we don't need a return to the mythified Reagan years.

Still think raising the top income earners' marginal rate by a whopping three percentage points (which they are supposed to do when Bush's failed policy expires) will be "job-killing?" Think again.

I'm totally a "throw the bums out" kind of guy. But not this year.