Dreamer

Dreams can be really interesting. Last night, I had a dream that I had my Macbook on the counter and I spilled water all over it. I freaked out and frantically tried mopping all the water off of it with a towel. This has to be more of a nightmare, because I am extremely careful with my Macbook when I'm awake. Funny thing is, yesterday I was sitting in the family room with it and a cup of water got knocked over on the floor next to me. I thought that was really bizarre having a dream similar just the night before. I'm glad it didn't actually spill on it. I would have been petrified. It makes me wonder about dreams. What do they really mean? Are they at times warnings? Do they portray what your subconscious is worrying about? I dunno, I find them fascinating. It's amazing how the brain can do that while you're asleep. And then there's those dreams where you feel completely content and everything feels right in it, and you don't want it to end. Those irk me because sometimes it's about something I desperately want to happen, and it does happen in the dream. It makes me sigh in anger when I wake up. That's not to say all dreams are bad, of course. Some are really fantastic and detailed. It could give you ideas and insight. Although, if you're dreaming it, doesn't that mean it's already in your head? It's like this one time I dreamed of a person I had never seen before in my life. When I told my best friend that, he noted that I must have seen them before if they were in my dream. Does that have to be true? Does something have to have been perceived before it can be dreamed that night? I have so many questions.

These questions about why we have the dreams leads me to think about why certain things happened in them. For instance, why did I have a dream with one specific person I haven't really spoken to in years? Is it an indication that I should start talking to them?

Do dreams mean anything at all? I don't know.

Labor Day

Happy Labor day! I'm rather enjoying the day off from school. Although, that doesn't mean I haven't been doing school work. I started reading The Poe Shadow and I have to say it's not half bad so far. I'm about 6 or 7 chapters in. I like how the book dove right into the story in the first 2 chapters. That keeps me interested in the book. I'm interested to see what's going to happen. It's so true how one thing can consume your entire life, distracting you from what perhaps should be more important. Although, he's passionate about finding out more about Poe. A strange subject, in my opinion. I feel bad for Hattie, she so wanted to get engaged on that night that Clark saw Poe's funeral. I'm glad they eventually did get engaged, yet soon after Clark was distracted with Poe once again. It's not hard to tell that that is going to be one of the main conflicts in the story.

Assignment: Pg. 87; "A Writing Exercise"

A Writing Exercise: Write a weighted comparison essay that develops a claim about Williams's poem by bringing up Wordsworth's The Solitary Reaper or Kooser's Four Secretaries.

A claim that I can make from reading The Singing is that singing can make people feel certain ways and have an affect on them. The man speaking in the poem tells us that he saw a young man that was "black speaking black," and he could not really understand him. However, when he realized the black man was singing or as he said, "shouted-sang," he understood what he meant. The black man then expressed to him that he was "not a nice person." The sentence sung to the other man affected him. Perhaps if the black man was not singing he would not have been so affected by the sentence. Just like the singing affected the man in The Singing, the man in the poem Four Secretaries describes the secretaries around him to be singing, affecting him in a different way. If the secretaries were not being described as singing, they might perhaps be less interesting and have no importance to the man observing them. Singing affected both men in the poems in different ways.

Success

I had such a great day today! I saw one of my friends that is in town for the weekend. He goes to West Point up in New York. When we saw him he was wearing the camo Army uniform. It was so cool! I'm so proud of him. He had an air to him that seemed so grown up. It's starting to really dawn on me how everyone is growing up, going on to more mature things. Real life and all. I'm excited, but at the same time, terrified. It is great that my friend knows what he wants to do with life; that's why he's at West Point. I do not exactly know, but I know I will. I want to be really successful. Successful in what? Anything I want, whether that means getting through school or a career I take on. Just successful. I see success in my friend. He's a role model in a way.

"One day our generation is gonna rule the population." - Waiting On The World To Change by John Mayer

Life

I have to say, I am quite happy with the way life is going right now. It's going quite smoothly, the friendship with my best friend was rekindled, and school is great. I love all of my classes. All of them are so interesting. I feel like I'm learning things instead of just making the grades. I rather like my schedule, too. It's relaxing only having two classes a day. I'd recommend that to anyone; it gives you just enough school for the day. I realize it's only been two weeks of school, but in these last two weeks I've really grasped the feeling of what it's like in college, and I love it. I know it will not always seem like this, but right now it's great. Life going smoothly for me has been rare, so I am pleased that it is going smoothly now. Now, going back to the friendship that's been rekindled. That is like the cherry on top of a sunday; It ties everything together, making it even better.

I like writing about times when I'm happy. However, I've noticed that when I am upset, it seems like I have so much more inspiration to write, making it come out better. I guess it comes down to fact as to whether it is worth getting upset just to write. Or, it comes down to becoming a better writer to be able to write at-will. Perhaps this class will help me with that. I can see this blog helping a lot more already. I hope.

"Today's not the same as every day, it's far from ordinary." - I Did It For You by David Cook

Assignment: Pg. 1627; #2

#2: Compare Counterparts and Like a Winding Sheet, arguing whether the authors have or have not prepared us for the endings.

In Counterparts, there was a lot to understand and take in. There were some hidden meanings and parallelism as well. I understand that Farrington had a bad day at work, getting yelled at and getting into trouble with his superiors and all, along with losing an arm wrestling match, but I don't really see how it set up the ending of the story. I did not expect what happened to be the actual ending. Beating his son is a possibility, yes, as to get all his anger of his life out, but in regards to everything else happening in the story before, I do not think the author prepared us for that ending. However, in Like a Winding Sheet, I think the author efficiently prepared us for the ending. Johnson thinks to himself more than once about wanting to punch someone in the face due to anger, but wouldn't because they were a woman. Once that was said, I feared right away for his wife. Johnson's anger had been kindling throughout the whole story, and I could see how it was all come out on his wife in the end. The author did not make the hints discrete, as I thought the other of Counterparts did. It was clear as day. In regards to both the endings of the stories in general, they were just sad.

Worry

Losing someone is never easy. Sometimes you don't know why, so you go through all the possible reasons through your head, eventually coming back to the first possible reason you thought of, creating a circle of justifying thoughts. You try to push it to the back of your mind, but it's still there, lingering in the dark. It drives you crazy. Months go by and you are still wondering why you lost that person. Finally, they talk. You're ecstatic. You carefully choose what words to say to them because who knows when will be the next time you speak. You find out the reason they lost touch with you and it is not your fault at all. It was them. They had issues. It was nothing to do with you. Then, that circle of justifying thoughts stops. You are torn between happiness and grief. You just spent the last couple of months beating yourself up for potential mistakes of what could have happened. It was wasted time, wasted thought. Then, incredibly, you feel selfish. Were you trying to make it all about you? Something you did? Perhaps there should have been thoughts as to what they were experiencing. Now you feel bad. It happens. But, wait, you are happy they are talking to you. Now you're torn even more. You're feeling more emotional than you should. Worry about them now. The worry about you is over.

"Every moment of your life is a chance to get it right." -Monotov's Private Opera by Third Eye Blind




Rant over.