The Assistant Dream

I was walking alone through an empty school. While not recognized by my mind while awake, I knew it in the dream. I encountered other people. They began congratulating me. “Looks like you were selected. Congratulations.”

“For what?” I asked back, shaking hands. Well, people told me, they were sending an assistant out to help one lucky person, and you won. It was announced today.

Surprised and happy, I was inclined to turn it down. “I don’t need an assistant, thanks.” Apparently, it wasn’t optional.

I went on my way. A woman accosted me. She held hands with one child. Several others were with her. “I heard about you and I wanted to meet you,” she said.

Hi, nice to meet you, I answered back, inquiring about who she was. Turns out she was a friend’s wife. Those were her children. Well, it was nice to meet them all, I said, shaking hands all around. Pleasantries were paraded out, then she took her children and led them away while I continued through the school.

I entered the gymnasium. Another woman with children was there, saying very similar things as the first, about wanting to meet me. I inquired more, why did she want to meet me? Well, she’d heard about me from her husband. It dawned on me that I didn’t know my friends’ families, and that those families were making an effort to change that. After chatting with her, I sat at a table, where another wife and family approached, talking about wanting to meet me. Meanwhile, my assistant, a tall, beautiful woman, arrived in the gym. She was famous and I recognized her. While she approached, I was still talking to a woman introducing her family.

The assistant arrived at the table. Excusing myself for a moment, I broke off my conversation to address the assistant. I told her, while flattered, I thought others required an assistant more than I did, so I was turning her services down. She answered that I didn’t have a choice, that she would be with me for a while, which was where the dream ended.

The New Clothing Dream

A friend and I were staying with a gay couple. I seemed to be in my early twenties. The couple lived in a city apartment a few floors up. A big city, the place was busy and noisy. I was there to get rid of my old clothing, and then I was taking a trip to get new clothing. We were flying out for that purpose the next day. Meanwhile, my buddy wanted us to go out on the town before leaving. Parallel to this, our hosts were throwing a party (unrelated to our visit). They’d also received a new table and were putting it together.

As I’d chosen to get rid of my old clothes except what I was wearing and what I was traveling in the next day, I decided to find something to wear from the clothes I was getting rid of to wear out on the town. It should be something festive. I found an old pale yellow shirt with a red parrot embroidered on the left chest, a shirt I haven’t owned in over thirty years.

I paused while dressing to watch them trying to put the new table together. It wasn’t going well. They thought parts were missing and were calling the manufacturer for help. I thought that I would be doing it differently, as they seemed disorganized, but I believed part of the issue was that they already had too many people involved, so I remained uninvolved.

My friend was urging me to hurry up. It was night, and the night was calling him. He was wearing jeans and a maroon puffy jacket. I was only in a shirt. “Is it cold out? Do I need a jacket?” Without awaiting an answer, I went into my old clothes for a jacket. I pulled it on, but then decided it was too heavy and replaced with a lighter jacket, an old black “Members Only” jacket I used to have. I then worried, maybe I should change shirts because the parrot was no longer seen. But I left it at that. He and I scampered down the steps and into the brightly-lit night to have fun.

Thursday’s Theme Music

Sunshine began a slow unveil of a cerulean sky at 5:34 AM. Edging onto the cusp of summer, temperatures in the mid-eighties will dominate our southern Oregon valley with the thermometer’s readouts dipping into the low fifties after the sun slides out of the area at 8:50 PM. Humidity is fading away. The heat grows dryer and more intense. Grasses veer browner. Wispier.

Today is June 17, 2021. It’s a Thursday, named after the pagan God of Thirst. Many still pay homage to Thursday’s roots by seeking thirst quenchers and libations in a mellow ritual called ‘Happy Hour’ after work on Thursday’s. Being a forward-looking dude, I did my genuflecting on Wednesday this week.

Getting ready to paint more of the house interior. Naturally, I’m singing AC/DC’s 1982 song, “For Those About to Paint (We Salute You)”. Oh, sorry, my brain informs me that I was misinformed about the title and subject matter. Never too old to get corrected on these matters.

Here’s the music. Don’t understand how I was wrong on those lyrics all these years. Maybe paint fumes were mesmerizing me. Stay positive, test negative, get the vax, and do as needed with the mask. To your health; cheers.

Wednesday’s Theme Music

Sunrise greeted the valley at 5:34 AM on this Wednesday. Jays shouted about being the first to see it. A jay argument commenced about which jay shouted first. Weather will be more closely aligned to summer today. While it’s a cool 61 F now, forecasts and the sky’s demeanor point to temperatures in the mid 80s.

Today is Jun 16, 2021. Just a few days of spring remain. Also, you case you haven’t seen any ads on television or on the net, and haven’t gotten any emails about the subject, Father’s Day is coming up. Prepare accordingly. By the way, the sun will flee the valley as the world turns at 8:49 PM.

Our county of Jackson has met the threshold to be declared a moderate threat in COVID-19 terms. Cases and deaths are steadily declining. Still a max of six per table for inside dining at restaurants, but eight per table are allowed outside. Retail stores can go to 75% of capacity. Statewide, we’re at 68% of the pop being fully vaccinated. 70% is on the horizon.

“Land of Confusion” by Genesis (1986) boomed into my mental radio this AM. Not a surprising song for the day. Despite being dismissed in court, trump supporters continue to insist that trump won the election and that DJ will take office in August. No, there’s nothing in the Constitution that will cover this. Some 30% of Republicans believe this. DJT’s campaign is selling tickets to his inauguration event. The unreality is deep.

So, “Land of Confusion” works. Stay positive, test negative, get the vax, wear a mask as required, depending upon your vaccination status, city, state, and what you’re doing, and how many others in your party are vaccinated, whether anyone has recently tested positive for COVID-19, and what’s going on with breakthroughs. Here’s the tune. Cheers

Tuesday’s Theme Music

Sunrise danced into our valley on tiny wings of light this morning at 5:33, heralding the start of Tuesday, June 15, 2021, with milky sunshine. Clouds and rain will cool the sun’s ardor today until backing out at 8:46 in the evening, letting us mark another day done.

I’m grooving to old ZZ Top this morning. Going through the head list of things that must be done, the activities my wife wants me to do, and what I’d really like to be doing called “Got Me Under Pressure” from 1983 out from the memory cloud, where it’s always hazy with a chance of fog. Stay positive, test negative, and get the vax. As for the mask, it’s really become murky in our zone. Stores say, “Masks required” on front-door signs, and will often mention that they must cover the mouth and nose. But there’s not enforcement. CDC and gov’t guidelines say, hey, if you’ve been fully vaxxed, the Gods are with you that you’ll probably be okay. But, beware of breakthroughs and variants. I still wear a mask shopping in stores and in public places like the library. That’s about the range of where I roam.

Here’s the music. Cheers

Monday’s Theme Music

The sun popped up into the valley’s protective gaps at about 5:34 AM on this Monday morning. It’s June 7, 2021. When I typed Monday, Monday songs popped into my head as regularly as the sun rises. No songs came up when I thought of June or seven. Some came to mind after a little thought. Unlike 2021, which immediately brought a song to mind.*

The sun is due to set at 8:45 PM. Thinking about sunset unleashed an avalanche of songs. Likewise, painting another wall yesterday prompted painting songs to hit the mindstream. An exception was the song the wall sang to me, “Cover Me” (Springsteen), which hasn’t to do with painting at all.

Anyway, here is My Chemical Romance with “Famous Last Words”. Memory of that 2007 song hit the brainwaves while I finished painting. Cause I was thinking about how well things are going (only seven new cases of COVID-19 in our county! We’re tending down!). Which certainly seems like they could be famous last words.

Stay positive, test negative, wear the mask as needed, and get the vax. Cheers

*”In the Year 2525″. Nothing to do with this year, just the word, year.

Messages On A Mountain: A Dream

This was a wild one. Beginning with me dressed in faded raspberry-colored running shorts and a tee shirt, I ran up and down this mountain, receiving, carrying, and delivering messages. The weather was fine, the mountain, high, rocky, and steep, but dotted with bushes and trees. The more I did it, the more effortless it became. I was having fun and getting in great shape, becoming trimmer and more muscular.

All walks of people from my life lined the mountains as I went about my business, including sisters, wife, and friends from different life eras. I stopped to chat with some on some runs. Many commented on my improved physical form, which, yes, made me happy.

A break was taken for a meal. My mother- and father-in-law, both deceased, were present, along with my wife, cousins, and others. Overall, it was a small gathering. My father-in-law and I were preparing the meal, with him more or less guiding me as I worked out what needed to be done. People were seated, waiting to be served. They were along one wall, backs to it, with a table in front of him. I noted that the table was too high and said so to my father-in-law. A cousin pointed out that folded tables along the wall would probably work. I unfolded one and confirmed its height was the ideal height for an eating surface.

I drifted off to another location. We discovered time was going backward. Was it time going backward or our perception that was askew? Perhaps reality was twisted, or was it just our perception of reality. Or was it just the clocks going backwards? Tests were made and the conclusion was reached, yes, time seemed to be going in reverse. Sunrises became sunsets. People, cars, and animals traveled backward. What was causing this and what did it mean?

I discovered that I could drink water and return the clocks to their normal running. Something would happen to cause the reverse order. We learned what but I can’t recall it now. Whenever that happened, though, I drank water and all returned to normal. After testing this for myself and verifying it, I started showing it to the others and explaining it. I discovered that I lost my running shorts, so I was naked from the waist down. That didn’t bother me, or anyone else. I demonstrated again and again that my drinking water restored proper reality. As I showed it to the collective, each required personal observation that it worked. The question became, would drinking water restore reality for others?

That’s when the dream ended.

Saturday’s Theme Music

Today’s magic numbers in Ashland are… (Drumroll please.) 5:46 AM and 8:43 PM. These are the times when the Earth’s natural movement brings that sun into our area and takes it back away.

Cool air dominates today. We did hit 90 degrees F yesterday. Today it looks like high seventies/low eighties for us today.

The music comes from exchanges on someone else’s blog site. Medication was the topic, and the warning, “Don’t take whatever drug if you’re allergic to it.” Nice disclaimer, trying to shift blame from the medical profession over to the patient. “We told him not to take it if he’s allergic to it.” Meanwhile, most meds come with disclaimers about all the stuff they might do to you while they’re fixing you. You’ve probably heard/seen them, so I won’t repeat them. Naturally, they have drugs to deal with the side effects of your drugs. Then the drugs you take to fix those side effects have their own side effects, for which more drugs are prescribed. Like a pyramid scheme, isn’t it?

That took me to thinking about drug and pills and a song about the same from 2005, “Save Me” by Shinedown.

Someone save me if you will
And take away all these pills
And please just save me if you can
From my blasphemy in my wasteland

How did I get here
And what went wrong
Couldn’t handle forgiveness
Now I’m far beyond gone

h/t AZLyrics.com

We often ask ourselves, “How did I get here? What went wrong?” Sometimes you didn’t do anything wrong. You just lived and shit happened. Genetics asserted themselves. You got trapped in another’s mess. A bullet goes astray, a car misses a turn, a good intention goes awry, a politician lies. Hell, the way messes are built and multiplied, it’s easy enough in this modern existence, innit?

Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask when needed, and get the vax. Cheers

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