LATE ENTRY FOR BEST ALBUM OF 2005

It's ILLINOISE by Sufjan Stevens! Thank you, J. Marquis of "Are We There Yet" for turning me on to this little work of art!

So far it's the best album I've heard in 2006. Even though I didn't hear it in 2005 when it was released, I will still call it my "Best Album of 2005". I think it's one of the best albums I've heard in the last five, maybe ten years!

This music doesn't really rock in the usual sense of the word, but it may rock your world and rock your soul. Stevens uses a string quartet, piano, acoustic guitar, bass, drums, trumpets, oboes, accordions, banjos and a bucketload of other instruments in his recording. The result is a piece of modern Americana, a kind of musical folk art. Some of the songs touch on grief, and the first time I heard a couple of them I thought I might break in half ("Casimir Pulaski Day" and "John Wayne Gacy, Jr.") Some of the other tunes evoke a sense of place ("Chicago", "Decatur", "Jacksonville"). While Stevens may not paint a detailed picture of a city, he tells of feelings he had when he was in those places; through listening to the completeness of his music and lyrics, I might not be able to say "I was there", but I can say "I now have a feeling that place".

Sufjan Stevens approaches the state of Illinois with a sense of wonder and humanity. His approach yields something personal and timeless. He says he wants to do an album for each of the 50 states... The first one of these was "Michigan", and now here is "Illinoise". I can't wait for the next 48!

HEARTWARMING DOG STORY

An Indiana farm wife called the local phone company to
report her telephone failed to ring when her friends
called-and that on the few occasions when it did ring,
her pet dog always moaned right before the phone rang.

The telephone repairman proceeded to the scene,
curious to see this psychic dog or senile elderly
lady.

He climbed a nearby telephone pole, hooked in his test
set, and dialed the subscriber's house. The phone
didn't ring right away, but then the dog moaned loudly
and the telephone began to ring. Climbing down from
the pole, the telephone repairman found:

1. The dog was tied to the telephone system's ground
wire via a steel chain and collar.

2. The wire connection to the ground rod was loose.

3. The dog was receiving 90 volts of signaling voltage
when the phone number was called.

4. After a couple of such jolts, the dog would start
moaning and then urinate on himself and the ground.

5. The wet ground would complete the circuit, thus
causing the phone to ring.

Which demonstrates that some problems CAN be fixed by
pissing and moaning.

A COUPLE OF GOOD "FAMILY CIRCUS" PARODIES

(Mark Parisi - "Off The Mark")


(Dan Piraro - "Bizarro")

SEAHAWKS WIN, HEAD TO SUPER BOWL!

For the first time in franchise history, the NFL's Seattle Seahawks are champions of their conference (the NFC) and are headed to the Super Bowl, after a convincing 34-14 home win over the Carolina Panthers at Qwest Field!

One of my favorite all-time Seattle players is Jim Zorn, the original Seahawk quarterback when the team entered the NFL in 1976. He is now the Seattle quaterbacks' coach. Zorn (on the right) is pictured here with Seattle's starting QB, Matt Hasselbeck, prior to the 'Hawks' playoff win over Washington.

Pittsburgh also had a very convincing win today over a good Denver Broncos team, 34-17, in Denver no less, and the Steelers will represent the AFC in Super Bowl 40. Like Seattle, Pittsburgh has an excellent offense that is never predictable. Both teams have pretty tight defenses too. Both teams have excellent coaches, and although I can't stand to look at Pittsburgh's coach Bill Cowher, he is one of the National Football League's very best, along with Seattle's coach Mike Holmgren.

I believe these two teams will make for an excellent matchup! And this year, with the Pacific Northwest's (our) own Seattle Seahawks participating, I won't be getting very far from the boob tube on Super Bowl Sunday!

MY FANTASTIC SNORKELING ADVENTURE

Inspired by the current post at Matt's blog Cerulean Blue at http://ceruleanblue.blogspot.com/, I resubmit this brief story from my first week of blogging, dated 7/18/04, with a few slight changes in the writing. This story is not nearly as funny as Matt's wonderful piece, but this describes a disgusting moment I will never forget:

During our recent Florida trip I found myself snorkeling in beautiful, clear 4-5-foot-deep water alongside Fort Jefferson at Dry Tortugas National Park. I knew our family would end up with a collective case of severe sunburn, but this was a fantastic adventure. I won't easily forget the colorful fish I saw along the base of the old fort's moat wall, nor will my kids forget the small barracuda that swam near them. Our family made up only four people out of a hundred or so that had taken the two-hour boat trip from Key West to this paradise, but it seemed as if everybody there experienced a sense of magic surrounding this place: a stunning mixture of beauty, history and wildlife.

Snorkeling was new to me, and I had not yet figured out how to keep my mask from filling with saltwater. As I stood in chest-high water to empty my mask, I noticed something floating nearby. It was roughly the size of a 2-inch cube, and it looked like a piece of dark brown wood bark. Maybe a bark chip? Being from the Pacific Northwest, I have seen millions of bark chips during my lifetime.

I lifted the object from the water, between the thumb and first two fingers of my right hand, and realized the surface was smooth; the object had some weight to it, and almost seemed claylike. At that point, the theme from "Caddyshack" began blaring in my head. I let the foul, waterlogged object go, and watched it float slowly away as I sniffed my hand just to make sure. The "Caddyshack" theme increased in volume. I wanted to shout "Everyone out of the pool!" but I refrained, knowing that in such places as the Gulf of Mexico, that kind of warning would be reserved for something more serious, like the presence of sharks.

My battles were twofold: controlling my laughter, and keeping the vomit down. One of my daughters was nearby, and she had been watching.

"Daddy, was that a... eeeeeeeew!!!"

This was a watershed moment in my scatological life. I did not have to tell you this story, but as my close friends can attest, I am one to forever provide "too much information". Thus, I will never live down my adventure of that day: Turd Snorkeling in the Dry Tortugas.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DR. KING

From "Pride" by U2

Early morning, April 4
Shot rings out in the Memphis sky
Free at last, they took your life
They could not take your pride


from "Happy Birthday" by Stevie Wonder

We know the key to unify all people
Is in the dream that you had so long ago
That lives in all of the hearts of people
That believe in unity
We’ll make the dream become a reality
I know we will
Because our hearts tell us so

ANOTHER GREAT WIN FOR SEATTLE

The Seattle Seahawks just keep rollin'! Their 20-10 win over Washington yesterday puts them in the NFC championshaip game next weekend, when they get to host the winner of today's Chicago-Carolina game!

I think the best Super Bowl would be Seattle against Indianapolis, but the Colts would have to get past one of my least favorite teams, Pittsburgh, today... and then get past the Denver Broncos next weekend.

DO THE LIMBAUGH ROCK

With apologies to Chubby Checker, and to you, dear readers. I saw the above picture at www.truth-serum.blogspot.com , and I couldn't help myself:

DO THE LIMBAUGH ROCK

Every Limbaugh boy and girl
All around the Limbaugh world
Gonna do the Limbaugh rock
All around the Limbaugh clock
Jack be Limbaugh, Jack be quick
Jack go unda Limbaugh's stick
All around the Limbaugh clock
Hey, let's do the Limbaugh rock

Limbaugh lower now
Limbaugh lower now
HOW LOW CAN YOU GO?

First you spread your Limbaugh feet
Then you move to Limbaugh beat
Limbaugh ankolimboneee,
Bend back like a Limbaugh tree
Jack be Limbaugh, Jack be quick
Jack go unda Limbaugh's stick
All around the Limbaugh clock
Hey, let's do the Limbaugh rock

Get yourself a Limbaugh girl
Give that chic a Limbaugh whirl
There's a Limbaugh moon above
You will fall in Limbaugh love
Jack be Limbaugh, Jack be quick
Jack go unda Limbaugh's stick

All around the Limbaugh clock
Hey, let's do the Limbaugh rock
Don't move that Limbaugh bar
You'll be a Limbaugh star

HOW LOW CAN YOU GO?

IN MY MAILBOX YESTERDAY

I have basically stopped purchasing DVDs as our family is now signed up for Netflix, through which we can view most any movie we want to see. I will probably go through our vast collection of DVDs and trade a number of them at websites like Spun.Com for CDs. I already have copies of just about all my other favorite movies, which include the "Lord of the Rings" set, the "Star Wars" and "Indiana Jones" films, the New Zealand film "The Navigator", the "Qatsi" films, "Memento", some Mel Brooks and Coen Brothers titles, "The Usual Suspects" and a number of comedies such as Charlie Chaplin's "Modern Times" and the Marx Brothers movies... but there are still a few I'd like to have for my very own.

Two of those personal favorites arrived in my mailbox yesterday.

The first of these is"Eraserhead".

At long last, this one has been released on DVD. It is present in all its demented black and white Lynchian glory. Poor, poor Henry. Who can forget the squirmy dinner with Mary and her parents, complete with the writhing chicken, which Henry is asked to carve? Or the "baby" and its incessant "crying"? Or the Lady In The Radiator? Remember, "In heaven, everything is fine!" This DVD includes a feature-length interview with David Lynch, in which he talks about some of his philosophies of filmmaking and about the making of "Eraserhead". If you're a Lynch fan, as I am, it's a nice package.

Also, for good measure, I had to have "Un Chien Andalou", made in 1929 by Luis Bunuel and Salvador Dali, is only 17 minutes long, but they are 17 wonderful minutes. I would defy anyone to make sense of this film... it is here in all its glory, including the infamous eyeball scene, the severed hand being poked with a stick, the man dragging the piano, and the people buried chest-high in sand at the beach.

As Black Francis of the Pixies so finely sang in my favorite Pixies tune "Debaser":

Got me a movie, I want you to know

Slicing up eyeballs, I want you to know

Girlie so groovy, I want you to know

Don't know about you but I AM UN CHIEN ANDALUSIA

Wanna grow up to be, be a debaser, debaser

Got me a movie, ha ha ha ho

Slicing up eyeballs, ha ha ha ho

Girlie so groovy, ha ha ha ho

Don't know about you but I AM UN CHIEN ANDALUSIA

Debaser...

Anyway, I think the interviews with Bunuel's son are just as good as the film itself, as they contain all kinds of information about Bunuel's filmmaking and about Dali and his eccentricities. For those who love surrealism and absurdism, this little film is a must!

VALUABLE INFORMATION! PLEASE READ!

A message from Snave, aka Uncle Todd, the Out Of The Closet Pooper and creator of Havana Omelets: I refuse to apologize for the following hilarious piece, author unknown, forwarded to me by a friend via e-mail... because it is valuable information you should all know!

HOW TO POOP AT WORK

We've all been there but don't like to admit it. As much as we try to convince ourselves otherwise, the WORKPOOP is inevitable. For those who hate pooping at work, the following is the Survival Guide for taking a dump at work.

CROP DUSTING:
When farting, you walk briskly around the office so the smell is not in your area and everyone else gets a whiff but doesn't know where it came from. Be careful when you do this. Do not stop until the full fart has been expelled. Walk an extra 30 feet to make sure the smell has left your pants.

FLY BY:
This is the act of scouting out a bathroom before pooping. Walk in and check for other poopers. If there are others in the bathroom, leave and come back again. Be careful not to become a FREQUENT FLYER. People may become suspicious if they catch you constantly going into the bathroom.

ESCAPEE:
This is a fart that slips out while taking a leak at the urinal or forcing a poop in a stall. This is usually accompanied by a sudden wave of embarrassment. If you release an escapee, do not acknowledge it. Pretend it did not happen. If you are standing next to the farter in the urinal, pretend you did not hear it. No one likes an escapee. It is uncomfortable for all involved. Making a joke or laughing makes both parties feel uneasy.

JAILBREAK:
When forcing a poop, several farts slip out at a machine gun pace. This is usually a side effect of diarrhea or a hangover. If this should happen, do not panic. Remain in the stall until everyone has left the bathroom to spare everyone the awkwardness of what just occurred.

COURTESY FLUSH:
The act of flushing the toilet the instant the poop hits the water. This reduces the amount of airtime the poop has to stink up the bathroom. This can help you avoid being caught doing the WALK OF SHAME.

WALK OF SHAME:
Walking from the stall, to the sink, to the door after you have just stunk up the bathroom. This can be a very uncomfortable moment if someone walks in and busts you. As with farts, it is best to pretend that the smell does not exist. This very uncomfortable walk can be avoided with the use of the COURTESY FLUSH.

OUT OF THE CLOSET POOPER:
This is a colleague who poops at work and is damn proud of it. You will often see an Out Of The Closet Pooper enter the bathroom with a newspaper or magazine under his or her arm. Always look around the office for the Out Of The Closet Pooper before entering the bathroom.

THE POOPING FRIENDS NETWORK (P.F.N):
A group of co-workers who band together to ensure emergency pooping goes off without incident. This group can help you to monitor the whereabouts of Out Of The Closet Poopers, and identify SAFE HAVENS.

SAFE HAVENS:
A Safe Haven is a seldom-used bathroom somewhere in the building where you can least expect visitors. Try floors that are predominantly of the opposite sex. This will reduce the odds of a pooper of your sex entering the bathroom.

TURD BURGLAR:
This is someone who does not realize that you are in the stall and tries to force the door open. This is one of the most shocking and vulnerable moments that can occur when taking a poop at work. If this occurs, remain in the stall until the Turd Burglar leaves. This way you will avoid all uncomfortable eye contact.

CAMO-COUGH:
A phony cough that alerts all new entrants into the bathroom that you are in a stall is called a Camo-Cough. This can be used to cover-up a WATERMELON, or to alert potential Turd Burglars. The Camo-Cough is very effective when used in conjunction with an ASTAIRE.

ASTAIRE:
An Astaire is a subtle toe-tap that is used to alert potential Turd Burglars that you are occupying a stall. This will all doubt that the stall is occupied. If you hear an Astaire, leave the bathroom immediately so the pooper can poop in peace.

WATERMELON:
A watermelon is a big poop that creates a loud splash when hitting the toilet water. This is also an embarrassing incident. If you feel a Watermelon coming on, create a diversion. See CAMO-COUGH.

HAVANA OMELET:
A case of diarrhea that creates a series of loud splashes in the toilet water. Often accompanied by an Escapee. Try using a Camo-Cough with an Astaire.

UNCLE TODD:
An Uncle Todd is a bathroom user who seems to linger around forever. This person could spend extended lengths of time in front of the mirror or sitting on the pot. An Uncle Todd makes it difficult to relax while on the crapper, as you should always wait to poop when the bathroom is empty. This benefits you as well as other bathroom attendees.

Hope the Survival Guide helps, as the WORKPOOP is an inevitable part of life.

I'VE BEEN TAGGED, AND I AM WEIRD!

I've been meme-tagged or whatever it's called, by Matt of Cerulean Blue! I am supposed to list five weird things about myself... there are plenty... so here goes.

1. I ONCE PLAYED ON THE DEFENDING NATIONAL CHAMPION KORFBALL TEAM. While I was at the University of Oregon, I played this wonderful game for a season. We didn't win the national title the year I played, but we had a blast. This IS a real sport, and you can check it out at http://www.korfball.com/ .

2. I MAILED GROSS STUFF TO A FRIEND. A friend and I once had a "gross-out by mail" contest, in which we tried to outdo each other by mailing things like a flattened road-killed golden mantled ground squirrel, a used catheter, rotting items from each of the five food groups, etc. My friend even dressed the ground squirrel as Santa... I dressed it as a Halloween witch on a broom.

3. MY WIFE AND I PLAY A RIDICULOUSLY SILLY GAME. When we first bought a car seat for Kelly about 19 years ago, there was a life-sized picture of a baby in the carseat. We have kept this "baby" ever since, and 5-10 times a year we hide it in places we know the other will find it.

4. I ONCE THREW UP ON ABOUT 30 PEOPLE AT ONCE. I was in 9th grade, coming back home to La Grande with the school baseball team. I was in one of the very front seats. All the windows behind me were open! Har har! Those poor folks behind me bore the brunt of my sick stomach. Anyway, I used to have a problem with carsickness when I was a teenager.

5. I HAVE HAD A STRANGE DISEASE THAT IS RARE FOR ADULTS TO GET. When I was in grad school I very nearly died from a condition usually contracted only by people under the age of 10. It's called Henoch Schonlein Purpura, and it tends to follow a strep infection, which was what happened in my case. It causes small blood vessels to become inflamed and capillaries to rupture in the skin, bowels and kidneys, which in turn causes internal bleeding. My kidneys were affected. As a result of having the disease, my blood pressure has been borderline high ever since, causing me to have to take medication. Here are the symptoms and physical characteristics, of which I had ALL: rash, especially involving the legs; subcutaneous edema, abdominal pain and vomiting; joint pain especially involving knees and ankles; scrotal edema, bloody stools; edema of the hands, feet, scalp, and ears; arthritis, most commonly involving the knees and ankles; abdominal tenderness, gastrointestinal bleeding and acute scrotal edema that may mimic testicular torsion. I got this in 1982 when AIDS was starting up, and the docs couldn't figure out what I had. After three days of hospitalization that included having to continually deny having been involved in gay sex and having myself stuck with needles about a hundred times, they figured out what I had, and that it would eventually go away... but I lost about 30 pounds in 3 weeks, lost a fair amount of blood, lost a term of college, and was hospitalized twice for a total of 12 days. And to top it off, when I was in the hospital the escond time they put me in an isolation ward, where I contracted chicken pox... talk about insult to injury!

OTHER ODD OR VAGUELY INTERESTING THINGS:

- I ONCE SAT NEXT TO KEN KESEY FOR A COUPLE OF HOURS at a Grateful Dead show, and NEVER KNEW IT WAS HIM until later. He was a fun guy to b.s. with!

- I am not a drummer, but once played publicly for a couple of hours because a band's drummer didn't show. I was terrible and I was drunk, but the bar patrons were too drunk to notice or care.

- Agnostic-approaching-atheist Snave was a church youth-group leader when he was 19, and was seriously wanting to become a minister at that time.

- And, as you probably already know, I am a liberal Democrat living in an area rife with C.C.C. (Cowboy Christian Culture). Talk about weird... !

I now have to "tag" a few people, so I will tag these five:

J.Marquis of Are We There Yet?

Lizzy the OCD Gen-X Liberal

Damein of Couch Warfare

MC of Mandelbrot's Order From Chaos

Donald McFarlane of Cancer of the Third Eye

SLIGHTLY UNDER CONSTRUCTION

I decided to try a different look for the blog, and ended up losing all my links, my counter, etc. After much gnashing of teeth and pulling of hair, including having to start all over a couple of times when Blogger seemed to eat the bottom third of my template, I'm getting closer to being done with the mild revamp.

If anyone can tell me what to do on my template to get my category headings in my "Links" over to the left margin and not willy-nilly all over the place, please give me advice! Thanks!

ASSORTMENT OF QUOTES

“The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, but he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them.”

-George Orwell


“When a whole nation is roaring Patriotism at the top of its voice, I am fain to explore the cleanness of it hands and the purity of its heart.”

-Ralph Waldo Emerson


“We have every kind of mix you can have. I have a black, I have a woman, two Jews and a cripple. And we have talent.”

-James G. Watt, Reagan’s Secretary of the Interior (and Gale Norton’s mentor) describing an advisory panel in 1983.


“This country has come to feel the same when Congress is in session as when the baby gets hold of a hammer.”

-Will Rogers

Billy Graham, speaking about Jews in America: “This stranglehold has got to be broken or the country’s going down the drain.”
Richard Nixon: “You believe that?”
Billy Graham: “Yes, sir.”
Richard Nixon: “Oh boy, so do I. I can’t ever say that but I believe it.”

-from Nixon’s secret White House tapes


“There are more American Indians alive today than there were when Columbus arrived or at any other time in history. Does this sound like a record of genocide?”

-Rush Limbaugh from his book “See, I Told You So”

“Talking of patriotism, what humbug it is; it is a word which always commemorates a robbery. There isn’t a foot of land in the world which doesn’t represent the ousting and re-ousting of a long line of successive owners.”

-Mark Twain


And some fun ones from George W. Bush:

“I thought we ought to raise the age at which juveniles can have a gun.”

“My education message will resignate amongst all parents.”

“I’m trying to protect my invest— my contributors from unscrupulous practices.”

“It’s your money. You paid for it.”

“Mr. Vice President, in all due respect, it is – I’m not sure 80% of the people get the death tax. I know this: 100% will get it if I’m the president.”

“It’s important for us to explain to our nation that life is important. It’s not only life of babies, but it’s life of children living in, you know, the dark dungeons of the Internet.”


I say yes, these are dark dungeons indeed!

MILITANT AGNOSTICS UNITE: I DON'T KNOW AND YOU DON'T KNOW EITHER

I tend to be an agnostic for the most part, and I enjoy lurking and reading at a site called "God is For Suckers" at http://gods4suckers.net/ . None of the theists who post there have done anything to convince me that God exists, and the athiests haven’t done a great job in proving to me that God doesn’t exist, although I do tend to lean in that direction.

I was a regular churchgoer until about seven years ago. My family and I attended a liberal Methodist church, the people there were friendly, and there was a genreral atmosphere of tolerance for people regardless of belief, race, gender or sexual preference. I was actually rather comfortable there. So what caused me to leave?

Part of it was my conflict with some of the basic tenets of the faith, including the virgin birth, the resurrection and the concept of salvation. I’ve always been a “show me” guy, and I guess I don’t really believe in miracles… I tend to believe what can be proven to me. My feeling was that if I couldn’t believe Jesus was a supernatural being of sorts who was sent by an omniscient being to save the world, that Jesus died to save the world but rose from the dead, and that if someone believes in Jesus they can live forever… these things stretch the boundaries of science too much for me.

Another major factor was that I had been depressed for years, and I realized some of this was coming from my relgious conflicts. I had always been a chronic worrier, and I was developing some strange behaviors that turned out to be manifestations of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). I am OCD to a moderate degree, enough that it was interfering with my quality of life… so I got some counseling and got some medication. I think the old saying “Better living through chemistry” came from the Eisenhower era, didn’t it? At any rate, I think it still applies today. Part of my OCD involved superstitious behaviors, and I realized that, to me, the rituals performed at the weekly church service were very superstitious in nature. Needing to avoid superstitious behavior at all costs, I stopped attending church. I haven’t gone back in nearly seven years, I have come to grips with the fact that I have never really had a “personal relationship” with “God”, and I have stopped worrying about it… and I have never felt better about myself and about my life.

It’s almost like I got off of some bad, mind-bending drugs. I feel like my mind has cleared enough now to see how the GOP has co-opted fundamentalist Christianity in the U.S. for its own nefarious agenda, and it breaks my heart. People who prey on the fears of others? I think it’s reprehensible. I was a moderate Democrat until Bush assumed power. His bull-headed stupidity and stubbornness, combined with his fundamentalist religious beliefs and too much testosterone, has caused me to become a rabid leftist. So, the final straw for me during the past decade has been the way in which people like Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, Ralph Reed, Dubya, et al have used people’s fundamentalism-generated fears to control vast numbers of voters.

I know a lot of people find comfort in their beliefs, in believing they will never die, that they don’t have to think a whole lot about why things are the way they are in the world… they are the way they are, simply because of God? If that floats a person’s boat and they aren’t pushing me to believe the same thing, and if they aren’t going to talk down to me or pity me because I don’t share their beliefs… I can be as tolerant as anyone. And I do know quite a few believers who fit that description. I even believe most believers in America fit that mold. So why don’t those believers stand up and put some pressure on the fundamentalist control freaks who seem to be always squeaking and who therefore always seem to get the grease? I think Christianity in America is getting taken over by lunatics. And that the ultimate goals of those lunatics are political in nature and have nothing to do with salvation.

I am not a gambler by nature. I cherish life, and the simple fact that I am alive in such a wondrous place as the Earth brings me great joy. Sometimes I find myself feeling like I am part of something much greater but which I could not begin to describe or theorize about. Could this be God? I don't know. I find great joy in the company of other people too. I don’t want to stake my life on something, a belief system, that I find preposterous in many ways. I can’t say for sure that it isn’t all true, because it might be. But if I have a choice, which I do, I’m going to live in what I see and know, which is the here and now, and take things as they come. As I see life, a cookie-cutter approach would only create a tendency for me to use less critical thinking and to be less inclined to see past myself and try to help better the world.

From Ambrose Bierce's "The Devil's Dictionary:

FAITH, n.
Belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks without knowledge, of things without parallel.

That’s just my .02 worth.

HYDROGEN CARS: IF NOT NOW, WHEN?

To find out where some of the major automakers are with their development of hydrogen-powered cars, go to www.fuelcellstocks.com/. ../hydrogencars.htm ! There is some interesting stuff there.

MY DREAM TENDENCIES

I have always been fascinated by dreams. I don't believe my dreams during adulthood have been particularly outstanding in any way. My dreams are usually enjoyable, and I find I can recall quite a bit about them. The unpleasant ones tend to include what I would imagine are some fairly common themes for many adults...

In one category of my unpleasant dreams I am still in college and I realize I am taking a class I have completely forgotten about and have not been to since the first week of the term, and now there are only a few weeks left in the term and of course I'm getting an F that is probably by now irreperable, and it's too late in the term to drop the class, so I'll end up with the F on my transcript. I will agonize about it for a while, but usually not too long before I find myself wandering around campus and visiting with people.

Another category into which I can lump my not-as-enjoyable dreams include the occasional ones in which I suddenly realize I'm nude in public. With those, I have gotten to where in my dreams I don't find that so alarming and to where it has become more of an irritant. It's kind of like "Aw, not this again!" and then I just slink to wherever I can find some clothes. Sometimes I'll be riding a bike through town, but at least that's a little better than having to walk through a crowd because on the bike I can get home to my clothing much more quickly.

However, I don't tend to have dreams like the aforementioned kind very often. My dreams are usually pleasant. Lately they have been about travel... strange, beautiful landscapes, and lots of images of maps in road atlases, with the maps merging with actual scenery and topography. Very weird, but enjoyable. It seems like the places to which I travel usually involve lots of mountains and river valleys, and sometimes I get the impression of being in western Montana, and particularly in the western 2/3 of Wyoming.

I also have dreams about playing basketball, often in situations where the games are played in old, small, moldy gyms that seem representative of some typical little rural school somewhere in NE Oregon. In some of those dreams I am an adult, in uniform, dominating the inside game against kids who must be 7th or 8th graders, or maybe even grade schoolers. I figure that's probably the level to which my basketball skills have deteriorated, but I don't really mind, because I dominate and have fun. In other dreams, the games are part of a tournament, they take place in larger, more modern gyms, and my teammates are all adults. In nearly all of these cases, I am not a dominant player but my knees don't hurt anymore and I can run up and down the court with ease, occasionally hitting a nice jump shot.

The best one of the basketball dreams was a recent one in which I was going to be playing in a church league, and one of my teammates was the baseball player Ken Griffey, Jr. He and I were late for the first team meeting because we had to attend some kind of small dinner with friends. At the dinner he looked great in a dark, tailored suit with white dress shirt and red tie, and I was dressed in sweats... kind of embarrassing. He and I were joking while the rest of the dinner party discussed other things. Ken kept looking at his watch, and muttering that if we didn't get to the meeting they might not let us be on the team. I don't know what happened after that, but I like to think we made the meeting, got on the team, and dominated! Heh...

Once in a while there will be a dream about performing music live, and in those dreams I am often a recording artist, usually playing "unplugged" style in a small concert hall, with a band. In those dreams I will usually be seated at a piano, but sometimes I will be playing guitars.

Anyway, I would guess the hoop dreams and travel dreams each happen about once a week, and they are always fun. Lots better than those other ones I occasionally have, which are centered around anxiety. And what might be best of all is that I can't recall having any recent dreams about politics, or religion, or about a horrifying future. And oddly, in dreams where I fall, I nearly always end up getting up after falling, and walking away like it was nothing.

You can go ahead and analyze the above if you like, or share some of yours if you'd like... I probably won't analyze yours, unless you tend to have dreams in which you are a serial killer, a bank robber, a politician, etc.