Dreams October 8

So even though everyone dreams, just not everyone remembers their dreams, I think the fact that I watch T.V. to go to sleep helps me have vivid dreams. I'm going to tell you my dreams from last night. But first... 10 interesting facts about dreaming! (from http://listverse.com/)

1. Blind people dream.
 Although they don't have images in their dreams, they do use senses such as sound, smell, touch, and     emotion.
2. You forget 90% of your dream
Within five minutes, half of your dream is forgotten. Within 10 minutes, 90% is gone. Robert Louis Stevenson came up with the story of Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde while he was dreaming. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein was also the brainchild of a dream.

3. Everyone dreams (except extreme cases of psychological disorders)
Men tend to dream about other men while women dream equally about men and women.
4. Dreams prevent psychosis.
In a recent sleep study, students were wakened at the beginning of each dream but still allowed 8 hours of sleep. All experienced difficulty in concentration, irritability, hallucinations, and signs of psychosis after only 3 days.When finally allowed their REM sleep the student’s brains made up for lost time by greatly increasing the percentage of sleep spent in the REM stage.
5. We only dream of what we know.
Our dreams are full of strangers that play out certain parts. Our brain never makes them up! We have seen hundreds of thousands of faces in our lives so the evil killer in your dream could easily have been the janitor at the gas station you stopped at in Reno that one time.
6. Not everyone dreams in color.
12% dream exclusively in black and white. People also tend to have common themes in dreams, which are situations relating to school, being chased, running slowly/in place, sexual experiences, falling, arriving too late, a person now alive being dead, teeth falling out, flying, failing an examination, or a car accident. It is unknown whether the impact of a dream relating to violence or death is more emotionally charged for a person who dreams in color than one who dreams in black and white.
7. Dreams are not about what they are about.
It is deeply symbolic.Your unconscious mind tries to compare your dream to something else.
8. Quitters have more vivid dreams.
Those who have quite smoking reported to have more vivid dreams than before they quit. 33% of those who quit have reported dreaming of smoking at least once.
9. External stimuli invade our dreams.
This is called dream incorporation and most have experienced this. We take a sound that is happening in real life and make it a different sound that applies to our dreams.
10. We are paralyzed while we sleep
This is to prevent us from acting out the dream. Glands send out a hormone that induces sleep while neurons send signals to the spinal cord which cause the body to relax and later become essentially paralyzed.
Dream 1
Okay in the first dream I was in this auditorium. Everyone was in chairs facing forward but no one was on stage talking. Eventually I turn to someone on my right and say I need to go to the bathroom. When I come back, I realize it is a dream. So I start running to boys and start kissing them. * One boy turned me down. The audience was going crazy. They were wondering why I was running around and kissing everyone. I exclaimed "It is a dream! It doesn't matter! You can do what you want!!" Just then, people were running around taking their clothes off and lighting my hair on fire. While I was smooching with this one boy, he kept kissing me in three. (Muah Muah Muah).

In my dream I was being waken up by my mother and a little girl that  looks just like me.** The little girl was saying, "Chelsea! up! Chelsea up! Chelsea up!" Both the little girl and my mother were ridiculously cheerful and were telling me that I was late for school. When I asked them what time it was, they replied 8:32. I panicked and told them that school starts at 8!

Well when I get to school, I'm in high school again, all of the teachers are like the characters in Coraline. If you haven't seen Coraline it is directed by Tim Burton. That should tell you enough about how weird it is. Basically all of the teachers are very sweet. But sweet in the way of they are offering candy to children on the side of the road to entice them to come into their car. Nothing else happened at school except that my classroom looked like my room back home.

* I constantly have dreams where I am cheating on my boyfriend. One time it was with a guy who looks like a combination between Ricky Martin and Enrique Iglesias. I'm still trying to figure that one out.

**I guess this counts as a second dream but it transitioned into this one so I'm just going to keep it with the first one.

Dream 2
In my Child Development class, in real life, we are doing a group presentation over different subjects (obviously on child development). My partner and I are doing one over Preschool Development.

In my dream, instead of giving our presentation in front of the class, my professor decides it would be a good idea to present it to Mike Leech*. The room we were staying in was like a big version of my grandma's living room. Our groups are split up-- one girl goes to Group A and another goes to Group B. Each girl in the group presents her topic while Mike Leech asks questions. The group that gives the best presentation wins. Mike Leech is on this big screen. My group goes first. Naturally, I go first in my group because it is my dream. So I bring up my first topic, he asks me questions and I answers. We were about to go on but the screen went blank and so he wanted me to repeat my first topic, I guess this is being timed. I threw my first topic notes away and for some reason couldn't remember what I was talking about. My group tried to help me remember but I guess they couldn't because they brought up the topic of Christmas lights. They gave us sometime to get our thoughts together. The room we were in had bookcases of books that were half the size of me. My group kept making me go back and forth, grabbing those giant books for them. One book was about Michael Jordan. I woke up before we could get back to presenting.

*Why am I dreaming about Mike Leech? In my dream he sounded like Cotton Hill.

It's not right for women to read. Soon she gets ideas and starts thinking.

I am not good at being lazy all day. Being sick has done that for me. (It's not the flu). I hate being home alone because it forces me to think/ reflect pn my life. Which I hate because it makes me have to be honest about how I'm doing.

In high school I really wanted to come to a Christian uuniversity. I was scared to death that I would go to college and turn into this party girl. So I was really shooting for a university that would most likely have people that would keep me accountable. Well I chose a school that has a fantastic education department and a town that has a billion churches on every street. So I am covered. I have gone to a Christian school my whole life. I considered going to public school when I got to high school but I really felt that God wanted me to stay at RRCA because there were people there that needed to be reached. Well at Hardin-Simmons there are people that need to be reached here. To be honest, I don't feel like I have really put forth the effort to reach them. I have been so focused on my walk with God and coming up with my life plan for the next five years. I enjoy hanging out with my cChristian friends, going to my bible studies, helping out at church and eating my christian mints (just kidding, I don't have those things).

When I was a senior in high school, ready to embark on my new adventure as a college freshman, I was so sure I would change the world, or at least Abilene. Two and a half years later I realized that I haven't even tried. I can't honestly say I have made the effort to get to know non-christian people. I realize that I have not made a difference here. That to me is tragic. I do have a couple of years to make up for it. It's terrifying putting this into words because now it means people need to keep me accountable. Words seem pointless unless you put them into action.

P.S. The title for this blog come from Beauty and the Beast. It doesn't have a whole lot to do with this blog but I just really like that movie.

My Rebuttal

In my last blog post, I titled it "The Beatles Control My Life." Or something like that. Actually I am too lazy to look it up but I am sure it was something along those lines. In short, I take it back. I was watching the History Channel and one show was focusing on Jonestown. You know, the one where a cult committed a mass suicide by drinking cyanide Kool aid. The other show focused on Charles Manson. (Yes the one Marilyn Manson got the Manson part of his stage name from. He got Marilyn from Marylin Monroe. His real name is Bryan Hugh Warner.) That was also really interesting but I fell asleep towards the end so I am not really sure what happened to him. I could look it up but laziness has won the battle yet again. The point to this whole blog, yes there is one, is that Charles Manson was obsessed with the Beatles. He felt that their songs encouraged his belief that there would be a battle between the black and white people, Karma would set it and the black people would take over and then Charles Manson would rule over them. So although I do think the songs of The Beatles were beyond amazing and they changed music, they do not control my beliefs.

The Beatles Control my Life

Oscar Wilde says "Nothing is so aggravating than calmness."
Well, no offense to Oscar Wilde but I must disagree. I enjoy my quiet lifestyle. Perhaps I am like a child where I need a routine to function.
I like my routines. I like waking up at 8-8:30am for my 9 o'clock on Mondays Wednesdays and Fridays. I like on Tuesdays and Thursdays that I have breaks between my classes. After my 2:30pm class I have time to go home and watch my Gilmore Girls at 4:00. Friday Night Lights comes on after that and that's when I usually start cleaning the house while it is playing in the background. After church on Sundays, we go to Pizza Hut where they have a buffet. They are starting to know our drink orders. I'm going to be impressed once they memorize our names.

Music is, and always has been, a big part of my life. Somehow I have even made the music I listen to a routine. When I go to school or church, I usually like to have it on my "grown-up" station (see blog above). When I get off work, I usually like to leave any stress work may have caused by blaring a Glee CD and pretending I am halfway decent enough for Broadway. If nothing is on the radio I put one of my CDs in. If I am feeling nostalgic, Nat King Cole... which is funny because I wasn't alive during his time. When I am feeling artsy- Norah Jones. When I am feeling cynical- KT Tunstall. Of course when I am just regular Chelsea- The Beatles.

I don't understand why people don't like organization in their life. If they don't like the routine they are in, simply change it! I guess I just like the simple things in life. I think I feel more content when I am in my daily routine.

It also scares me that I have a routine. Is the way I live my life keeping me from being a willing servant of Christ? I don't want to be so caught up in my routine that I miss out on opportunities to serve. I guess we are constantly needing to evaluate our lives and make sure our "routines" worthy sacrifices to God.

Luke 9:23 Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

Lamentation of the 'Grown up'

I find myself listening to "grown-up" radio stations. Okay, let me clear this up before you assume I'm going to become Hugh Hefner's next girlfriend. The "grown up" station I am referring to is KACU which plays music made from real instruments and they discuss real topics rather than who Paris was wearing while she went to buy a turquoise poncho for her rat-sized dog.

It's the kind of station my mother would play despite the protests of me and my brother. I actually was driving home from class yesterday and I was listening to them talk about quantum physics. I already heard them talk about this Sunday and yet I was still interested.

This makes me sad. It means that I am actually developing taste and I have a brain. It means that I am that much farther from my childhood. Goodbye childhood. I shall miss my trend-following, Backstreet Boy listening, boy obsessed life.

Prince Charming Captures the Heart of Another Woman

So if you don't know, I work at a day care. Actually I have officially worked there for about a year now. I guess that's a good sign if I haven't quit yet. My kids seemed to have been extra funny today.  For example:

Sarah and Camilla were looking at books. They both started Pre-K so I wouldn't say they have mastered the art of reading yet. Just when I walk over to them, Sarah picks up Cinderella and flips to a page that has Prince Charming's face on it and she says "Oh! What a handsome man!"

There is also a child who has a small case of Autism. Normally, Autistic children focus on one particular interest such as trains or ducks. My child focuses on vacuum cleaners. He loves them and will talk about them for hours if you let him. Well today, he kept talking about a factory. I went and sat next to him, asking what he was building with our Tinker Toys and he said he was building a factory. When I asked him what the factory made he said Easter Eggs. I, for one thing, was blown away by his creativity. Ten minutes later he comes to me and says that the factory is broken because someone stuck a screw driver into it. I wasn't entirely sure what he meant so I just smiled and nodded like I do with most four-year-olds. I wish I still had the imagination of when I was younger.

I remember when I was that age I could look at an object and that object would send me into this vivid daydream. I also remember being able to feel things when I dreamt, and they also used to be a lot more adventurous. Now my dreams are everyday things. Actually they are usually in black and white. My psychology major friend tells me that that means I associate black and white with classic movies, which I love, and I like making things simple. Yep, sounds about right to me.

Tearing Paper to Keep my Sanity

Here is the deal: I try not to write things about my boyfriend because I am a private person. Let's be honest. The people that only write about their boyfriends and how much they love them and how wonderful they are...well they make me vomit in my mouth repeatedly. (To put it delicately).  That being said, let me tell the third story I have done that involves the boy.

I have decided to switch churches in order to support him in his leading worship. It is such a cute church. The average size of the congregation is 25 (not a typo) and the average age is above the age of 55. I have visited once before but today was my first official day of the switch. I was a little nervous because I will be known as "Aaron's girlfriend" until they get to know be better. I can tell I will like the church though because one of the first things someone said to me when I was being introduced was, "Hey! It's Aaron's boss!"

On the weekends I work in the Arcade at Prime Time to make more money. To be honest, it is not that challenging of a job which in turn makes it one of my least favorite jobs. Saturday was okay because we were busy (150 or so members of Big Brother Big Sister). I was exhausted at the end of the day (eight hours of non stop running around) but I loved it because it kept me busy.

Today, however, I was stuck doing Lazer Tag and XD Theatre, which is a 4D theatre we have. I had four groups total in lazer tag and three groups total in XD. Fortunately I thought to bring my Soduko book. I also cleaned the arcade. Twice. That room is spotless. I ended up being so incredibly bored the sound of tearing  paper intrigued me. Have you ever payed attention to the sound? It echos! The last hour and a half I counted down the minutes, literally and converted the minutes into seconds.

Doing nothing in the Arcade helps me appreciates my job in Day Care. If you are bored, you aren't doing your job.