Something you don't know about me...

So here's something most people don't know about me: I love modern Kung Fu movies. Yep... give me Jackie Chan or Jet Li and I will be fixed to a screen. Entertained for a few hours+, because I can watch their movies over and over again.

I don't know what it is about Kung Fu? Maybe it's that it seems like an intricate dance or possibly it's that good always prevails in these movies (my favorite story line). Actually, it's probably more the deleted scenes at the end of the reel. I mean really who can resist such action and skill from the human body, and then bloopers to boot? :)

Anyway, I spent my night watching both Jackie Chan and Jet Li in the movie Forbidden Kingdom tonight. As I was watching, I thought to myself, "how cool would it be to really master Kung Fu?" Then I thought of all the work it would take and how my time is already consumed. So then I thought, maybe I could just become animated and be the Kung Fu Panda instead.

Wish they had blooper scenes in Kung Fu Panda...

Like I said, I love modern Kung Fu movies and most people don't know this about me.

A Slippery Slope

Oh yeah... This girl went to Raging Waters this overcast Labor Day. I spent my time with work friends, braving the rickety wooden steps, and splashing my way down plastic tubes that are colored bright orange, green, blue, and purple. (As one friend told me, go purple or go home.)

But as my body was pushed down each lively tube to a splash down of water, I began thinking: "I'm riding a slippery slope in life."

Things are going really well at the moment, don't get me wrong. But my dreams are beginning to tell me things. Most of which I don't understand. But subconsciously I am (apparently) trying to deal with a lot. And if I've learned anything in life, the one I hold to is, sometimes you need to ask for help to clarify what's going on. So here are my odd dreams, and I ask for help from you to decipher them.

1. Lady Gaga

First let me tell you, I know very little about Lady Gaga. I know she judged on So You Think You Can Dance and I've seen one of her music videos. So I find it odd, with the little I know about her, that she made it into my dream. Anyhow here I go with what happened.

I was on a hill, there were different buildings around. Lady Gaga appears and she is in a disguise, blond shoulder length wig and regular clothing--white t-shirt and jeans. She is pushing a shopping cart that contains an air-conditioning unit in it. Trying to find her a hotel where she won't be recognized we begin pushing the cart (full of AC unit) up the grassy hill. We get to the first hotel, but they recognize Lady Gaga so we retreat and find ourselves in a different hotel. Here we seek refuge. Lady Gaga installs the AC unit and all is fine until someone begins banging on the door shouting, "We know she's in there."

Then my mind jumps to the next dream.

2. Mouth

This one is short, but a bit disgusting so pass it if you'd like.

I'm sitting on my bed in my room, I begin coughing and this vile slimy substance (formed like a long rope) is coming from my mouth. I begin choking, so I grab at this slimy rope and begin pulling and I feel it moving out of my esophagus.

Which then moves to...

3. Thigh Wound

Now here's the kicker. Again, a warning this one is a bit macabre.

So I'm at a guys house that I dated for awhile. He is in his living room talking to his friends, I'm in his room laying on his bed with a sheet wrapped around me. I'm staring down at my thigh and there is a large bloody hole in its center. I keep looking down at my thigh thinking, "I should probably have this looked at," while the guy is laughing with his friends in the other room. I wait awhile before I make up my mind (I don't want to disturb the conversation with his friends). Finally, I get up and walk into the living room with the sheet wrapped around me and look at the guy and say, "Hey, I think I need to go to the hospital and have this looked at." He stops talking to his friends and looks and me frustrated and says, "Is it your thigh again." I say, "Yeah,"surprised because apparently this has happened before. He shakes his head, places his hand inside my wound and pulls out a pouch of congealed blood, and whatever else, and throws it to the side. My thigh heals, all that is left of the gaping wound is a bit of dried blood and he shakes his head and says, "You really need to stop freaking out about that." I say, "Sorry, I guess I'm just being stupid," and he begins talking to his friends while I just stand there wrapped in a bed sheet.

Then I wake up.

I have no idea what these dreams are trying to tell me. Any insights would be greatly appreciated. Hoping for better dreams tonight, and no more slippery slopes.

Transition

So July (as you know, if you've been reading my blogs), was a bit of a fog. I remember bits and pieces of it. August was my recoup time. Getting your body and mind to overcome the effects of depression (and whatever else it was in July/June/late May), is never an easy task.

But right now, September, seems to be a time for transition and reflection. I don't know why I keep having flash backs to my youth, but I do. Memories are floating into my mind. Little clips and images from a disconnected film reel that is my life.

Like a moment in Olympia were I was sitting at our table and I was watching my Mom make jam. She had dark hair then, with lots of wavy bouncy curls. Just a glimpse and the memory of thinking I was excited.

Or a time out with my Dad. We either lived in Tumwater or Olympia (and now that I'm older I realize these two places are closely connected), we were out in the forest--probably not to far from the city--and there was a tree trunk, hiding behind it was a porcupine my Dad was pointing to.

I remember the holy tree in our yard. The hollow inside that was used by my sister and her friend as a secret fort, I wasn't allowed in.

I remember playing red light green light, as my friends and I raced to get to the Red Subaru my parents had parked in the driveway (interesting note: that car took my family on over 10 years of family trips, and transported two rabbits from Logan to Vernal Utah).

I remember a trip to the Seattle Zoo with my Dad. Hanging out in a tree, brown bag lunch with the class, and falling asleep in my Dad's lap on the bus ride home.

There are more memories, all very early, all streaming back to me in vivid color this September. Maybe my mind is trying to let me know I have always been in transition. That no matter the time or my age, I was always progressing, seeing things a new, and moving forward to experience all the things people have to share with me. And now I want to share with people too. (Though I doubt I would have been willing to share that lollipop. And who thought the red socks matched the purple dress?)

Oregon Pops

In April I had the great experience of traveling to Oregon with my Dad. A week long trip of seeing and listening. Finally, tonight I put a small film together documenting a clips of our4 trip. It took the inspiration of listening to Monsters of Folk to put it together.

Hope you enjoy.