It's Coming...Are You Ready?

Okay, I don't know quite how to explain this video, which is unlike anything I've done before. It's based on some dreams I've had recently (I know, my dreams...) about airplanes and time travel. Yes, I'm a sci-fi nerd and kind of a weirdo. I'm also an airline kid (my dad and several other family members were pilots) and I'm under a lot of stress, and flight patterns have always flickered through my subconscious at night. I also realized a few weeks ago that flights from the north and south take a westerly turn across the lake right by my neighborhood all night, and there's a blinking white highway of incoming airplanes over my building all night long. (You can see airplanes soaring over buildings at the end of the video...I know, I have a crappy camera.)

A strange poem and some music were flitting around my head last night as I tried to sleep. It seems like no matter how busy my brain is during the day, and how hard I try to stomp down reflective thoughts about The Big Picture and What Life's All About, they are running through the universe that is my mind all night, with a groovy little music soundtrack. Anyway, it's less than two minutes long, so if you're already here, give it a look and lemme know what you think.

Orange You Glad You're a Dreamer?

The psychic dream run continues. Last night I dreamt I was finishing up a visit in Indiana with my parents, and trying to pack my cats into their carrier for the ride home to Chicago. I kept looking into various carriers that were all over the back yard and saying, "These aren't my cats! Whose are these? Mom, where are my cats?"

There were purple cats, and tie-dyed cats, and glittery cats, and one that was speaking French and smoking a cigarette. Carrier after carrier had some unlikely combination of real cats and fantasy cats. The last one I looked into had two baby orange and white kittens in it. They had milk on their mouths and some burrs stuck to their scruffs.

"Well, at least these look real," I said.

Mom walked over to me. "Oh, yeah, you should pay attention to those. I think they want to be yours."

So -- back to reality now -- about an hour ago I was walking from my brother's house to my house, talking on the phone to my mom, and a big orange and white cat came strolling up the middle of the sidewalk toward me. I immediately started giggling. Here's another one, I thought. (And yes, I also thought "I can't wait to blog about this," because I am a nerd.)

He was one of those awesome city cats who's very self-assured, striding down the sidewalk like a person. He walked right up to me and meowed a greeting, like someone saying "Hey, I was hoping I'd bump into you." I petted his head, and he jumped up for a little more affection, twirled around my legs long enough to leave three little black burrs on my pant leg, and trotted off.

This interrupted the conversation with my mom, who said "What's going on? What are you giggling about?"

"There's this cat...oh, I can't explain." I picked the burrs off my pants and looked back at the cat, who gave me a funny little glance over his shoulder and disappeared into some bushes.

Okay, universe, I'm listening. You've warmed me up. I'm paying attention. I know I'm a vessel, or a conduit, or whatever flaky metaphor you prefer. Now what?