Beneath The Outer Shell

i dream every night. well, actually...we ALL dream every night. even people who claim they "don't dream" in essence, DO dream every night. they just may not remember them.

i don't remember the majority of my dreams. ever since i started my latest medication, my dreams have been a little "out there". if you're curious on what i mean about being "out there" just read one of my old blogs here

last night was no different...except that i woke up with a vivid memory of visiting a zoo the night before in my dreams. it was great! it wasn't like an average zoo where the animals are caged up and visitors are limited to where they can go...it was more like a game park-zoo, where you could walk around on rocks, up mountains, around aquariums, and basically anywhere you wanted to go to get a better view of the animals.

at one point in the dream, i was with some friends from Hawaii and some buddies from the Peace Corps and we were walking on top of some huge boulders that were sticking out of this very large aquarium. you could walk on the boulders so you could look down and see the fish in the crystal clear blue water. thousands and thousands of fish swam below us...BIG fish and even BIGGER fish. there was even a catfish the size of your average SUV swimming right below me! my friends and i were maneuvering ever so elegantly around the boulders and rocks. it was slightly scary because of the size of the fish we saw underneath, but we were having fun.

then, i saw something that REALLY scared me. there was a VERY large tiger swimming in the water! he occasionally climbed up on the boulders where we were! at one point i had to sneak around this big boulder so the tiger wouldn't see me. it was quite difficult to keep my footing, as to not fall in the water.

i thought he was gone and let out a sigh of relief and a laugh to my friends, "wow! that was close!"

then i looked back...the tiger had heard me talking and he immediately jumped back at my direction at lightning speed. my friends and i were on the same boulder, but i jumped over to a desk that was outside the aquarium. that's right...a desk. yes, like the one you work at, in a cubicle, with a computer.

i got away, but i looked back and my friends were stuck. unfortunately, they weren't so lucky. the last thing i remember was seeing them getting pounced on by this HUGE tiger.

i woke up and felt bad...for leaving my friends behind. i'm not sure what i could have done, but i wasn't able to do anything to help them.

back in reality...i get up, take a shower, eat lunch, and go turn on the TV.

i go to Fox News and i see the ongoing top story: a HUGE tiger escaped from a zoo in San Fransisco last night. one person was killed and two others were mauled. in my dream, i had 3 other people with me when the tiger came into the picture.

pretty weird, huh? for details on the actual story, go here

cue Twilight Zone music