Saturday, July 27, 2013

These dreams

It's funny how what you've been watching can shape your dreams. I had one sometime last night that was kind of strange, but indicative.

So, lately, thanks to YouTube, I've been watching a lot of That '70s Show, which I caught occasionally during its run but never got into. I'm really savouring it now. Also, someone put all twelve episodes of I, Claudius up, so I downloaded them and I had them running consecutively on the laptop beside my bed as I slept. The laptop by my bed performs this kind of lullaby nightly.

In the dream, I was on some college campus somewhere. It was an overcast day at the end of the school year, warm and comfortable. I was a much younger, svelter version of myself, in bell bottoms and bare feet (thank you That '70s Show), on a warm asphalt trail that featured several bridges over a pleasant stream. Behind me within earshot were a professor and two male students, and they were practicing lines from I, Claudius. Naturally I was delighted and I quietly practiced the lines with them as I padded along before them. (This was, of course, my mind rehearsing the lines I was hearing from the laptop, brought into the dream. There was some part of me that perceived that, too, at the time.)

Somewhere along the trail I remember encountering a trailside food stand. I bought something there but I'm at a loss to remember what. There was a kind of segue from there to a large, open structure with a lot of tables, like some kind of country style smorgasbord.

From there, it went to a little river valley at night, behind a town road with houses on it, maybe fifty feet from a lively little restaurant. I was there with someone I can only describe as an older version of Penny from the old Inspector Gadget cartoon show, and she and I were using a one of those big syringes to draw off a sample from a test well down by the creek. At first it just drew up alcohol, but then along with it was crude oil. So the well was producing booze and crude. Jackpot. From there, I ended up inside the restaurant, still dressed like before, but with my parents who were more formally dressed. The reason we'd had the test well was that years before, my mother had accepted the mineral rights as part of a magic beans for the cow deal in her retirement plan, and now suddenly the beanstalk had sprung. The discussion was about how to get at the oil (and, I guess, the booze) without disrupting the restaurant.

Anyway, that's it. I thoroughly enjoyed the dream and its carefree, hopeful, and even compassionate aspects. I thought it would be nice to write it down and have a reference for remembering it. :)

Monday, July 15, 2013

This is who we were to each other

I happened to notice this in the directory for the videos I've shot with the S100. It's a moment in my life with Bonnie... a very sweet one. I would have thought that something like this would have just gutted me, but it doesn't. Yes, it makes me wistful and I long to hold her again. But I'm actually so happy that I casually recorded this moment. She was sleeping beside me and having a dream. I could see her twitch and move. At times like that, I used to try to "talk" myself into her dreams... call to her quietly, tell her she was a good girl, praise her. There was often a noticeable increase in her movements. I'd like to think she was dreaming she was running to come to me. It used to please me that talking to her, even in her sleep, seemed to evoke a response. I was trying to record that when this happened instead.


It was recorded about quarter to ten on the evening of Sunday, October 6, 2012. That was a couple of months after Max died, and I guess about three weeks or so before I noticed the swollen nipple that turned out to be cancer. This video, then, sort of caps off the end of my "normal" life with Bonnie.

Wasn't she wonderful?

Friday, July 12, 2013

Today in history

Well, today's a day of some import. It's the 13th anniversary of the day I met Bonnie and brought her home to share my life.

It's also my last day employed. We got the news a month ago today that something like 10,000 of us were going by the board. I'm one of them. Obviously blogging about it hasn't been high on my agenda.

I've been to four interviews in the ensuing weeks, three of them since last Wednesday. The first place went with another candidate. I'm still waiting to hear from the other three places. I have a feeling this could be a long prospect. I only hope my resources will match it. If looking for the next thing goes beyond about mid-autumn, or falls significantly short of the salary I've based my life around in recent years, I stand to lose what little I've been able to build.

If I didn't remember the exact day Bonnie became part of my life before, I imagine I'll remember it moving forward.

Tuesday, July 09, 2013

That was cool


That was cool a video by Lone Primate on Flickr.

One of the neat things about having a dash cam these days. :)