Hot Stuff

Posted on October 27, 2007 by randomyriad

Doesn’t this look like the world’s hottest pepper?The worlds hottest chile
Well it is.

Check it out on Zaxy.

Posted in Check this out, Questions and riddles, wonder world | Tagged | Leave a comment

Dark Dreams From the Real World

Posted on October 27, 2007 by randomyriad

Yesterday I saw George W., The Decider (because that’s what he does), talking on tv. He was telling everyone how evil the present government in Cuba is (why anyone would believe anything this man says anymore is beyond me). Supposedly all these bad things go on in Cuba. Well it so happens that everything he named either happens in the USA under George II or is caused by our embargo of trade that we placed on Cuba after the revolution, which may not have even been seen as necessary if the US had not been meddling in their politics propping up the rich landowner-run government. Now I am not saying that there are not problems in Cuba. In fact I am certain that Castro has run the country in a heavy handed and egotistical fashion, but life for ordinary Cubans is better than under the old US puppet government (except for the fact that many goods are unavailable due to the embargo). They have more doctors and better health care in general, a higher literacy rate, and no millionaires rubbing their noses in their poverty.

Our benevolent President informed us that they had many political prisoner in jail simply for the offense of being dangerous to the government. We would never do anything so despicable in the good ol’ US of A. We ship them off to Guantanamo Bay and hold them there without any rights.

The hypocrisy was flying thick and filling the air. I had to turn him off after about 10 minutes because I reached to my maximum exposure for bullshit.  I am surprised I lasted that long.

Well last night I had dark dreams about being hunted down by military types with bullets flying and explosions. I was hiding in a park under a picnic table, when I decided that I was tired of running. I stood up and shouted, “I’m right here, Goddamnit!, What are you gonna do about it?” and I woke up feeling very calm and rested.

Maybe I am feeling the need to stand up and shout a little while I still have some freedom and rights. I am not exactly sure that watching George gave me a nightmare, but I am sure that we are likely to wake up in a bad dream if people keep listening to his twisted messages.

Phew! I feel better. I just had to unload some of that crap so I could breathe again.

Posted in can't really complain but, Dreamtime, Telling Stories, thinking in words, visions from the dark side | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Alls Well That Ends Well or A Tail Chasing Tale

Posted on October 26, 2007 by randomyriad

I came home today dragging and sagging and tense as all of our deadlines coincide tomorrow, every time I turn around at work there is something new on my to do list. Like my Punjabi colleague says about documentation and paperwork, “It is like a dog chasing his tail, he will never catch it no matter how fast he spins.” Well I was spinning pretty fast today and the only thing I came away with was a headache.

Even with all that, some good things happened today.

1) One of the managers was observing me and said: “You do such a good job of follow through, it makes it all work.” She was referring to the 5 languages and very young three year olds all the way up to almost six year olds, a very diverse group.

2) My assistant and I finished the last of the hearing screenings and I did a developmental screening in Spanish. Now all we have is 8 or 9 vision screenings to complete tomorrow, a piece of cake.

3) Our chronic pants wetter stayed dry for the third day in a row.

4) Children are saying, “Stop that!” and “No thank you!” and using the hand signals we taught them instead of hitting and pushing. It’s nice to know that you can bring a little peace to at least one small place in the world.

5) The sun came out and made glorious blue bright and white of the gray bleak dampness that greeted me as I walked out in the pre-dawn.

6) And finally, after this long tail-chasing day, I came home and checked my favorite blogs and found that Miss moonbeam, who makes me laugh even after days like today, named my humble blog as one of her favorites. That alone cured my headache and did the same for my disposition as the sun did for the day.

As I finish this I have almost lost my tail and the spinning has stopped. I think I will have a beer and only remember the good stuff and leave the rest of day to the dog.

Posted in can't really complain but, developing relationships, lists, Teaching and Learning, thinking in words, working world | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

I am the Dreamer Dreamed

Posted on October 23, 2007 by randomyriad

I woke up sweating and terrified from a dream in which all the multitude of things hanging by a thread in my life came crashing down. In the last scene I was walking through a hall looking for a woman who would tell me if Mary had passed her exam, an exam on which the her newly started nursing career was dangling. The woman was seated at the back of a crowded auditorium. She happened to be one of my colleagues, who constantly frustrates me with her ineptitude and silliness. I knew her judgment would be final. She looked at me as I walked past with a stern expression her head swinging dolefully from side to side. I felt the darkness and fear fall upon me as I rushed to get out of the auditorium. I woke up and heard the soft yet insistent snores of my Mary beside me and knew that it was my fears of deadlines and paperwork and feelings of frustration that were represented in the dream.

I love my job much of the time, but sometimes it is a weight made of details, little loose-ends all needing to be tied. As I lay there thinking of the things that I have to do and worry about. I realized that I had made the dream about Mary’s failure when it is my little loose-ends I am worried about. And this phrase came into my head out of nowhere. I guess maybe from the mind games I had been writing. About the Red King dreaming Alice and Tweedledum.

“I am the dreamer dreamed.”

I took it to mean many things. I am the dreamer, author of the dream. I am part of the dream, an agent of the plot as it were. Then I started to think about the novel I will write in November, and ideas started coming to me so fast and fascinating that filled my head and left no room for all those hanging loose-ends. This is how I know I am a writer.

I am the dreamer dreamed.

And my dreams are what keep me sane even when they scare the hell out of me.

Posted in Dreamtime, NaNoWriMo, novel projects, Other peoples words, Telling Stories, visions from the dark side, working world | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Mind Games II

Posted on October 22, 2007 by randomyriad
Tenniel illustration of Tweedledum (centre) an...

Image via Wikipedia

“If I wasn’t real,” Alice said– half-laughing through her tears, it all seemed so ridiculous– “I shouldn’t be able to cry.”

“I hope you don’t think those are real tears!” Tweedledum interrupted in a tone of great contempt.

Lewis Carrol,  Through the Looking Glass

Are you the dreamer or part of the dream, and does it really matter? Would it change the way that you live if you were part of someone else’s dream, or if you actually were the dreamer of your world?

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