Dreams are seriously the best. There is nothing better than curling up in your bed (I could stop right there and the sentence would be true), closing your eyes, and entering into the wonderful world of your dreams. I usually have no particular path I want my dreams to take, I just hope they're interesting and that I can remember them. On average we have 4-6 dreams per night (got that from a USC website so I'd question it's legitimacy; USC is no Cal). Per night! If only I could remember each of these jewels... Although I love all dreams, flying dreams are by far my favorite. On a side note, something to know about me, if I could choose any superpower I would hands down choose to fly. First of all, I would be AMAZING at basketball because I could kind of hide it and "run" really fast down the court while really just gliding, I'd get every rebound and block every shot (just like usual (;), and maybe I could convince everyone that I can dunk just with my own mad hops. Second, I don't really want to hear other peoples thoughts, be a creepy invisible person, look at people with x-ray vision, take all the fun out of the future by being able to tell the future, I already have super strength, and why get super speed if I could have that already by flying? Third, just imagine standing on the ground and just being able to blast up into the air! Enough said. Flying is the greatest. SO, whenever I dream about flying, which is sadly a very rare occurrence, it is a GOOD night. Every time though towards the end of the dream, I start to lose my powers! It's absolutely awful and I wake up dejected and ashamed.

If flying is my favorite, my least favorite dreams are definitely those ones when you have to/want to run away from impending doom or just to start running and you just can't. You all know what I'm talking about. It's the most excruciating pain for my dreamself when she's trying to get those legs moving and they won't budge. I also have the same problem at times when I try to open my eyes in a dream, but they just won't open and I'm blind throughout the whole dream even though I still know subconsciously know what's going on. Not everyone may share that dream, but let me tell you it's just as bad as the running one. I don't even mind the dreams where you fall off something and wake up before you hit the ground because at least those are a rush. By the way, I heard from someone once (I think I know who it was, but I'll leave them out to save them the embarrassment (:) that if you actually hit the ground in your dream after you fall off of something that you die in real life. Now clearly this is foolishness. How could you prove something like that? Go question the dead man in his bed? No no.

No matter what dream I have, even those agonizing running ones, it is usually a good time and I can't wait to fall asleep every night. This is why I think alarm clocks are such devilish devices; the nerve of them to wake you up from this imaginative paradise! I suppose you have to go snap back to reality at some point, but it's nonetheless a cruel cruel little machine. To wrap up my rant on dreams, I leave you with this wonderful quote by the geniuses at Disney. Good night.

"A dream is a wish your heart makes when you're fast asleep. In dreams you will lose your heartaches. Whatever you wish for, you keep. Have faith in your dreams, and someday, your rainbow will come smiling through. No matter how your heart is grieving, if you keep on believing, the dreams that you wish will come true."

P.S. Do not be a fool like me and take a nap from 715-930 PM. It is currently 150 AM and I am not even remotely tired. Oh dear. "Good night!"

Magic is a Bunch of Hocus Pocus

Last night I was flipping through the channels and nothing was really on, until I came across a magic show. Magic truely captivates me. It just makes no sense. And this guy was INCREDIBLE. If you have never seen David Blaine's Street Magic (or any of David Blaine's magic shows in general) you must. I was blown away. I know it all has to do with illusions and a whole lot of practice, but some of this stuff just blows the mind. In one of his stunts, he levitated. Yes, LEVITATED. What the?? At first I was like this is just a bunch of nonsense, but it was done just on the street in front of random people and their reactions were so so genuine that I had to believe it. Again, I don't believe this man actually levitated, but how do you fake that?!

I don't know how you can beat freaking levitation, but he just might with his card tricks. He is SUPERB. Just his shuffling amazes me. He can throw cards through the air and flip them and do basically anything with them. You MUST watch him. He flawlessly does common card tricks and adds his own flair. For one trick, he had a little girl pick a card out of the deck, sign it, and put it back in the middle of the deck. Then he shuffled it and started messing with her and asking her if different cards were her card even though he knew they weren't. Then he asked her if she took it. The little girl shook her head and started laughing, and he said: "No, you must've! Check your back pocket." The little girl looked in her back pocket and wouldn't you know it, there was her card. How the heck?! It just makes no sense to me and really confuses me. Maybe magic is real...

P.S. Check out this link to see some of his tricks...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdgKLrx_HXI&feature=related....and look at other ones while you're there!

Nighttime Madness

What is it about night time? I feel like a different person at night. Maybe it's because I'm a teenager (last year I can say that!) and I'm just more attuned to the later hours, but I am just full of energy and ideas at night. I make plans, I'm more adventurous, I'm willing to take risks (not life threatening risks, do you know me?), and want to go out and explore the world. I go to bed thrilled with the wonderful experiences I will have the next day. But something happens when I sleep. Because when I wake up in the morning, all of my plans go away. I have no motivation to carry through with my plans or explore the world or really get out of bed in general. Last night I planned on going on a 5 mile run through the hills to enjoy the sunshine, hear the birds chirping, and bask in the peaceful morning atmosphere. What happened? I heard my alarm go off, slapped it, and woke up two hours later. Last night I planned on having a really productive day where I would take the initiative and go out searching for jobs by going into different places and talking to the owners to see if they had any positions open. What happened the next day? I watched an hour of Sportscenter, laid on the floor watching a show about making over a home, chased my dog around the house, and wasted time surfing the internet until mid-afternoon. Last night I was super excited about going to a camp and was imagining how sociable and outgoing I'd be. That happened right? Wrong. I had to will myself out of bed and couldn't find anything to say at the early hour (Disclosure: I am very sociable once you get to know me and not a hermit by any means, but when I'm tired, hungry, or disgruntled and you're a stranger, be weary (:).

If I had the same mindset I have at night all the time, I would change the world. Let me tell you it would be awesome. I would be so much more productive, creative, and all around better. I'm getting better at spreading the wealth throughout the whole day rather than just at night, but it is definitely an effort. Maybe I should just take advantage of my increased brainpower at night time. As Catherine O'Hara said: "Night time is really the best time to work. All the ideas are there to be yours because everyone else is asleep." Well said, Ms. O'Hara, well said.

Transcendentalist Geniuses

Junior year of high school I was first introduced to a movement called the Transcendentalist movement. If you've never heard of it, look it up. It's amazing. Emerson, Thoreau, Dickinson, and Fuller were all Transcendentalists and man did they have good ideas. I'm a little bit of a dork (I have no problem admitting it), and I sometimes like to just ponder about life and talk about, think about, or write about deep things. It's really fun and soothing. Whenever I come across big concepts that make you think and where deeper meaning lies, I soak it up. Hence, my love for the transcendentalists. These people stepped outside the materialist lifestyle they found around them in the mid 1800s, and looked for deeper meaning and purpose in life. They were indeed spiritual, but didn't associate with particular religious groups or organized religions. Instead, they went out into nature and away from the hustle and bustle of the common world, and used the quiet bliss that surrounded them to just listen. Listen for something more. Listen for a deeper spirit that connects the world and all the things in it. In doing so, transcendentalists were looking to find themselves. They believed that within each of us is a soul that is close to a Deity and that the ideal spiritual state is realized only through one's own intuition; how we feel and think within ourselves without being influenced by outside forces. God gave humans the gifts of intuition, insight, and inspiration, so we should use them for ourselves to find truth in the world. All humans have access to this vast cove of spiritual enlightenment because it lies within their own soul. That is why many of the transcendentalists tried to completely escape society and plunge into nature alone or create utopias conducive to allowing for this type of isolation and ability to tap into their inner soul.

It all sounds maybe a little too deep, but I think these people were really getting at something. Humans all have the a certain sense of right and wrong and a compassion for one another (even if this fails from time to time) no matter what culture or area of the world they live in. There seems to be something connecting us all and I think it lies within us and that once we tap into that little soul within us we can discover who we truly are, what we are to do in this life, and really do good in the world. Although you may believe a different Deity provides this soul to us all than I do, I think if we all strive to find out more about this spirit if you will we will arrive at the same end. Even if we use different means to get there. Self-actualization is the first step, and, if this were to occur with us all, as Emerson writes: "We will walk on our own feet; we will work with our own hands; we will speak our own minds...A nation of men will for the first time exist, because each believes himself inspired by the Divine Soul which also inspires all men." So ladies and gentlemen, run out into nature and get to thinking!

I Never Want to Grow Up...

In the spirit of my birthday and all, I thought I'd blog about growing up. Doesn't it kind of stink? I totally know why Peter Pan decided to stay in Neverland forever and spend his days aimlessly flying around. Don't get me wrong there are a bunch of positives, but it's kind of sad to leave your childhood. Senior year of high school was probably the best year of my life thus far and now it's all over. Hanging out with your friends every day in school, seeing people you've grown up with in class every day, feeling a deep bond with your school through sports or whatever you were involved in, hanging out on weekends and throwing parties, prom, homecoming...it was all so fun! Then all of a sudden you're thrown into college where nobody knows your name, professors and classmates rarely know who you are, it takes a while to find friends and a place where you belong and it's just not the same as high school, you move out of the house and to a foreign place where you have to live on your own and find your way...what a shocker! I mean heck, I go from having my laundry done for me and lunches packed and ready for me every morning (thanks mom) to living on my own! Although those luxuries are missed, it's really just being away from my family and friends that stinks the most. Even though I still get to go home for summers (no other breaks really-stupid basketball), it just isn't the same because I'll never get to see these people every day really in the same intimate setting. Even living in my house is a little different because I'm living out of a suitcase now. What the heck??

All of that said (I like to focus on the positives, I swear, even when I rant about negatives like that), growing up has also been pretty cool. Being independent, having to find your own way, choose who you want to be and become, picking your path in life, and gaining new experiences and friends along the way has been an amazing time. Also having new perspective on things and seeing things outside the little realm of a high schooler. The world just opens up and it's cool to experience and think about things that are bigger than yourself. The world is filled with billions of other people in places and situations that you can't even imagine, and to be selfish or think you know a lot is just foolish. I'm still working on both of those things and have a ways to go, but just recognizing that fact is a huge step in itself. Although high school is behind me and it's time for me to learn how to be an adult, I'm really excited for the ride; my whole LIFE is ahead of me! I wonder what will happen...