I always have dreams at night and most of the time I remember bits and pieces when I wake up. This morning I had a dream and I remember it very clearly, so I thought I'd blog it. It's not very crazy, but there are some weird parts, and I always find it interesting to hear about other peoples dreams and I thought you might, too :)
The dream started at a farm that I have never seen before. There was a very muddy driveway, and it was dark out. I was with my best friend Nell, watching her little sister Shelby have a lesson, or I was supposed to be. When the dream first started, I was explaining to Shelby to stay out from under the horses' big hooves (she just got stepped on in real life, so this makes sense). Then we were standing outside, next to the muddy driveway, and I saw Jeff walk by. He is the husband of the riding instructor I had growing up, Sue. He did not acknowledge me and I figured he was mad because I don't speak to them anymore. Then Sue walked up out of nowhere and gave me a hug that was very awkwardly returned. I didn't really know what to say or how to greet her. And then I took off my shoes. I have no idea why. It was muddy out and might have been raining slightly. But it seemed like a good idea I guess. About then, Nell appeared and we started following Sue across the muddy driveway, and across the gravel road at the end of the driveway, to a few small barns clumped together. I wasn't sure we were supposed to be snooping around these barns, and I was in my socks, so I was very nervous. It looked like someone was setting up for a yard sale or something similar, as there was a whole bunch of junk labeled for sale in each of the barns, and some laying on blankets outside the barns.
At this point I think I was too nervous to continue that part of the dream because Sue was about to walk into one of the scary looking barns, so I jumped ahead in my dream.
I was now driving my car home from the barns/riding lesson. I was on Malta Road, but this Malta Road was very hilly and very muddy. At each dip in the road, there was standing water, and tracks outside the road where people had tried to go around the water and had gotten stuck. I had my faithful Flicka, though, and just hit the accelerator and plowed through. She made it through over a foot of water and lots and lots of mud with spectacular traction (maybe she was a 4x4 in my dream??). So I had gotten to a hill where there was an intersection at the top, and had gotten out to pull Flicka the rest of the way up the hill (either I have super strength or she was super light...) when I realized there was a nature path at the top. I had never noticed this before and slowed down towing my car up the giant hill as I realized it was there, and lost my grip and it rolled back down the hill. At this point, my roommate appeared walking with his new girlfriend on the nature trail. We did introductions and I asked if they took my dog on the walk with them and they said no (as he wasn't there - duh!). They then suggested instead of continuing on this crazy road with my car, I should just use the trail to go back to town and call a tow truck. So I grabbed the bike I just happened to have in my car and set off down the nature trail. There were a lot of people on it, and I was going very fast. At first I think my intention was to catch up to my roommate and his girl, but then I realized they left well before me, and I wasn't going to catch them. So then I was walking and realizing that I don't know this trail at all. I had no idea when I needed to get off the trail to get to Sycamore. So I started following some people to see if I could hear where they were going. They turned right to get off the trail and went into a swinging door, and then turned around and looked at me like I shouldn't have followed them. I said something like "Oh, this is your house? Sorry..." and they nodded and one said to the other "Even in Elburn you get people walking in like that, isn't it crazy?" And as I turned away go back to the trail, I was very confused. Elburn?? How could I have gotten all the way to Elburn already? It hadn't seemed like I traveled nearly that far! They must have said something else and I misunderstood them. So I continued along the trail. Slowly now, trying to figure out where I was. I turned at the next 'exit' as it was very similar to a highway system with ramps and exits. It seemed when I went through the door this time, that I had walked into a school. I was looking in classrooms and down hallways as I walked through the school, and did not recognize anything. It must have been late in the day, because there weren't many people there. I started looking for bulletin boards hoping there was something that says the school name or something like that. I did not find a bulletin board, but along the dark brick wall in the hallway were big gold letters that spelled Orange City. Orange City?? What in the world? The only Orange anything that I know is Orange County, and that's in Florida! Ok, I did not walk all the way to Florida. This must just be a school I have have never heard of. Just keep walking to the front of the school, they might have a pay phone and I can call my mom.
I kept walking, and kept thinking that this must be a community college or something along those lines because it was huge. It took me longer to walk through the school I think than it did to actually get to the school. I finally started seeing a foyer and lots of doors, like the front entrance of a school. Looking out the left-most doors, I could see a bride posing with her groom for pictures. They do weddings at the school? Where the heck am I?? The wedding party was looking very annoyed as they watch the bride and groom pose, so I went out the door and walked over and asked if anyone might be able to help me with directions. One of the bridesmaids stood up and rushed me over to the side and said the bride would be upset if she saw me talking to them, but offered her assistance. I told her I was on the walking path, and I had never been on it, and I had gotten lost. Most importantly, I told her that I needed to get back to Sycamore. She explained that the ramp to get back onto the walking path had been blocked, but she knew a way to get passed. So I followed her around the outside of the school to where there was a slight hill going up, and a path with several round boulders taller than me blocking it. She said we just had to climb over, and that a lot of people do it, its not that hard. So we started to climb, with her, still in her dress, guiding me where to put my hands and feet. When I got to the top of the boulders, and was just about laying on my stomach on the top of the highest one, crawling over it, it started to move. It was like someone knocked them all loose. They started rolling. I jumped up from my stomach and jumped down the other side of them just in time to watch several of them roll down the gentle hill and settle at the bottom. The bridesmaid was standing at the bottom of the remaining boulders, too, having also escaped the danger. We started hurrying down the path, and I mentioned that if I could just call someone, I could get a ride home. We came upon some clothes on a bench and she plucked a cell phone out of the pants pocket, handed it to me as we continued walking, and said "this is an emergency, they'll understand." I took the cell phone and pocketed it, afraid someone would see me with it. She pointed to the 'entrance' to the trail and bid me fairwell.
The entrance was much like the exit. I had to go through another swinging door and was then in a rest stop like area. And then it occured to me, what is always at a rest stop? A MAP. I pulled the cell phone out of my pocket, started dialing my mom, and then spotted a map and went over to it, ready to tell her where I was. As I searched for something familiar on the maps (there were actually 4), my mom's cell phone went to voicemail. It was cutting in and out, but it said something along the lines of "Sorry I missed your call, I am in San Francisco." Oh no! I forgot my mom had planned a trip to California! She had left already?? Without saying goodbye?? Well, where am I on this map?! I pulled the maps off of the bulletin board out of frustration, and sat on a nearby bench and started pouring over them trying to find anything familiar. I saw Orange City College, and I saw the word Orlando stamped across one in big letters. I am NOT in Florida, there must be an Orlando in Illinois, too. There are lots of Springfields, right?
I started to wake up at this point, thinking all I have to do is call my dad. I know his cell phone number. Mom's out of town, Dad will come get me. And then Maizy started licking my arm. I must have moved and she knew I was awake. ;)
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Friday, July 8, 2011
Gamer Nerd Alert
I have been wanting to write a few blogs on different types of media/entertainment for awhile now. The problem is that it takes a lot of spare time that I have been short of lately, so I apologize for the delay in a new post.
I want to start with my favorite type of media - video games. I have played video games as along as I can remember. I think my favorite growing up was RC ProAm on the original Nintendo.
Now, there are few games I play outside of the Call Of Duty series. Here's a quick history of Call Of Duty recap: ActiVision owns and publishes the Call Of Duty games, but they are developed by two main developers. Infinity Ward started the developing with the original Call Of Duty (2003), and then Call Of Duty 2 (2005). Treyarch then jumped in the developers' competition with Call Of Duty 3 (2006) and then was followed by Infinity Ward's first Modern Warfare game in Call Of Duty 4 (2007). Treyarch's World At War (2008) was a big hit, following up their WWII storyline that they started in COD3. Next came Inifinity Ward again with Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009), to be followed by the current version Call Of Duty: Black Ops (2010) by Treyarch.
In reviewing the history of COD, I have never realized how many there actually are! I started playing on my Playstation 2, and moved up to my Xbox360. I have played them all, and I tend to like the Infinity Ward games over the Treyarch games. As I play mostly the online gaming, I find that small things have held Treyarch back, such as bad spawning, the classic problem of shooting someone a thousand times and not killing them, and of course there are always glitches, but there always seem to be more in the Treyarch games (some may disagree, but WAW was ridiculous). I love WWII history, so their story lines were interesting, and it was a lot of fun shooting the old German and American guns from the era, but there was always something missing. Infinity Ward, however, has never made me feel that way. I was still hung up on WAW despite the glitches to play much of Modern Warfare, however when I started, I could barely leave it alone until MW2 came out. I was completely addicted to MW2 and it is still probably my favorite overall. Now we have Black Ops, which, again leaves me wanting a little something more. Of course, being Treyarch, spawning is horrible, and the guns are all the same and boring at this point, and the whole earning money to buy the guns idea is just annoying to me. I still like it, though, and actually think that maps are more complicated and fun this time around.
I do love the back and forth competition from the developing teams in the COD series, and the only real overall complaint I would have about them is that they are too short! I do play the online more than the story, but it only takes a good 5 to 6 hours at the most to get through them. And it always leaves me wanting more, no matter which developer it is. I suppose that's so you'll buy the next one that comes out, though, right? And that leads us to what this whole blog was supposed to be about!
Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3! This is going to be epic. Here is a peak (may I suggest full screen in HD):
Z!O!M!G! I am so extremely excited about this game. It comes out, as you saw, November 8th. Don't expect to talk to me for weeks, maybe months following the release. It gives me the whole World At War feeling (or WW3 as they put it), but with modern technology, and amazing graphics. Hopefully Infinity Ward has a few surprises in their pocket, too, that turn out way cooler than a remote control car and exploding arrows (Black Ops).
There are other games I play other than COD. I tend to like first person shooter games and have tried Army Of Two (first one), Rainbow Six, Medal Of Honor, and Halo (3 of them - how many are there now?). I really didn't like any of them all that much. They were entertaining for a couple of weeks, but they just didn't have the the longevity that COD always seems to have (Halo fans, I'm sorry - just doesn't compare). I do own Left 4 Dead and L4D2. I like the first one the best, and they are entertaining to play once in awhile, especially with a group of friends.
I suppose that this is all old news to the gamers out there, and will probably not be read by anyone that isn't a gamer, but it was fun to write, and I hope to kick your butt in COD multiplayer! >:[ <-- pwnd face. ;)
I want to start with my favorite type of media - video games. I have played video games as along as I can remember. I think my favorite growing up was RC ProAm on the original Nintendo.
Now, there are few games I play outside of the Call Of Duty series. Here's a quick history of Call Of Duty recap: ActiVision owns and publishes the Call Of Duty games, but they are developed by two main developers. Infinity Ward started the developing with the original Call Of Duty (2003), and then Call Of Duty 2 (2005). Treyarch then jumped in the developers' competition with Call Of Duty 3 (2006) and then was followed by Infinity Ward's first Modern Warfare game in Call Of Duty 4 (2007). Treyarch's World At War (2008) was a big hit, following up their WWII storyline that they started in COD3. Next came Inifinity Ward again with Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009), to be followed by the current version Call Of Duty: Black Ops (2010) by Treyarch.
In reviewing the history of COD, I have never realized how many there actually are! I started playing on my Playstation 2, and moved up to my Xbox360. I have played them all, and I tend to like the Infinity Ward games over the Treyarch games. As I play mostly the online gaming, I find that small things have held Treyarch back, such as bad spawning, the classic problem of shooting someone a thousand times and not killing them, and of course there are always glitches, but there always seem to be more in the Treyarch games (some may disagree, but WAW was ridiculous). I love WWII history, so their story lines were interesting, and it was a lot of fun shooting the old German and American guns from the era, but there was always something missing. Infinity Ward, however, has never made me feel that way. I was still hung up on WAW despite the glitches to play much of Modern Warfare, however when I started, I could barely leave it alone until MW2 came out. I was completely addicted to MW2 and it is still probably my favorite overall. Now we have Black Ops, which, again leaves me wanting a little something more. Of course, being Treyarch, spawning is horrible, and the guns are all the same and boring at this point, and the whole earning money to buy the guns idea is just annoying to me. I still like it, though, and actually think that maps are more complicated and fun this time around.
I do love the back and forth competition from the developing teams in the COD series, and the only real overall complaint I would have about them is that they are too short! I do play the online more than the story, but it only takes a good 5 to 6 hours at the most to get through them. And it always leaves me wanting more, no matter which developer it is. I suppose that's so you'll buy the next one that comes out, though, right? And that leads us to what this whole blog was supposed to be about!
Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3! This is going to be epic. Here is a peak (may I suggest full screen in HD):
Z!O!M!G! I am so extremely excited about this game. It comes out, as you saw, November 8th. Don't expect to talk to me for weeks, maybe months following the release. It gives me the whole World At War feeling (or WW3 as they put it), but with modern technology, and amazing graphics. Hopefully Infinity Ward has a few surprises in their pocket, too, that turn out way cooler than a remote control car and exploding arrows (Black Ops).
There are other games I play other than COD. I tend to like first person shooter games and have tried Army Of Two (first one), Rainbow Six, Medal Of Honor, and Halo (3 of them - how many are there now?). I really didn't like any of them all that much. They were entertaining for a couple of weeks, but they just didn't have the the longevity that COD always seems to have (Halo fans, I'm sorry - just doesn't compare). I do own Left 4 Dead and L4D2. I like the first one the best, and they are entertaining to play once in awhile, especially with a group of friends.
I suppose that this is all old news to the gamers out there, and will probably not be read by anyone that isn't a gamer, but it was fun to write, and I hope to kick your butt in COD multiplayer! >:[ <-- pwnd face. ;)
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