To dream or not to dream
Sometimes I don't remember my dreams. However, last night's was so vivid, I thought I should blog about it.The dream started at my former middle school where my sister is a student. Not much has changed in the way of the school itself as you walk in and the office is on your right and the commons/lunchroom is straight ahead. The gym is through twin doors. This is your old old school gym as it has a massive stage on the south. Underneath the stage is the band room and also where everyone would go for the tornado shelter during practice drills. It's quite large to be able to house all of the middle school population.
Anyways, for some reason, Jarrett and I were at the middle school. There was a basketball game going on at the time too. The curtains on the stage were closed as there seemed to be some kind of surprise concert coming up. I had press credentials for some reason and we were kind of milling around amongs these giant speakers. Jar was looking at some speakers stacks and I wondered off and saw two guys rolling around on the stage laughing and just involved in good natured wrestling.
When the two grapplers seperated, I was shocked to find myself face to face with none other than Edward Van Halen. For some reason I managed to introduce myself and it was as if we were old friend. During a handshake, he even managed to slip me about 30 of his guitar picks. I told him that my brother from another mother was milling around and would just die to meet him. Eddie said to trot him over.
After finding Jarrett, I practically drug him over to where Eddie and the boys were hanging out. I introduced Jar to Eddie, and there were stars in Jar's eyes. Jar happened to have a program or something and got Eddie to sign it. I also think his brother Alex was there and he was signing it too. I was laughing as if I had some pull in this whole thing. I left them to all the signing of things so I could go check something along the east wall. I can't remember why I had to check it. At that time, I thought to myself that I probably ought to get Eddie and Alex to sign something for me, just so I had something other than the 30 guitar picks to remember this by. About ten minutes later, I scrounged up a program so the guys could sign it for me. I trudged back up on the stage into a crowd of people surrounding Eddie and Alex.
"Eddie, I hate to be a bother, but could you sign this for me?" I asked somehow thinking that I was on a first name basis with him. He laughed and said of course, if I was in your position I'd have a signature or two as well. He scribbled a short message, then he passed it around to the group who was surrounding him. For some reason Jar was nowhere to be found. I believed that he had passed out from actually meeting one of his idols.
Suddenly the lights flickered in the gym. The sounds of the basketball game were still going strong. Jar suddenly appeared and said "Dude, you probably ought to come look at this." So the two of us went outside.
It was the most bizarre sky I've ever seen. It was green, black, navy, orange and white all swirling around. Immediately, I thought "Holy snikees, this has got to be a tornado brewing." The skies opened and it was a deluge of water pouring down. We went back inside, yet still the game was still going strong with us in the lead 48-37. I ran into another guy I know. He was talking on a cell phone and mouthed the word "Tornado" to me. I nodded grimly and opened the door to the commons.
It was unnaturally bright. The light fixtures were sparking, yet they were lit up with almost an unholy bright glow. There was also this horrible sound like metal twisting under tremedous strain. I also realized that water was dripping from all over the ceiling. The sound of the metal got even more pronounced to the point of almost being abled to drown out my own thoughts. The strange thing was that there wasn't a person to be found in the commons. That turned out to be a good thing as the roof came crashing down in a tremendous clatter.
What was once common ceiling was open straight to the massive black swirling sky. A huge vortex was bearing down on the middle school as if there was a gigantic target on the gym floor. I slammed the doors shut. The basketball game was still going strong, yet the score still stood at 48-37. Jar was beside me and the two of us rushed onto the gym floor in the middle of the game. The players, coaches, refs and spectators looked at us as if we had lost our heads. Using my announcer voice I said something to the lines of "Ladies and gentlemen, there is a tornado bearing down right towards us. Everyone must stay calm and orderly and proceed to the band room for safety. Half of you go to the right, and half of you go to the left."
Amazingly they followed our directions. As soon as everyone was downstairs, the power went out and all that was left was emergency lighting. People started screaming until Jar yelled "HEY!" at the top of his lungs to get their attention. The turned to me and I said "Okay folks, remember to get in the safety postion. Around and down for you kids. Show the parents how to do it. Around and down. That's it. Exactly. Good job." Jar and I were walking around showing the parents how to go around and down to protect one's head from flying debris. What made it seem so typical was that the two of us, didn't take our own advice and we went out to check what was going on. We didn't get far as it sounded like a jet engine was parked on top of us. We decided without ever exchanging a word to go back into the band room. It was funny because everyone was listening to what we were saying and we were a calming influence on these people. Eventually the roar died down. We told everyone to sit tight as we were going to check out if it was safe to come out. The two of us climbed up the east stairs that empty into the back entrance of the gym. The parking lot looked soaked and we couldn't see a lot of damage. Somehow I ended up home and in bed. The next part had me waking up telling myself that I had to go help because there was a tornado. My cell phone rang and it was Jar asking what the damage was like. I told him, I wasn't sure but I was going out to check it out. I'd love to know where exactly Eddie and the gang went during the tornado. We went out and sure enough a tornado had cut a swath through town, but yet missed the high school, the retirement community and one of the two manufacturing plants. The roof of the middle school had collasped in from the weight of the water that had accumulated. There was a design flaw during the remodel job and it nearly cost a bunch of people their lives. I went back to the middle school and was looking for my guitar picks given to me by Eddie. I managed to find them along with the now-soaked autographed program. Along with Eddie and Alex's John Hancock's was this one from a local DJ with his contact number saying he had heard me doing games. I was pissed because of the 30 picks, I only had about 10 left and they were all sandy too.
It was so strange.
There was another dream mixed in there about a pool owned by this woman, her attractive daughter and the suspicion of a crime, and some cops, a road blockade. That one, I can't remember except that I had permission to swim in a pool and the daughter and I were in the process of getting to know each other well enough to go on a date when there was all kinds of cops action and I just was allowed to leave. I hate having dream snippets like that where it's just wisps of a potential storyline that you know you were involved in. I don't know what I ate, or what I didn't but it was surely surreal.
posted by Rusty @ 6:50 PM
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