OK, well that’s not strictly true – because apparently everybody dreams every night according to the experts. What I mean to say is that I haven’t been AWARE of any of my dreams in a long, long time. That’s a real shame for me because I love dreaming and remembering, recounting or writing down dreams. It’s kinda like the second best thing you can do in bed. Sometimes I’ll stay in bed ALL DAY just to dream or to keep a dream continuing. I love it! Up until recently I would remember my dreams practically every night – which is in contrast to Amy, who can’t remember many of her dreams at all…..which I find kinda odd really?

I think I was about 12 or 13 years old when I first realized that I could actually manipulate dreams. There was no stopping me then. Often I would have the same recurring dreams – still do – and be aware within the dream that I’d “been there before”. It was always cool to rescript and give an alternative ending to the dream – especially if it was a nightmare.

Many of my dreams have become stories – or included in stories at least. Some have been just plain weird – especially in the way I’ve reacted to them. One that comes to mind is that I’m driving with a bunch of (nondescript) friends in a convertible. We stop at a small country town for gas. You know the type of town I mean – the ones you usually see in Stephen King films where everyone is distant and suspicious of “new people” – especially teenagers.

Anyhow, at the gas station we ask the old coot owner for directions on how to get somewhere-or-other. The guy tells us to go down the road a bit, turn right at the crossroad and through the railway crossing. Just as we’re leaving he offers us some last minute advice. He tells us that if the train signals are flashing and ringing, to keep driving on through the crossing and don’t stop. Don’t even slow down. We ask him “Isn’t that dangerous? What if there’s a train coming? We’ll be killed, won’t we?” – to which he replies “No, most times there’s no train a comin’” and that there’s only been a few accidents in all the time he’s lived in the town. It all sounds a little flakey to us and we drive off down the road.

We get to the crossroad and turn right. Almost as soon as we turn the train signals start flashing and ringing (as you’d expect due to the lead up). Instead of driving through, we chicken out and stop – thinking that the old man is just plain crazy! Before you know it a freight train screams by and we know we’ve done the right thing. All of the dark brown boxcars filled with cattle clank past us one by one.

Then there’s a scream of brakes and the train starts slowing down – eventually stopping right in front of us. It’s dusk now and we’re starting to wonder if we have done the right thing after all? We can’t see any movement but we can hear things – probably the cows, we assume as we sit there patiently in the car.

Before you know it the doors of the boxcar in front of us bursts open and a hoard of werewolves spring at us and start ripping us to shreds. Things get a bit blurry for me from then on.

The next thing I know I’m in the dark. It smells and I know I’m sure as heck not in heaven, but I’m not exactly sure where it is that I am at? In the background I hear the clacketty-clack of a train line……Ohhh, but what the heck is that smell?? Eventually the clacketty-clack sound subsides.

All of a sudden there’s light. A door’s been open and I get up off the floor and find myself running towards it. When I get to the doorway I stop. I realize that I’m in a boxcar and there’s a carload of people stopped at the crossing trying to fend off a score of werewolves to no avail. Next thing I know I’m jumping out of the boxcar and entering the fray myself. The disturbing part is that I like it!

Now I’ve had this dream many times throughout my life and it almost always stays the same. I still like it even though it’s a little disturbing. I mean I don’t know what the “dream experts” would make of it? maybe something about “being empowered” or whatever? I don’t know and I don’t particularly care that much either. I think the oddest thing about it though is WHY THE HELL A BOXCAR FULL OF WEREWOLVES?????? Who thought that one up??? Ohh, that’s right. It was ME!!

Moving on……For the past month or so I haven’t been able to remember actually dreaming at all, let alone what the dream was about. I think I mentioned it to someone in the past month – either Amy, Adrian or Dan I would guess – but I have no idea why, after forty years of dreaming, the situation would change? Well, last night I was thrown a lifeline on that. I had a dream!

A weird one though? It “starred” Phil Keoghan – you know, that guy from “The Amazing Race”. The presenter dude. Apparently he almost got Jeff Probst’s spot on “Survivor”, but missed out at the eleventh hour. In the end it worked out well for both of them as both programs are huge hits and more than a little compelling if you’re into “the study of people” as I am. Purely from a sociometric point of view, of course! I dunno, I just find both of these shows fascinating insofar as they both portray, in slightly different ways, the behavioral patterns of virtually everyone you’ve ever met – all in a microcosm of around 20 people. You can tell that the producers who pick these people are spot on! Just in case you were wondering who was who, Phil is on the left and Jeff is on the right.

Now it’s not unusual that I’d dream about Phil actually. I mean I’d read an article about him in the TV guide yesterday and then saw him on “The Amazing Race” later on that night. I just didn’t expect him to have such an impact on my life. Now I won’t go into details about the dream – mainly because I don’t want to and, besides, it’s a little blurry to me now. I do know that we’d all been to a concert somewhere and that we’d ended up in some dingy hotel room. Amy and I were in bed with him – Amy in the middle – and that we were fully clothed and NOT doing anything suspect. I do remember that I wanted to do something very suspect with Amy though and she seemed to want the same, so we left Phil to his own devices (he was practically asleep anyway) and we went to the room next door to do our thang.

Only it never happened. Phil opened the door and started fumbling – in the dark with me hiding behind the door for some unknown reason – for his backpack, which was next to me. Once he found it he took off again, closing the door behind him.

Now that’s about all I can remember……which is probably too much info for anyone anyway? I wish I could remember more though because it was starting to look rather tasty for me. Alas though, it’s not to be. That’s the thing with me though – I just say what’s on my mind, good or bad!

Mmmmm, I wonder if I can “manipulate” that dream tonight?

Seeya!