The Russell/Arnold Gang

On new years day, Mini and Steve and Christin and I went hiking in zion's national park. then we drove to Steve's parents' house and did some shooting. It was great fun, but I think I had some hearing loss from the new pistol Steve bought. It was a .45 army issue, I think they called it a 1911 or something? Anyway, it was good to see Chris and Steve again.


(The helpful man in the pictures is Steve's dad.)

mmm... boiled cats

We [I have no idea who "we" refers to any more] freed this tribe of slaves and everyone was running. We tried to go separate ways but there weren’t many paths to take. One especially frisky little guy (and a servant of the enslavers) tracked us down, but there were 20 of us & 1 of him. We surrounded & captured him. We threatened him with death (as we couldn’t very well let him go at this point) but he stayed true to his convictions of turning us in. It wasn’t until we were about to cover him in hot oil and set him on fire that he decided to join us. This must have incited the people to bloodlust, but the next thing I know the tribe has a baby and are about to cook it in the hot oil. I yell to stop, and quickly yell that why not cook some kind of animal instead. They seem to go along with this, and my sisters and I head out to this grassy field nearby that’s filled to the brim with rabbits and cats. We chase them around but the rabbits are way too fast (despite the fact that a group of really young kids seem to have caught one for a pet). I finally catch up with a cat. In true wildcat fashion, the thing bites my hand and continues to try to bite me no matter how much I pet it to clam it down. We’re back at some kind of condo and my parents are waiting for us there. For some reason frying the cat has turned into some science project of Megan’s, and there’s a hinged frying pan full of hot oil on this shelf waiting for us. My only idea is to throw the cat up there and prepare for the screeching. So I toss it up, and nothing much happens. The oil must not be hot enough because I stand on my tiptoes to see what’s going on, and it’s standing in the pan, licking up the oil. I can tell its paws are starting to cook, but it doesn’t seem to notice for a few moments. After it does realize, it jumps off the pan but we quickly catch it again. And again I toss it up there. This time it lands on its side and the pan lid closes on top of the cat. At some point the head flops out, wide, lifeless eyes just staring and its mouth open. There are no sounds or smells from the cooking cat at all. I feel sick and try to leave through the condo’s back door, but my dad insists we all stay. This is, after all, Megan’s project, and we should all get plates ready. It takes me a second to realize what he means, and I’m disgusted.

sharks

Most of the southern U.S. map was covered in water. The whole family was vacationing in a southern state somewhere, right on the waterline. We were all packed into a van with a hatchback, and we were lounging in the car while the car was sitting on the beach overlooking the ocean. Part of the beach would fall away as the water kept coming in, and we would have to keep moving the car. Mom & dad & I were in the very back of the car with our feet almost in the water. Off to the left, we could see some volcanic activity. Molten lava would spurt up here & there, a brilliant orange. I made a comment to dad about how we might be the southern-most people in the U.S. at that moment. Suddenly, there were two short radar beeps. My dad asked, “Where’s Ed’s radar?” but it was nowhere to be found. My brain was thinking that if it was big enough to set off radar equipment it couldn’t be too good. Moments later, my worst fears were confirmed, it was a shark. I dove forward away from the water into the front of the car, and turned around just in time to see a huge shark jump up and sink its teeth into my parents’ legs. They continued to sit on their beach chairs as if nothing peculiar was going on. The shark’s teeth sunk deep into their skin, and as the shark pulled away into the water, I could see it had a good chunk of leg in its mouth. My dad turned around, lifted his leg, and said, “Did you see my leg kids?” Half of his lower leg was gone, except for the white bone sticking out of the ragged flesh.

Miss Miggie

[I remeber my mom was singing this song to my sister, Mini, while in my parents' kitchen. It was called] Miss Miggie – song about an atom that was in love with her and wanted to be human.

Part 2: I was having a sleepover at the Sloans, and [Steve, Shawn, and I] were in their basement playing mario tennis, except there were all sorts of crazy characters. I was a big black boxer named P.C. Thug, AKA Knuckles. I don't remember any others. After we had played a few games, I snuck upstairs to get my stuff for sleeping out of the car. I knew it was really late, so I tried not to wake anyone. I passed by Mike upstairs. He had a blanket over the top of his head & covering his eyes, but I knew he was awake. The whole house was a pigsty.

Then it was daytime & I was outside. Two kids had a tetherball tied to the top of a telephone pole with a really long rope. Why they chose that particular pole I don't know, because it had wires poking out of it everywhere. One kid started the tetherball going, but the rope just got insanely tangled in the wires, with the help of the momentum of the ball at the end.

Part 1: The sloans and I were in the street on the side of my house when I noticed something strange in the sky. I pointed this "wind rainbow" out to the others, and we all stopped to stare. It seemed not far away, but it was a stream of slouds in a perfect arc, moving so rapidly it looked like thin smoke. As we watched, the arc turned into flame. Shortly after that, another arc spurted out from the same source, but in another direction. Again, the smoky arc turned into flame. Then a strong gust of wind was suddenly on us, and we ran (as fast as we could against the wind) into some sort of shelter just off the road. I was the last one in, and I shut and locked the door behind me. Everyone else had taken cover somewhere in the small "house", and I noticed Mike huddling under a sink counter. I figured it would as good a place as any to duck. I ran to the counter and wrapped my arms around my knees (but not before grabbing a pack of gummi fruit off the counter). There was a huge rumbling. The house shook. And then in the midst of the rumbling somehow I knew the house had been lifted into the air in some sort of "rapture". I stayed in my huddle position, fearing the house would catch fire or break apart any minute, but then knowing that I was in the safest place I could have been at the time.

Also when the wind first came, I had my pillow in my hand for some reason, and I couldn't decide if I would be better off with the pillow against my face to shield it from the fire when it came, or if it would just melt onto my face and make things a lot worse.

I think you're bruisin' my neck meat

I was in the bathroom getting ready to take a shower, when I heard a hissing noise behind me. I backed up, trying to figure out where the hissing was coming from, but it got louder the more I backed up. That's when I noticed a giant white rat on the counter, up on his hind legs and hissing loudly. and then he started to talk. he had a deep male voice, and he was quite the sass-mouth. he started complaining about how someone was supposed to have rented "kung Fu Hustle" for him, but on waking up he noticed it wasn't there. for some reason I had gloves on, so I picked up the rat. he tried furiously to bite me, and I had to keep fighting him so as not to get bit. I got him over to the stairwell in our house, and dropped him down the lower steps. he crashed and tumbled down the last couple steps, but kept complaining about not having his movie. he was unharmed, and came back running up the stairs. I picked him up and chucked him downward as hard as I could. He landed harder this time, but still came back up the steps unphased. So I picked him up again, put my right hand on his head, and jerked his head to the right fast & hard. I could hear neck bone cracking. then I threw him hard to the bottom of the stairs again. he landed head first on a hard metal hand rail, then tumbled down the rest of the steps.

3/18/05

I was driving around with Mike & other people trying to find our camping spot. It was dark, and we were lost in the campground. We stopped off at a cabin which was unlocked and uninhabited (no renters) so we crashed there for a while. The top floor overlooked a massive swimming pool. After being there a while we decided we should try looking for the campsite again. It wasn't long before we found it and started setting up the tent. It was Steve's [my brother-in-law's] tent so I had a hard time figuring out which pole went where.

3/14/05

[a new video game] Mario Bros. Clog Buster - kids love to help Mario & Luigi unstop the toilet! [really, who did think that the idea that having a couple of plumbers from New York as video game heroes was a good idea?]

My Life

This Is My Life, Rated
Life:	7.4
Mind:	7.9
Body:	9
Spirit:	7.1
Friends/Family:	5.6
Love:	0
Finance:	5.8
Take the Rate My Life Quiz

Probably the only thing shocking about the results of this quiz is that I'm not shocked about them.

Part 2: I was sitting in auditorium seating watching a religion speaker give a talk. After it was over and people started standing up to leave, a lady in the front pointed at me and called that she wanted me to teach a class for the next hour of church. I really felt overloaded in my church callings, but I agreed. She handed me a church manual and led me down a hallway to where I'd be teaching. There were about 5 little black kids, about 6 yrs old in age. I opened the manual and started reading the scriptures it listed, out loud. They were very strange - they talked about a palace or a temple that you knocked on the door. 31 wives would answer and invite you in. If you refused, you were killed. If you agreed, you were let in to a padded room, with the ability to advance in the nation's army.

One of the girls asked a question about an angel called "acquisition" and where she came from. There was a 15 minute break for dessert (which was peaches & bananas) so I looked up the name in the Bible dictionary while munching peaches. A boy asked me what I was eating and I said, "Peaches, they're delicious!" cause they were, but he ended up picking a banana instead. I found the name in the dictionary and turned to where it referenced her. Instead of scriptures, I was referred to a news-like entry about awful superbowl people. The beginning of the article talked about one superbowl winner who only signed autographs with his [edited for the children's sake]. It then went on to talk about Acquisition, who was a rich, spoiled girl (like Paris Hilton). It included a picture of her wearing a dress with a shear top so nothing was left to the imagination up top. She had gone around in front of cameras at halftime bragging she was wearing nothing underneath the dress.

next scene: I was in "our" backyard but it really wasn't. It was a beautiful day with impossibly green grass and a blue sky overhead. Someone had thrown or taken my accordion [in its case] over the west side of the fence, so I had to climb it and jump over it (the fence) to get the accordion. When i picked it up, it much lighter than usual, so I suspected someone had taken it out of the case & left the case. I opened it, but the accordion was in there. I figured I just must be stronger in my old age and walked to where a gate in the fence was. My dad was working on the fence at that end so a section of the fence was gone, so I went out that way instead.

Too much CSI?

[This next dream I'm splitting up over 2 or 3 entries, but they all happened in one night.]
Part 1: I was in a swimming pool with many other people, it was a school class. We each had to pick a body/cadaver (which were floating randomly in the water) and write an autopsy report. I ended up with a young girl in a bathing suit, and someone else ended up with her twin sister. My cadaver was in almost perfect condition except for some sores around the face, while her twin was in much worse condition. I asked questions about whether she was diabetic (she was, but so was her sister), how much salt she usually had in her diet (about the same as her sister), etc. Class time was up so I had to write something, so I wrote an inconclusive report.

Next thing I remember, I was at the edge of a rock pool (small like a hottub) filled with a strange pink goo. A holy man was there telling us how the goo came from the rocks and had a magical power. I wanted to use the goo to find out what was special about the girl, but I didn't know how. Neither did the holy man. I put some goo in a cup, and it happened to pass by another cup of water sitting on the edge of the pool. The water leaned toward that side of the cup, like it was attracted to the goo. The water belonged to a guy in the group with me, and the water had been previously blessed to be attracted to holy things. I got the idea that the goo might be edible, so one group member scooped up a handful and ate it. Surprisingly he liked it. I was skeptical & hesitant, but eventually I kneeled down & scooped up a handful of my own. It was sweet & really not that bad of a taste.

pics

Here are just a couple of pictures I thought were fun and/or interesting. The first one was taken while I was parking my car at Walmart. To me it doesn't look like the comfiest place to take a nap, but what do I know?



This one was taken just after my birthday in November last year. I just liked the colors.

2/17/05 - Peanut Butter

Dream 1: peanut butter & vanilla melted on a stove and poured over chocolate cake. [I remember having a dream about my cousin, Lisa, making this. For some reason it just sounded so good that I just had to write it down when I woke up.]

Dream 2: mike & I had some discount tickets for the movies we had picked up from the box office. as we stood in line for the movie, a nearby movie employee pointed out there may be a problem with the expiration date on our tickets. I looked close at the tickets and they appeared to be fine, but the employee still insisted they wouldn't work. all of a sudden the boy next to us in line was pinning his ticket to the sleeve of my shirt for some reason, and we were let into the movies. we walked across the front of an auditorium filled with people, then we trotted up the stairs on the left side. on our way to the top I noticed Elder Mounteer from my mission starting to sit down. there wasn't time to talk and for some reason he was shirtless at this point. Mike was ahead of me at that point but I know he would save me a seat. At the top of the auditorium I went through a door to our theater (the movie we were seeing was Gladiator) and it turned out to be a small bedroom. There were a few beds (all filled with strangers except Mike on one end) and some mattresses strewn on the floor. I sat on one of the mattresses and tried to make myself comfortable.

date w/girl B in strange house, she leads me hurriedly up some stairs & into a corner so we can kiss. shortly, Justin from work & a friend come tromping up the stairs. I can tell girl is upset so I say, "Do you wanna get out of here?" and we go back down the steps. We come out into a very white, clean, modern-looking building, and I recognize it as an airport. There are 2 steel, slanting doors with handles at the bottom & girl gets through one. The doors seem to want to stay shut, but I manage to get one open & step inside a small room. There are some older ladies in there, too, and the place is steel & sloped, too. Very slippery. And I know it as an elevator or a transport of some kind - like a wonkavator. It starts to move & it's so fast we get to sliding around & against each other. The room will take us wherever we want to go, so I yell out "Florida!" and everyone around me seems to think that's a good idea too. Girl yells out some teen popstar's name, and her music starts to play.

We find ourselves in a large grassy yard with a medium-sized home not far away. We're all lying in the grass. A man in the yard has a baby pig on a leash, and approaches us. I know something's supposed to happen when one of our group touches the pig (like we're supposed to be whisked away again), but as Girl touches the pig, nothing does. They play for a minute. The pig wanders to the fence lining the yard & seems to freeze, then startle & start snorting. It runs back to the man. I notice a similar snort, but one coming from the direction of the front of the house. I turn to look, and see something move out of sight in the front of the yard. I lay down so I can see some of the front yard & inch my way toward the fence. Against the front of the house are Santa's reindeer, lying down. At this point things seem CG, like the movie Polar Express. There's a group of people gathered around. I walk up to them and somehow realize what's going on. One of the reindeer is sick & needs an operation, and the group leader has a list of people in the group & their monetary contribution towards saving the animal. By some people's name there's just written the word "s ly"[I started writing this word but couldn't quite remember it]. They're about $17,000 short of the needed funds. Santa turns around, reaches into the top drawer of a dresser, and pulls out the cash for the difference. I get a little angry because I know santa will require they (the group) pay him back for his "loan".

New Blog

So here's my new blog. I've always been fascinated with dreams and what they are and if they mean anything. Last Valentine's Day I got my first "Official Dream Journal", and ever since then I've kept it next to my bed and tried to write down my dreams as soon as I wake up. There aren't a whole lot of entries, both because sometimes I just don't remember my dreams or I'm just too friggin lazy to write em down. But here's what I've got. I'll post past entries first until we get caught up to real time. Just as a head's up, yes, I know I'm sick. And beware, I WILL post some dreams with more "adult" material, but I may censor some stuff to try to lessen the blow. I may include normal blog stuff if I feel like it, too, just for posterity's sake.

2/16/05

end of the world - riding in a car. I looked out the window and the sun was huge. It was eating away the earth and warping the road behind us. I tried taking pictures of what was going on but the camera couldn't adjust to the brightness. Cars were still driving on the road. They'd just launch off the end of the road like a ramp & disappear into the abyss.