What Dreams May Come

I tend to have the most vivid, awkward, creative, intense, [enter additional adjectives here] dreams. Sometimes I'm apart of the dreams and other times I'm just an observer. I've had dreams about real people that I know or have heard of as well as fictional characters. I keep thinking, maybe I'll have a dream that I will want to write down and turn into a novel, which will make me rich and famous.

Hell, that's what happened to Stephanie Meyer with Twilight.

But the truth is, I really like my dreams. It's my escape from time to time. Now, I can't honestly say that I remember all of my dreams, but I do remember most of them. The main reason: they are very detailed. Go big or go home, right? Apparently, I usually go all out for my dreams. Also, not all of my dreams are just imagination. Quite a few have a purpose.

When I was in college and grad school, I didn't like staying up late to finish papers or homework. I worked much better in the morning, so once it got past 10 or 11 at night, I'd have to turn in and finish the stuff in the morning. The reason, I couldn't really function late at night. I've never been a night owl, so my brain would just shut down. When I would go to sleep, if I was struggling with a homework problem or how I should finish my paper, I would work through it in my dreams.  I'd wake up, immediately go to the computer just pound out the homework. It was always better than what I was working on the night before and it just worked.

Then, there are the drug induced dreams. Actually, I'd like to say that drugs (like over-the-counter/cold medicine-type drugs) affect my dreams, but I'm not enturely sure they do. I think I would have these dreams anyway. Here are four different dreams that I've had recently and you can be the judge.

Dream #1 (no meds): I had a delightful conversation with my neighbor (who I rarely talk to and don't know a bunch about...but I know enough to have this dream). We chatted about work and his band, yada yada yada. However, for some reason, I changed his accent and made him slightly foreign (totally not the case in real life). We were just sitting around and he came up to talk to me and it evolved from there. He asked me out (which is where I definitely know it was a dream...because that hasn't happened) and it was just a pleasent dream. I woke up wanting it to happen in real life (except the foreign accent...that's not him).

Dream #2 (on cold medicine): I ran into two college friends in the gym. They told me they were planning their weddings (though one is already married in real life and I don't believe the other is engaged). The gym suddenly transforms into a place for bacherlorette parties (I don't know if it was a resort or a casino) and I'm pulled into helping them. Then it became overwhelmingly Disney related. There were characters and themes and just Disney everywhere.

Dream #3 (no meds): I was in an episode of Haven. I took the place of the 'Audrey Parker' character, which I'm not complaining about because it meant I was interacting with the 'Nathan' and 'Duke' characters. It wasn't an episode I had ever scene before (as I was makign it up) but just like an episode, we had to solve a troubled person's affliction and figure out how they could live in society.

Dream #4 (on decongestant...ps, this was just last night): I'd like to say this dream came in two parts. The first part, I was flying in a helicopter to get to my cousin's wedding. Very odd. I'm not sure which cousin (as I have two that are engaged), but I know I was going to one of their weddings. Then, it morphed into a British television and movie extravaganza. Lord. It began with James Bond. Bond and I were dealing with a few of his girls (as they were both bad). First up: Miley Cyrus. Yup, you read that right. She wasn't twerking, but she wasn't behaving. Anyway, we just left her behind on a train as we moved on. Then,  Famke Janssen (from X-Men and Goldeneye) was back. She was a bit of a mix of her Jean Grey character and her Xenia Onatopp (oh, Bond names) character. She was lurring Bond by saying she was cupid and would shoot our friends in the heart if she didn't get him. She led us to a room and there lined up like a firing squad: Sherlock, Doctor Who and Harry Potter characters! What?! She was done. We got her and freed our friends. But we couldn't let themleave because there was a ministry of defence meeting happening out back and apparently they would have to go through the meeting to get out. Then Voldemort appeared and he decided he would go bust up the meeting. I stayed behind while Bond dealt with him. And I began to ponder how I would write this down (yep...still dreaming).

Thus, why I'm writing this blog entry. Ok...maybe the drugs do affect me. ;-)

London - Day 4

Today was the long run day. Technically, I was supposed to do 20 miles this particular morning...but let's face it, it wasn't going to happen. Honestly, with the amount of walking we had been doing in London, it wasn't going to be hard to get most of my mileage in anyway, just not at one whack.

So, today was 7 miles. I started on Park lane, just outside the hotel and headed north. Crossed over into Hyde Park and began my journey. I changed it up a bit today, trying to find things, like the Peter Pan Statue, etc. I was also taking pictures this time around since I had gotten the lay of the land from Thursday's run and I was going further, so more to see.

So, I did a route that took me around and through Hyde Park, Kensington Park, St. James Park and Green Park. It was a beautiful morning, but colder than Thursday. The doorman even told me on my way out that it was brisk morning for a run. I constantly saw my breath, the grass was frosted over and there was a low fog over most of the grounds and waterways.

After the run, I got back to the hotel and again, all it wanted was a hot shower. Too bad my room was being serviced (aka cleaned) when I got back at 9. Luckily, I only had to wait about 5 minutes and they were done.

I then called my parents to give them their 'wake up' call and I proceeded to get in the shower. That's when the trouble began. I finished my shower and shut off the water. I made a step in the tub and WHAM! I slipped and fell. Luckily the only thing I banged up was my elbow, but damn, that hurt.

Anyway, I got ready and headed down for breakfast, meeting my parents in the lobby. I tried something different today: Red Flannel Hash, which is made with beets instead of corned beef. It was delicious! Pan fried beets, potatoes, goat cheese and two fried eggs. Amazing. I will be making this at home.

So once breakfast was finished, I went up to my room to called the National Theater to see when their backstage tours were and if they would have an availability. Sadly, no. So I ended up going to the Churchill War Rooms with mom instead. This was an interesting maze underground. It was very tight quarters, reminding me of a submarine, but not quite as compact. We had a self guided audio tour that we used as we weaved in and out of the tiny rooms and corridors.

We did make it over to the National Theatre, just to see it. It's a cool grouping of buildings and they house three different performance spaces. The national Theatre is where War Horse and One Man, Two Guvnors got their starts, and where the awesome Frankenstein with Benedict Cumberbatch and Johnny Lee Miller in the reversing lead rolls was performed. It's been home to so many talented artists. It was a very cool thing to be able to walk in the doors. Had I known the tours would have booked up so fast, I would have taken care of that earlier. Alas, another trip is needed...oh darn.

 

So, from there, we went to King's across Station. Why? But for Platform 9 3/4 of course. Yup, I waited in line to get my picture taken with the trolley and I'm not ashamed. After walking through the gift shop, yup there was a Harry Potter gift shop there too...mom turned to me and said "from one fictional character, to another...time for Sherlock Holmes."

From King's Cross, we headed to Baker Street and the Sherlock Holmes Museum at 221B Baker Street. While we were waiting in line, I over heard a rather crabby gentleman who was walking past say something to the extent of "I don't know why they are waiting in line for a fictional character" and I guess he had a point. Sherlock Holmes was not a real person and he never lived at 221B Baker Street. It's not like going to Buckingham Palace and seeing what royalty may have used had they been real. But having just come from Platform 9 and 3/4 and being a person who goes to Disney World, what person hasn't hung out with a fictional character?! You don't go to Cinderella's castle because it's a real castle! Puh-lease.

Anyway, we went through the house/museum very quickly which was nice. Both mom and I were pretty tired and our feet were hurting, but we could at least say we had been there.

I had a little over an hour between when we returned to the hotel and when we were meeting for dinner prior to going to the theater. We decided on The Park Room at the hotel again, because it was easy to get to (duh) and it was tasty. Both mom and dad had the club sandwiches again (and honestly, I almost did too because it was so good) but I changed it up a bit. I had a trio of mini 'burgers' which consisted of an angus burger with a mustard sauce, a lamb burger with a mint-yogurt sauce and a lobster burger with a mango chutney. All were very tasty, but even with a side of fries, it wasn't enough. The mixture of the running this morning along with all of the walking throughout the day with no lunch, I was starving.

Mom gave me her last quarter of her sandwich. I must have looked a sight for her to take pity on me. ;-)

After we finished, I ran upstairs to get changed for the show and was quickly back down for us to snag a taxi to The Playhouse Theatre to see SPAMALOT. Both dad and I were exhausted, but we made it through. I was excited to see the production because I knew the music well and I wasn't disappointed.

We did see the cover for King Arthur, who was good, but a bit too young for the role. The cast was cracking each other up throughout the night, which can be both a good and a bad thing. In this case, it was both a good and a bad thing. ;-) But overall, the show was good and I'm happy to say that I have now seen it.

Then it was back in a taxi and back to the hotel. Another day in London...done.