strange dreams

I don't know what happened the first time, but I was just about to post a dream I just had. It started after my dog (I think) woke me up somewhere around 2 am, so it's not very long. I was down in my room, here in my parents' basement.
Doesn't that sound so bad? Living in my parents' basement? but I guess it's a bit better when you add that I'm going to school and I'm engaged.
So here I am, with my little green buddy, and we're playing some sort of video game, as we have a tendency to do. This long, off-white snake crawls out from under my bed or from somewhere around there. It slithers over into my closet, and up over my clothes. My little green buddy doesn't see it, I'm backing up and standing up on my bed. I'm about to tell him there's a snake, but my dog Mini comes in and sees it drop to the closet floor. She barks, the snake strikes and misses, and my little green buddy jumps over to the closet and starts waving his arms, accosting the snake. I jump over there and get between him and it as it coils up to strike, and catch it as it lunges out. I've got it by the throat and I close my eyes becuase I think it may be about to spit its venom at me. Then I decide it must not be one of those spitting snakes, so I take it upstairs trying to find somewhere to throw it or otherwise relieve myself of this horrible creature. I'm making my way up to the top floor intending to throw it out the window when it occurrs to me that it would probably come back into my house or go into someone else's house, so I've got to do something else with it.
About this time, I'm in a video game, and there's these nasty bird things flying back and forth across the screen as I'm trying to get to a cliff from which I'm going to throw the snake, sending it hurtling to a squishy demise. While jumping over a small pit, I'm struck in the back by one of the birds. I lose a life and start back in my bedroom.
This time my little green buddy isn't there. My older sister Wreath is there in my room, playing video games. She doesn't see the snake, but I do. First I'm scared, but then the snake starts coming straight at her. I jump down too late. It's got her by the arm. Long fangs are pumping venom into her flesh. I panic a bit, then grab the snake by the neck and pry its jaws open and get it off her arm. I can tell she's already getting woozy as I try to dial 911. Then I wake up.

Does this have anything to do with a lasting dislike for WhiteSnake? Actually, I don't know what their music sounds like, I just don't think they could've been any good. The worst thing about this dream is that now I'm feeling jumpy just sitting in my own bedroom. Try not to have any nightmares that take place in your bedroom. It's not very cool.

Jer

I shouldn't be writing this

I should be working on my take home test, but I guess I like a little break now and then, a little distraction from the drudgery of school work. Just call me double duece. Thanks Tim. I've felt really overscheduled lately. I kindof wish I wasn't doing so much, like maybe I could not have a job, or not be going to school right now. The main problem is most or all of my time in a given week is taken up by my top four priorities. Really none of them are low enough priorities to be given up. I almost want to take less than full time next semester, but I couldn't pick any one class to drop. The only less than essential class I am taking is only one credit. I'm not going to drop latin ballroom because it just wouldn't make that much of a difference in my overall class-oad. S probably thinks I'm trying to sound like an overachiever again. Personally I think I sound like a fool who lets himself end up with too many commitments and not enough time for the finer things in life. Maybe that's not really so because one of my main priorities that takes up a lot of my time is S. She's great, and she's very important to me, and I make sure I have time to spend with her. I guess that really doesn't leave me like one of those guys so consumed by school or work that they lose track of the people they care about. That's what I really want to avoid, permanently. I never want to be so busy that I don't have time to enjoy my family and close friends. I hope nobody I know lets that happen to them. I hope you're all doing well, and taking time to enjoy those who matter most to you.

J

he's not ours, but he sure is cute. 

Balancing Act

Lately in my life I have been rather busy. I usually have something to do most of the time, but these days I really have a lot more that I want to do than I have time for in any given day. There are four main things I'm trying to do with my time: Study for/go to school, study the scriptures, spend time with S, and work. This week, at least, work has dropped out of the running on it's own. I only have two days on the schedule and I was able to pick up one more. I have tons of reading to do for school, and quite a bit of study I want to do for church as well. Generally I'm not able to complete as much as I want to of either because things come up. Recently there was a wedding, and today my mom needed a ride downtown to pick up her glasses, since she can't drive without them. Interspersed between all of those are laundry, keeping my room clean, making sure school is going to be what I want it to next semester, and occasionally seeing friends, though I generally don't have time for that unless it's planned for ahead of time. I get the feeling that I should just be trying to do less, but what would I drop? School isn't it, because I need to progress towards graduation. S is definitely staying a prominent part of my life because she's simply very important to me. I'm not about to quit my job either, I have things I want, like a trip to California with S to see my friends and hers and hit the beach for a day or so. Besides, who wants to hire a college boy who hasn't worked in 4 years? I'm not going to neglect reading the scriptures because that's inevitably tied to wanting S and I to be and have an eternal family. I have so much to read and understand about the melchizedek priesthood.
In the end I generally have a fair ammount of time with S and little time with friends. I'm generally at school when I'm supposed to be, except maybe the first few minutes on any given day. I'm at work when I can be but it's not often enough, and if it were it wouldn't leave enough time to keep up with reading for school, reading the Holy scriptures, and spending time with S. I could give up the hour or so each day that I relax, but I'm not ready to.
Stephen R Covey suggests that I should first figure out which things are important in my life, and then try to spend most of my time working on the things that are important and not urgent, so that there won't be so many important and urgent things because I'd have them done already. My problem is there doesn't seem to be any non-urgent important things in my life except the very important spending time with S. I can't give that up, so I hope she doesn't mind me trying to take care of reading during part of the time I spend with her, cause I really can't do it at work.

Maybe I'll figure something out. TTYL.

J