Spoven Weedle Presents...: Doggie Dreams

Redman - "Doggz II"

As you may know, I recently went to Africa (and if you don't know, why aren't you taking more interest in my life?). Before going, I had to get several immunizations. I also had to take malaria pills every day, starting two days before my trip. One of the possible side effects for the pills was "weird dreams". To me, that seemed more like an added bonus than a side effect. I enjoy dreams, even weird ones (especially weird ones). I'm fascinated by the way our minds work, and dreams are simply our subconscious minds expressing themselves. Even nightmares are fascinating to me. The fact that something happening in the unconscious mind can have an impact on our physical bodies (sweating, chills, sense of fear) is incredible; it shows how little we know about our own brains, and furthermore, our own existence.

I didn't have too many weird dreams in Africa because I didn't sleep too well with the heat and an awful bed, but I did have a few very vivid, very strange dreams. One in particular felt intensely realistic, and it created in my mind a certainty of future events. Let me explain:

About a week into my trip to Tanzania, I started to sleep a little better. One night, I must have slept for a solid 4 hours straight (a mini-miracle at that point). When I awoke, I remembered my dream clearly. As with all of my dreams, the chronology was off; I don't know where things started or ended, they just happened. All I know is, I ended up with a dog in my car as I drove to my home at Corbin Frat in New Britain. The dog was a pit-bull mix with a grayish(almost blue)/black coat. He was short but thick and muscular, like most pits. I remembered thinking in my dream ("thinking" inside of a dream is pretty weird in itself; it's like multiple levels of your consciousness working at once) that I would have to somehow convince my roommate/ landlord (J-Rocka) to keep the dog. That was an odd thought, because I know he loves dogs. However, in real life, we had previously talked about having a dog at our place and always came to the same conclusion: we didn't have work schedules that would allow us to properly care for a dog. So in my dream, I was a little nervous about how he would react.

After a long drive with the dog (or a quick one, time is meaningless in dream) I finally reached home. As I entered, everything seemed very strange. There was paint (blood maybe) all over the walls and things were knocked over. J-Rocka came downstairs with 2 other friends. They had very focused, serious looks on their faces, and it looked like they were prepared for war. I told J-Rockefeller about the dog and he approved, but it seemed like he barely heard because he was still focused on something else. I asked what was going on and he explained that some people had robbed/trashed the house. My friends were now going after the people who had done it. As they left, I asked if I could help. Then I remembered that I had a deadly weapon on a leash, and I took the dog with me. We started out on our revenge mission...and then I woke up.

It didn't make much sense, but I had the overwhelming feeling that we would be getting a dog soon after I returned from Africa. I just hoped the rest of it wouldn't come true.

When I finally got home on a Friday afternoon, one of the first things Jay said to me was, "I might be getting a dog." Friends of his couldn't take care of their dog anymore and they were looking for a good home.

I laughed to myself. After my dream, I was truly convinced we would be getting a dog, but it's one of those things that is still very strange when it happens. I didn't want to jinx anything so I decided to tell him about the dream after we physically had the dog.

The next day, J-RockaFlocka told me how there had been several burglaries in the area and we should be extra careful about locking doors and windows. Getting a dog now was good timing because it would be extra security.

Now it was just bizarre. I looked at him and laughed before telling him about the dream.

I love how the mind works. I don't exactly know how it works, but I love it. A simple explanation for the similarities between my dream and reality is that the idea of getting a dog was already in my mind, so dreaming about getting one wasn't a stretch. Then, after I heard about the burglaries, I just made a mental connection to the events in my dream to give them meaning. I guess it's not really that mysterious, but it is pretty cool.

Anyways, here's some pics of Bay, the proud mascot of Corbin Frat. He's 5 years old, and we think he's a mix of a pitbull and a black lab. Besides his coat being dark brownish/black instead of greyish/black, he's the exact dog from my dream: well-behaved, friendly, and ready to help us catch burglars.