Fieldtrips and dreams

I love fieldtrips! I went on my first one for work yesterday. It was only to Vegreville, not very exciting, but hey, I got to see the world's largest Ukrainian egg! It was fun hopping in the car and going for a drive and knowing I was getting paid for it. It was a nice day, I had the windows rolled down and CKUA playing loud....I was in heaven for 200km. I drove past Elk Island, and everything is so green and beautiful. I had the urge to pull over and run bare-footed in the grass. I didn't, but I should've. And I saw lots of baby cows too. Sometimes I forget to take time to just slow down and breathe - being stuck on the middle of the Trans Canada Highway gives you nothing but time to breathe (not slow down, mind you!). So I came home from work feeling somewhat refreshed. Until, of course, I looked at my schedule and realized exactly how much crap I still have to do, and then I started wondering why I just spent 2 hours in a car when I couldn've been working on said crap.

Anyway, small towns have a funny feel to them. Especially small farming towns. As I found my way to the hospital I had a screenplay for a small-town suspense murder mystery all planned out in my head. It was also strange being in a small town hospital - such a different atmosphere from the U of A. You can tell that the doctors know their patients from the notes they take. One nurse actually wrote "he says his ears are ringing like he has 2 John Deers in his head". I giggled right out loud. As I sat in the little office they gave me to do my work, I listened to the staff giggle and gossip out in the hallway (did you hear about so and so? what do you think of so and so's hair?). Kept me entertained.

And then last night I had the strangest dream! I dreamed that some horrible natural disaster happened and wiped away half of the human population. What remained were 2 groups of people: one group felt that all that was left of the Earth should be redistributed and shared equally among the survivors; the other group wanted to kill off the first group and keep everything to themselves. I was in my parents' house (my dad survived too). Everyone was outside screaming, and I was in the kitchen making a snack and having a glass of water. Dad told me I need to get out there and fight for what I believe in. I told him that I would, but that I needed to calm myself down first, that I would be more effective if my head was firmly on my shoulders. So I finished eating and went outside. There were dead bodies everywhere, and people were working to pile them up and cover them. All of the people who wanted to share the planet were trying to make their way to some sort of peaceful area, while the other group shot at them.

Someone threw a gun at me and told me to use it to protect myself - I told them I stood for peace and didn't want a gun. They told me to use it only for protection, and nothing else. A young boy came running at me, pointing the gun at me and getting ready to fire. I didn't hesitate to pick up the gun - someone was yelling instructions at me on how to use it. I aimed and fired at this kid, but instead of bullets coming out, only red ink came out. The others behind me started screaming, saying that we had been tricked. But I discovered my aim was perfect, so I aimed for this kid's right eye and kept shooting this ink at him - he went blind, dropped his gun, and ran away.

I made my way to the HQ of our group, which strangley was run by the man who wrote my favourite yoga book. HQ was based out of a store that sold homemade beaded jewelery on one side and eyeglasses on the other. It was all in shambles and the walls were cracking and there was no power or electricity. I gave him a novel that was a fictional story describing exactly what was happening to the world now (iot was like an Orwell book or something) - we put it up on the wall as a reminder that the good can win.

Strange one, eh?

Anyways...off to Drumheller for the weekend!