Who do I still think I am??

This one's about dreams and the lack of.

30DBC PROMPT: "Our brains are master creators when we sleep, creating worlds of dreams for us to explore every night. Write about the last vivid or lucid dream you remember and what you believe its significance was."

Happy weekend, friends! For "Creation Saturday" in the "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS"  we're being asked to explore sort of the subconscious...which, if you ask me, is kinda the polar opposite of creation in that you're not exactly in charge of the motion pictures your head's running while you're asleep. You're not casting, or directing...it's more like someone just popped in a dvd at random and you happen to be in it.

I feel like I've gotten lucky with a lot of these prompts so far in that once I've checked them out I have a rough idea of which way I want to go with them. I feared my luck had come to a screeching halt today, because I don't always remember my dreams and when I do I'm not comfortable bringing them up in conversation. Lo and behold, I dozed off for a little while earlier this afternoon and was greeted by possibly the strangest dream I've had in quite some time. Allow me to share.

I was in a fast food restaurant that looked a lot like an Arby's from the early '80's, but the counter area was very, very small and the menu board had maybe a quarter of the items you can find at your local Arby's. One of the items was sesame sticks made with bits of dried jalapenos, which to my knowledge doesn't even exist anywhere. And they sold Tim Horton's coffee, which also is rather odd. There was a mean, overweight manager-type of woman taking inventory counts, and there was a tv in the lobby showing a police drama starring Gary Busey in a wheelchair playing a Max Headroom-ish character (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYdpOjletnc) opposite Harrison Ford looking very intellectual.

All I can recall of my actions in this dream sequence was trying to place an order, and then waiting for what seemed like forever. Besides the outlandish details, there really was nothing else of note going on. I can't even speculate as to what it's supposed to mean, or why I remember such a weird dream...it happened very fast, and there seems to be conflicting and contradictory tones to it. I'm just gonna take comfort in the fact that I didn't wake up screaming or shocked, and that it wasn't remotely nightmarish or overly troubling...that's a win by my standards.

BCF PROMPT: "Tonight on the news another shooting incident at a Philadelphia school. Two students were hospitalized. Why do you think children are taking guns to school? What is escalating this violence? What do you think as a society as a whole we can do to stop this? Will gun control really make a difference? This is a very controversial issue in our country."

First off, I offer my condolences to the victims, their families, and the community. Another senseless tragedy. Unfortunately, there will always be more questions than answers.

I pulled this up after a quick Google search, in case anyone wants to read about it: http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/17/justice/philadelphia-high-school-shooting/.

For the life of me, I'll never understand what possesses people to open fire on a crowd of (likely) innocent people. I have a difficult enough of a time as it is trying to rationale gun usage in general, for any purpose. But for one person to turn a gun on a fellow human being, it blows my fucking mind. All sorts of things have to happen, and in no particular order, for something like this to occur: a dispute, a possibly illegal transaction, and someone (probably more than one person) not being right in the head.

I know there are plenty of law-abiding people who are properly trained in the art of gun ownership and usage. Good for them. But it only takes one person with immature tendencies, a piss-poor attitude, and some unfortunate circumstances to ruin it for the average person who just likes to hunt deer a few weekends a year.

It's easy for me to spit out reasons why I think this nonsense occurs. Is it a breakdown in parenting? That seems like the most logical explanation. But how are these kids getting guns? What propels someone to think they can settle their problems by shooting other people? Why aren't other coping mechanisms in place? How does this prove anything other than how stupid and pointless reckless gun violence is? Who wants to be that example?

I don't have solutions. I don't know how you take guns away from people who are otherwise good citizens, and I don't know how you keep guns out of the hands of people who clearly aren't mentally stable enough to go through the proper purchase channels or are willing to do whatever they have to in order to circumvent the system. Background checks are great, but if someone wants a gun bad enough to reach a point where they'd consider killing someone, you better believe they're gonna find a way to get their hands on a piece one way or another.

And I'm sorry, but guns in schools is the most unimaginative thing going nowadays (not that anyone who's reached that point has an imagination to begin with). You'd think with all the press anyone who shoots up a school gets, there'd be some kind of evolutionary process for murderers that kicks in and says "Yo, school shootings are so 2012...I need to do something more memorable". I don't mean that in any kind of way that advocates murdering people...and now I'm just rambling. The point is, there's no tried-and-true method for making any sense of this issue. All I know is I'm glad I never had a need to own a gun or use one (Boy Scout camp excluded), and lord knows I'm the last person that needs to try and satisfy an itchy trigger finger.

MUSICAL BREAK!!

I was gonna go with Atmosphere's "Smart Went Crazy" solely for the line "I never sold coke and I never had to hold a pistol" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svnbtrmlX3I), but I feel a greater need to switch up the tone of this entry from weird and depressing to something else. I don't know what that is yet, but I'll gladly take eight minutes or so trying to get there.

THE DAILY BOX SCORE:

4th: The fine people associated with the "Blogging Circle of Friends Prompt Forum"  have voted, and they've named me "Blogger Of The Week" again for the fourth time. I'm very humbled by this designation, because I don't think I'm anything special. It's a great little honor though, and I'm very appreciative. That and $1.70 will get me a cup of coffee at the diner next door. But seriously, no, it's a cool thing to be BOTW...it shows that people pay attention and read and that you've made enough of an impression upon them to put your entries over other (just as worthy, if not more) writers and their words.

For awhile I was keeping a notebook next to my bed because I was having problems with dreams scaring the shit outta me (not nightmares, but more along the lines of creepy and uncomfortable situations), and my therapist wanted me to write down details so we could discuss them later. He never followed up on that. I should probably consider changing up therapists, since he never really follows up on suggestions and probably thinks he's a genius anytime there's a breakthrough of sorts that leads him to propose grand ideas he'll never ask me about ever again.

Again my fair hometown gets a little love in the form of an internet piece regarding the stereotypes associated with Buffalonians (http://www.movoto.com/blog/opinions/buffalo-stereotypes/). I will cop to all of these, especially #9, which has long been a peeve of mine. Buffalo Wild Wings (I won't provide a link because they don't merit any more promotion than they're already getting) can't compare to the chicken wings you can get at nearly any local corner pizza place or bar. And any place that sells you something called "Buffalo wings" is clearly ripping you off, because it's not the real thing.

Well, now's as good a time as any to get out of here and reset my head after today's prompts. I've got a little catching up to do on yesterday's 30DBC entries, and hopefully I'll snag a decent night's sleep after...Sunday's "Weekly Recap" is on the horizon, and there's a lot to think about in regards to the past week's submissions. Peace, get your dream on, and GOODNIGHT NOW!!