Dreaming in Chinese

My best friend's native language is English. However, at some point in his life he was exposed to a lot of the Spanish language such that when he is drunk he can speak fluent Spanish. This may seem odd, but as scientists are discovering every day, the brain has strange powers (2nd paragraph).

Last night I dreamed that I was in China, the reason I was there was not clear but it had to do with work (not my current job, some other job I had). The entire dream was in Chinese. Now, let me be up front and say that I do not speak Chinese. I can count the number of words of Chinese I know on one hand. The dream clearly was in a language I do not speak, and everyone in the dream was Asian (besides myself), and the town I was in looked like downtown Hong Kong (big Chinese neon billboards and all) and yet I was able to read and understand everything I saw on the billboards and everything I heard people say.

This is difficult to explain but what I'm trying to say is that people were speaking Chinese words in my dream and I understood them when I heard them. My brain was doing the translation from sounds to understanding the same way it does it for me in the other languages I speak (English, Spanish, French). Very strange stuff indeed. Maybe this article explains it (again 2nd paragraph but also the last 2 paragraphs as well).

On a completely different topic I found these two quotes online and thought they were hilarious so I have to share them. The first one is a biblical reference to Ruth and is a warning for women who are getting impatient to find their "True Love" or are just lonely and want companionship:

"To all the girls who are in a hurry to have a boyfriend or get married, a piece of Biblical advice: 'Ruth patiently waited for her mate, Boaz.' While you are waiting for YOUR Boaz, don't settle for any of his relatives; Broke-az, Po-az, Lyin-az, Cheatin-az, Dumb-az, Drunk-az, Cheap-az, Lockedup-az, Goodfornuthin-az, Lazy-az, and especially his third cousin Beatinyo-az. Wait for Boaz and make sure he respects Yoaz."

And another one that I think many people (on many levels) can relate to when they think about their upbringing (and if you can't, you are blessed):

"I was raised in the valley
There was shadows and death
Got out alive but with scars
that I can't forget."

Hard? No. Impossible.

[Note: I wrote this post about a month ago, in the middle of the end of the semester blues. I finished the paper I mention below. I still haven't gotten the grade back yet, but you know what? It's done. So very done. :)]


Writing is a funny thing. Sometimes it comes easy, sometimes it doesn't come at all. The range of difficulty encompasses everything in between (and maybe something outside that) as well. I've often believed that only in writing does man truly find in himself something deeper, everything else one might do or be is just a shadow of that deeper aspect. Who's to say if I'm right or wrong? Everyone who reads this I suppose; however, I will simply agree to disagree with you.

A life's work can be anything, it's true, but only in hearing about it, reading about it, or seeing it do you really get a glimpse of it; if not a complete understanding. Those three: hearing, reading, and seeing, are just a form of storytelling, implicit in the way our senses work. We tell ourselves stories all day everyday through our senses. That's all writing really is: storytelling.

If I could tell you a story now, I would (and who knows maybe I am already), but none come to mind. I sit here after a full day of ostensibly working on a research paper, but all I've done is learn how much I didn't, and that made it all the harder.

"Like a face, getting forced to the floor." That's a line from a new Chevelle song that just came on right now and it made me smile sadly. Sadly because it reminds me so much of what it's been like to try and write this research paper. I have a weak idea, and less interest in it than I do in watching the paint peel on the wall near my cubicle. That makes the writing go beyond difficult; into the range of near impossibility.

What men think about...

This made me laugh. A pretty funny version of how to prepare your daughter for certain things in life.

Lol!