So I made Yaw read my blog about the spider in my dream, and being the helpful man that he is, he hopped over and did a quick search on http://dreammoods.com. I'm still working on how this all translates out in my dream, but it's pretty interesting anyway. Thank goodness I didn't moosh the spider, though!

To see a spider in your dream, indicates that you are feeling like an outsider in some situation. Or that you may want to keep your distance and stay away from an alluring and tempting situation. The spider is also symbolic of feminine power. Alternatively, a spider may refer to a powerful force protecting you against your self-destructive behavior. If you kill a spider, it symbolizes misfortune and general bad luck.

To see a spider spinning a web in your dream, signifies that you will be rewarded for your hard work. You will soon find yourself promoted in your job or recognized for your achievement in a difficult task. Spiders are a symbol of creativity due to the intricate webs they spin. On a negative note, spiders may indicate a feeling of being entangled or trapped in a sticky or clingy relationship. It represents some ensnaring and controlling force. You may feel that someone or some situation is sucking the life right out of you.

To see a spider climbing up a wall in your dream, denotes that your desires will be soon be realized.

To dream that you are bitten by a spider, represents a conflict with your mother or some dominant female figure in your life. The dream may be a metaphor for a devouring mother or the feminine power to possess and entrap. Perhaps you are feeling trapped by some relationship.

The Spiders in My Dreams

Last night I dreamed of a spider in a room of my dream house. By dream house, I don't mean the house I dream of owning. I mean the house I walk through in my dreams--constantly changing, with many secret or hidden places that I am always surprised to find even though the house is really a dream representation of my soul, my spirit, the place where my internal or subconscious self lives.

There is a room in that house where I used to play music, but apparently I haven't lately. But in my dream I went into that room for some unknown reason; not to play music, but to find something maybe. I'm really not sure. It's probably not as important as "Why haven't you been playing music in there?" but that's a question to ask on another day.

When I entered the room, there was evidence that it had been used, perhaps by another resident of the house (I am never the only one "living" in my dream house. It is occupied by the people I know and care about as well, although their presences tend to be more like long term visitors.) I walked into the room to find shoes, crumpled papers, other discarded items, all tossed about on the floor as if forgotten in a rush to leave. I decided this was unacceptable and that I should tidy up, and would most likely find the item I wanted in the process.

As I was moving one of the crumpled papers, I didn't take notice that a portion of it was a glossy white, almost like a very expensive paint job on a car, and that the white had other colors in a pattern on one side. I did take notice, however, when the object decided I should not be moving that piece of paper and attempted to chase it down.

With my view no longer blocked by quite so much refuse, I could see the spider a bit more clearly. This is not a spider I've ever seen in nature, so I'm sure it's a presence my subconscious wants me to consider. The body was the shiny white carapace describe above, and the colored pattern (reds and oranges) went down both sides. A section of midnight blue velveteen fur surrounded the bottom of this, then the long grey legs stole the show. The legs looked like long and bony human fingers that came to a point at the ends.

As spiders usually are, this one was both fast and nimble. My normal reaction is a mixture of "Kill it!" and "Run away! Macha! Macha!" (Caveman, if you didn't get the reference.) This occasion was no different. I took offense to the creature taking over in my music room, and was disgusted to find that in its rampage about the room, it was leaving a fresh trail of gossamer for me to pass through and be ickified. Bleah. It was never enough to endanger me, but it only takes one little strand to gross me out.

I never did catch up to the spider, but was still in the process of deciding whether to smash it outright, or to try to capture it and sell tickets to stare at it, when someone joined me in the room (because I was making a ruckus and they wanted to know why). Both of us were now crashing about the place trying to get the spider; the other person (I'm inclined to say male, but don't know who he was supposed to be) attempting to catch it, and myself still unsure what I wanted to do with it. The spider continued to elude us, which is generally the way of spiders. He began tossing bits of food out for it (where the food came from I have no idea and don't want to know) and it seemed to be interested in that.

Unfortunately I woke to the alarm at about the second toss of food, so I will have to wait until the next time I come across this creature to know if the food offerings were accepted. But now I know they may help to figure out what the blasted spider is doing in my music room. Maybe it's just a reminder. Hey, remember the music? Don't you want to come in here and play some more? (Actually, my dreams almost always have a soundtrack of some kind, just like a movie, appropriate to the mood. I can't remember the soundtrack of the dreams most times, but I always remember that it was there, and it always seems to be appropriate to the current activity in the dream.)

I used to have a book, or maybe I was just borrowing it, that gave common meanings of things you see in dreams. I've always believed that whatever the common meanings are, sometimes dream objects, presences, and occurrences mean different things to different people, and each person has to translate her/his own dreams based on the personal meaning of what is seen. But that book did say a few things about spiders that I always remember when I see spiders in my dreams. It means one thing if you see the spider on the wall and another if you see it on the floor/ground, and something else if you kill it. Of course, now I can't remember which means what, but I think maybe if it's on the wall, it's supposed to be good news. I have no idea what it means if the thing is running circles around you in the room, all over the floor, walls and ceiling. I'm just glad it didn't swing around from the ceiling fan and leap onto my head. Macha! Macha! I'll have to see if I can find that book again in a store.

Celebrating in Small Ways

Yesterday, I left work within 15 minutes of when I was actually supposed to leave (pretty good for me). I had a plan. I had sent Yaw a text the other night and told him the grill was built and two steaks were marinating. We agreed that he'd come over after work and we'd break it in.

I got home, got some charcoal into the grill and got it lit, I lit up the bug candle I'd bought and went in to feed the fur bellies. They were a bit miffed because I did these things before feeding them, but I needed the coals to have as much time as possible to heat up before Yaw got here so we would be able to eat soon after.

My plan worked perfectly. Except for the part where I thought the $12 package of 1 1/2 inch thick steaks would take much longer to cook than it did. Fortunately, I checked on them and discovered the error in my calculations. Mine came out close to perfect, but Yaw's looked like a piece of the charcoal on the outside. I was very disappointed that he didn't get a perfect steak the first time around, but now that I know how fast this critter works, I can adjust for that in the future.

So we sat down and ate, and I said this was a small celebration for me in my grill building triumph, but it was actually a celebration for him as well. He's picked up a side job doing consulting work for a travel company. It's not like a McHell side job where you stand in the lava pit all day even though your body is screaming for water and rest. He can do this from his own home (or wherever he happens to be with all his techno-geek gear that I love so much).

Speaking of work, I guess I'd better get ready for that. Not independently wealthy yet, but still working on it!

Nice recipe for a cheese fanatic on a sleepy evening:

Dinner:
1 left over pork loin marinated in various of my favorite ingredients, all of which are secret and any interlopers will be shot on sight getting anywhere near me while I'm making it. For added enjoyment, this can be topped with Pineapple chunks to give it a tropical flair. The pork can be cooked on a Foreman grill if you, like me, were too lazy and tired when returning from purchasing your new table-top size Weber grill to put the blasted thing together and cook on it.

6 discs of Garlic flavored Bagel Crisps, approximately 1 1/2 inches diameter each. Top these with your favorite melty cheese and bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes, or until cheese is melted to your idea of perfection. My choice tonight was a mixture of English Cheddar (the only true Cheddar comes from Cheddar England), and Stilton. Yum! I call this treat "Little Boy Blues" because when the last one is gone and there is no more cheese to peel off the foil you lined the oven with, you are suddenly blue. It has nothing to do with the color of the cheese. Really. You can make this more fancy (if you really need to) by mincing up scallions or chives and sprinkling onto the cheese. Note that once the cheese melts down into the bagel crisps, only the edges where no cheese sat are still crispy. All the rest of the bagel has now absorbed the appropriately high content of oils and fats from the melting cheese. Again, I say, "Yum!"

While the discs are baking, nibble on the remnants of cheese that crumbled off the block and try your best to peel them off the cutting board with larger crumbs from the bagel crisps. Your hips won't mind and your tummy and taste buds will love you forever.

Desert:
Not really necessary with this meal, but a good beverage is requisite to wash it down afterwards. I recommend a nice White Zinfandel and Sprite spritzer on ice. Have two - they're cold and yummy. If you can watch old movies and bore the living daylights out of your roommate while you're drinking them, all the better.

Tonight, all of this was made all the better by the fact that I finally DID put together that Weber grill all by myself, even though there were all kinds of parts to be assembled. I only had two washers left over at the end. Yay me! Now, two steaks are marinating in yet further secret ingredients and the grill is out on the walkway on my cheap little home made table that came from someone's yard sale and my old rusty lawn chair is sitting there waiting for me to rest in it while I cook on my grill. Understand that when you say "my grill" it is said with utmost pride and respect. The grill is good. The grill uses fire to cook the food. Fire! Fire! Hehhhh... :-)

More Coffee Drama

How many coffee makers can one person go through in a 2-year period? Apparently 3. I am now on my third coffee maker since moving to Florida. What's with that?

The latest coffee pot drama occurred (again) on the weekend, when I am generally desperate for a cup to get me moving so I can deal with McD's. This last weekend being my last, I needed it even more to keep from making irreparable comments to the boss--just in case I ever need to go back.

I had my coffee Saturday morning, went on to work, and came home to shower and nap. I missed the Hash again because I was too tired/ouchy to walk a 3-6 mile trail then get home in time to get to bed so I could work 8 more hours the next day.

I got up from my nap and went about cleaning up my mess from the morning. I had some other dishes in the sink and put the carafe from the coffee maker in with them. I was holding a glass in my hand above the sink while I washed it, and it slipped free and landed in the sink. Right on top of the carafe. The good news is that the glass is very solid and undamaged by the fall. The bad news is that the carafe is neither of those. Sigh.

Being too tired still to deal with it, I cleaned up that mess and finished the rest of the dishes. I decided I'd just have 7-11 coffee the next morning and promptly relocated to the couch where I dozed off and on the rest of the afternoon and evening while watching pirate documentaries on the History Channel until Brandon came home at 10 and woke me out of a sound sleep.

I went to bed, got up the next morning and went to 7-11 for coffee. I got through my last day at McD's unscathed (they let me leave at 11:30 even though my shift wasn't over until 1:00.) I went home and did the shower/nap thing again and when I got up, Brandon came home shortly after. We hung out for a while, and he eventually asked about the coffee pot, so I explained the drama of the previous afternoon.

I said I needed to go shopping anyway and invited him along, so we went and did the shopping and made sure the first thing on the list was a new coffee pot. I was hoping to just replace the carafe, but they didn't have the right one, or even a suitable substitute. So once again, I was faced by a bank of super fancy coffee pots that do everything but brush your teeth for you. I eventually settled on a 12-cupper (way too big) that has the two simple things I need: an on/off switch and interrupt. I don't need a clock in my coffee pot. I don't need to be set to auto. I don't need to change how strong or weak it is (really, isn't that just a matter of coffee to water ratio?) or any of those other fancy-pants they do with coffee pots.

So we got our coffee pot, and the rest of our groceries, and headed home. We got the cats coralled into the bathroom so we get everything into the house unhindered and I sat the new coffee maker on the counter until I was ready to deal with it. Before bed, I took it out of the box and gave everything a thorough cleaning in preparation for the morning. I plugged it in just to make sure it actually got power to it. Everything looked OK, so I went to bed confident that I would have life's blood in the morning.

I got up this morning and made my normal amount of coffee, which made the pot look extremely empty, and enjoyed that first cup. Ahhh. Now I'm happy. Again.

Coffee. :-)

Rain, Work, Sleepy

Rain always makes me sleepy. Yesterday at work, the rain combined with it being Friday and a Full Moon made me a little giddy towards the end of the day. I was in bed by 9:00.

For some reason my tummy was upset and it woke me up during the night, so I ended up sleeping upright for about half the night. When a noise woke me up at about 3, I decided I could lay down again, and I slept intermittently until the alarm sounded at 4.

I remember some of my dreams, the clearest memory being of some guy on a farm or ranch who had a bunch of different small dogs. The thing that strikes me most about it is that he was a very "manly" man, like you would expect to find owning a farm or ranch. But each of his dogs had a silly little doggie-size hat on its head, and in the dream I knew that the hats were the man's idea and not some silly woman attached to him. And he talked in baby voices to the dogs. I remember wanting to get away from him as quickly as I could, and yet I was fascinated by the whole dog/hat/baby voice thing. Like watching a crash; you don't want to stare but you find you have to look.

Now I'm sitting here trying to wake up for work for my last weekend at McD's. It's still raining. Tropical whatever-he-is-right-now Barry is dumping water and wind on my apartment. That means the floor boards of my truck probably have a lake in them. I've also just noticed that my roommate has me parked in. I'm not feeling very generous this morning. He may have to get up and move his car himself since he didn't leave his keys out for me. Maybe he'll remember not to park me in tomorrow for my last day. ;-)

I am glad for the rain though. There are still a number of brush fires burning out there, which hasn't helped my asthma at all. The firefighters are saying that it will take 2 or 3 tropical systems to dump enough water on them to get the worst of them put out. Maybe Barry's contribution will count towards that. Either way, we need the rain. Water tables are very low and have been since I got here. We really need to get them built up again.