Vivid Dream: Mousecapade

I had a whopper of a vivid dream last night.

I had written and was producing a TV pilot or filmed play. The cast was assembled and included professional actors and personal friends, notably from the ViewAskew board. Things were chaotic -- bits were filmed and we were in the process of doing a bedroom scene but needed some props.

One of those props was a live mouse. You have to understand something here -- I hate mice! I grew up in a housing project where mice were a daily fact of life: in the walls, under the beds, nibbling at the corners of boxes in the food pantry, running through the shower, etc. Both my brother and I came away from that experience afraid of rodents. Why I would write one into a script is clearly the stuff of dreams.

Anyway, several of us piled into a car to get a mouse for the scene. The star of the project, who seems to be an amalgam of actor Michael Rapaport and my friend Jim, was driving. I had a powerful emotional connection to the man. Accompanying us was my friend Tami from the VA Board and my dog, Jake.

We went to the mouse supply store and bought a small field mouse, fresh from the trap (!) but very much alive and packaged in a sanitary, white wrapper, like a prize from a cereal box. If you peered intently you could see the terrified little rodent inside, but otherwise it could be anything. Tami refused to hold the wrapped rodent and Michael/Jim was driving, so that left me. Jake was insanely curious about the packaging, thinking, perhaps that it was a wrapped Scooby snack and kept snapping the parcel out of my hand and into his mouth, without biting or chewing. I would pry the package out of his mouth, rescuing the dreaded critter from the literal jaws of death. Each time, I would hold the package up to the light to make sure the mouse was still alive, and each time it was.

My nerves were frayed. I had cast myself in a gay role in the production and was wondering if I should wear a pink polo shirt. I was in the upcoming bedroom scene and wondered how I would block everything out. Michael/Jim was driving (on an expressway) and kept talking to me in the backseat and taking his eyes off the road. I'd yell at him to pay attention to his driving and then tenderly place my hand on his shoulder to let him know I wasn't really angry. All the while, I'm fending off Jake who is intent on swallowing the packaged pint-sized rat.

I awoke both horny and with the heebie-jeebies.

According to dreammoods.com:
"To dream that you or someone is eating mice, indicates that there is something that has been nagging your conscience and you need to get off your chest."
Also:
"To see a mouse in your dream, indicates fear, meekness, and a lack of assertiveness. You possess feelings of inadequacy and not measuring up. Alternatively, it may symbolize minor irritations and annoyances."

I can't think of anything I need to get off my chest, but I have plenty of minor irritations and annoyances, especially at work. I'm gonna go with that one. Weird, huh?

Christmas Survey

I hate cross-posting from MySpace, but a friend (Hi, Tami!) sent me this survey there. I really enjoyed responding it and it helped put me in touch with some of my feelings that were getting lost in the annual hustle and bustle. So, here goes, expanded a bit from the original:

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?
- I love the tactile gratification of wrapping with paper and adding ribbons and tie-ons and bows. I think presents should be almost too pretty to open, little works of art in and of themselves.

2. Real tree or artificial?
– Artificial. In fact, I have a silver aluminum tree and color wheel from the 60's.

3. When do you put your tree up?
- Usually the week after Thanksgiving, when I'm on vacation. If I'm not out hunting Bambi, of course.

4. When do you take the tree down?
- I grew up being told it was bad luck to take it down before the New Year. So, I usually put it away the first couple of weeks in January.

5. Do you like eggnog?
- Yes, in small doses. I make a pretty good nog with rum and/or Irish whiskey.

6. Favorite gift received as a child?
– Musical xylophone train that then went around the base of our Christmas tree. There were color-coded keys you insert into the track to construct songs. The original didn't survive my turbulent childhood; but I found one, still in the box, on eBay a few years back.

7. Do you have a Nativity scene?
– Several, including the one that did survive my childhood (mostly) intact, a white ceramic nativity Avon sold a few pieces at a time over the course of a decade and one carved from olive wood from the holy land.

8. Hardest person to buy for?
- My brother; fucker won't put up a wishlist online

9. Easiest person to buy for?
– My friend Missy. I know her tastes and I can usually do well with alcohol. Also, this year I insisted my nephews have wishlists on Amazon, which made them much, much easier

10. Worst Christmas gift ever received?
– Do "white elephant" gift exchange presents count? I always get hosed with those things. This year, I ended up with something called "Angel for Men parfum." Egad. I'm totally re-gifting it to my brother.

11. Mail or email Christmas cards?
– Again, I enjoy the tactile sensation of writing out cards, putting them in envelopes, etc. I usually send 30-50 each year. For the last several years I've also designed my own postage stamps to send to close friends and family. So far, only one person has noticed, but that made me really happy. (Thanks, Jim!)

12. Favorite Christmas movie?
– I'm a HUGE fan of the Rankin-Bass TV specials. My favorite is one almost no one remembers: The Leprechauns' Christmas Gold. I really enjoy Ron Howard's live action version of Dr. Seuss' How The Grinch Stole Christmas

13. Colored Lights on tree/house or white?
– Colored on the tree (when I do a tree that requires lights) and white on the outside. I did a sci-fi tree one year by spraying a fake tree black and used white lights as "stars."

14. Do you hang mistletoe?
- Nope. My dog needs no such incentive.

15. Favorite things to eat at Christmas?
- Peppermint stick ice cream and McDonald's eggnog shakes. Both drive my lactose intolerance crazy, so they are "forbidden treats." Also, Christmas cookies. Any variety. How can you not love those?

16. Can you ice skate?
– Hell no. Nothing this large should be supported by two little strips of metal.

17. Favorite Christmas song?
- The Little Drummer Boy aka Carol of the Drum (MercyMe does an excellent version)

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home?
- Home, but I have an open invitation to visit my friend Steve in New Zealand for Christmas and someday I'm going to take him up on it.

19. Can you name Santa's reindeer?
– Yes. But if I put 'em here you'll all be able to do it, too. I can also recite "Twas the Night Before Christmas (A Visit from St. Nicholas)" from memory. (Clement Moore originally named the seventh reindeer Donder, two D's, not Donner, btw...) How much do you want me now?

20. Do you have an angel on top or a star?
- On the silver tree, it's an ornament tree topper, which is kind of vaguely star-like; on the Oz tree, it's Glinda; on the Irish tree it's an angel (shamrocks on her robe, of course) and on the sci-fi tree it was Princess Leia.

21. Open the presents Christmas eve or Christmas morning?
- My family does it Christmas Eve. I'd prefer Christmas morning, like when I was a kid.

22. Snow! Love it or hate it?
– Love it until December 26th at which point it can go away until the next holiday season.

23. Do you like candy canes?
– Yeah, although I rarely eat 'em. I don't understand all the new flavors, though. Candy canes are peppermint, dammit!

24. Do you still believe in Santa Claus?
- Sadly, no. I wish I could recapture that innocence. I'd even settle for believing in the innate goodness of mankind, but I'm not sure I believe in that, any more either.

25. Most annoying thing about this time of year?
– Shopping. I live near a mall and it's insane. Thank God for the Internet.

That's it! Merry Christmas and Prosperous New Year, peeps!