TO THE SHADOWLANDS!!!!!!!!

Monday night:  I wonder what I'm going to write about on the blog tomorrow....  I already have the cute picture of the week chosen, and I guess I can talk about my initiation, but I don't think many will care about that... Hmm... I'll figure it out tomorrow.

Tuesday Morning:  HOLY SHIT THAT WAS THE BEST DREAM I HAVE EVER HAD.

So now you get to hear about my dream that I had.  Now only Rich knows that for me to say I had my best dream (or just a dream in general) it will be something fantastical and it was indeed a 10 on the Richter Scale (Yay earthquake joke? I figure I should prepare you for the upcoming randomness because this dream is indeed random).  I always try to pick apart from which parts of my life the dream comes from.  I think this dream incorporates: Spiderman, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Legend of Zelda, The Matrix, The House of the Scorpion, Les Miserables, The Lion King, Pokemon, Fire Emblem, World of Warcraft, Oblivion, and my fraternity (Phi Kappa Psi).  I'm sure there are more subliminal references in my dream but I simply do not remember them.  And many of the things that I do remember I do not remember the significance behind them but yeah... On with the dream!

Kevin and I wake up in this dungeon cell of sorts. There is straw strewn across the ground, and a barred window above our heads.  We get adjusted to the dim light by rubbing our eyes and looking around.  We don't talk to each other yet, and before we get the chance to there is a blinding white light coming from the window.  Dumbledore appears floating on a cloud in what appears to be a pristine white robe.  "You must travel to the Shadowlands and bring me back the Ring.  This is what you have been charged with in order to obtain your freedom."  Both Kevin and I are baffled, but we have no time to challenge Dumbledore as he raises his staff and sends us away through what felt like forced disappartion (use your imagination).

We awake in a field, dressed in primarily leather garments.  Think adventurers clothes.  Leather belt with multiple pockets, a satchel, and boots.  Brown cotton loose fitting clothes finish out get-up.  If you still have trouble imagining this, think of Link's get-up in Legend of Zelda.  I didn't want to point out what points of my dream come from where in case you wanted to guess, but I felt I wasn't doing a good job at describing our clothes sooooo... yeah.  We set off on our quest and this is where the dream gets fuzzy.  I don't remember all of the actual stuff.  But imagine just questing and doing a bunch of shit in New Zealand landscape.

We get to this enormous castle eventually and we somehow know that the Ring is inside.  The castle looks extremely forbidding.  The only sound comes from the pitter-patter of the pouring rain and the occasional deafening clap of thunder.  We slowly push open the large door (think Rachael's picture from so many posts ago).  We are immediately grabbed by three guards.  They hold us against the wall asking where we have come from and our purpose for being there.  I tell them to take their hands off me but they do not.  One of them tries to have a little fun and taunt us in our incapacitated state.

Apparently we are wearing helmets (both Kevin and I) yet I had no inclination that I was wearing such headgear until this moment.  He sees that there are three wires (think the cords from all electrical appliances: computer cords, cell phone chargers, headphone cords) coming out of the helmet attaching to my belt.  Two lead into what look like test tubes filled with paint, one red, one green.  I have no idea the significance of them at this time, but I remember knowing that it was important they stay plugged in.  The last wire looks like  a standard audio jack.  I know that keeping this wire plugged in is far more vital than the other two.

Tauntingly, he says "Oh, what do we have here?" Slowly grasping the third (audio jack) cord.  He pulls it out.  Time slows down to 1/4 of its normal speed for me.  I know it is of paramount importance that I get this cord plugged back into my belt.  I escape with ease from the other mens' grip.  It feels like I have super powers.  I am able to take control of the situation by putting the guard who took my cord into the headlock he previously had me in.  Then as time catches up with him and his mouth opens in rage seeing as to what happened I slam his head into the wall for a finishing blow.

All three guards erupt into dust and blow away in the wind.  Kevin and I look at each other, confused.  We move on with the intent to steal the Ring from the depths of the castle, specifically the treasure vault.  We pull off a flawless heist, stealing gems and two small balls that appear to have lightning inside of them in addition to the Ring.  We escape and begin our quest back to Dumbledore to return the Ring.  Leaving the castle behind, my dream takes a panoramic shot of us walking away from the stormy dismal  environment into the sunny grassy plains that we will traverse on our way "home."

I am curious as to what is inside the small ball so I smash it on the ground.  An enormous bird-like creature appears.  It presents itself for me to mount it and upon doing so I am taken for the ride of my life.  Kevin also smashes his orb and get's the same creature to mount, however his is green while mine is black.  This was by far my favorite part of the dream, just riding upon the back of these magnificent beasts through the sunny grassy hills  that bared a striking resemblance to New Zealand. It is hard to convey how awesome flying on the back of this bird was, but I can assure you that it was the most non-real fun I have ever had.  They were the most majestic creatures I have ever seen and it was simply a blessing to be riding on the back of them.

To try and make you understand what these creatures looked like I will attempt a 2min sketch of one of them.  Be right back. Ok back, this is relatively accurate.

Amazing

After we were satisfied with the time on our beasts (just realized they didn't have names, guess my subconscious isn't that creative), Dumbledore came down from the heavens and asked us for the Ring.  We gave it to him and then in the same forced disapparting way as described before, he dispelled me from my sleep and I woke up.

Basically the most epic dream I've ever had.  I doubt any of you will get near as much enjoyment out of it as I did, especially since you only get words and not the actual visuals, but oh well.  I enjoyed typing this and I'm not going to re-read it to make sure it was clear because if this dream lacked one thing it would definitely be clarity.

Hope you all enjoyed this change up of style this week.  I did happen to get initiated into my fraternity on Sunday so that was fun.  Officially a brother.  I am excited for the future and what it holds.  And don't think I forgot the cute picture of the week.

Have a wonderful week all of you.  I can't wait to see you over Thanksgiving.

- Jason

P.S. I had waffles the other day.  SOOOO DELICIOUS.  

Also, this was a picture from a loooooong time ago that I took for you vegetarians.  I thought you might like it and I only got around to uploading it right now.